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iPod Shuffle RAID

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the because-you-can dept.

ricercar writes "So, what do you do when you and some friends are all getting iPod Shuffles? You make a RAID array out of them, of course! The original intent was to actually install OS X on the RAID and boot from that, but the OS X (Panther, 10.3.5) Installer wouldn't allow it."

9 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. If you could install it by TheKidWho · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What would the boot times be like?

    Wait, anyone know of any flash hard drives for PCs/Macs that work via SATA? This would be interesting to do, almost instant boot.

  2. A Thumb Drive Raid Array by MankyD · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I really don't want to be a troll, but this seems rather inane to me. They made a RAID array from a bunch of thumb drives - so what? If they had installed OSX on it, then maybe, but for now, can't we limit slashdot to innovative and never-before-seen things?

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  3. Very James Bond by Idimmu+Xul · · Score: 5, Interesting

    doing this with 2 normal usb key drives, a raid array with the striped data on them, you could save all kinds of secret stuff on them which would be useless unless you had both drives!

    It could replace those security systems where 2 people have a key and there are 2 locks which must be opened at the same time for it to work.. just have 2 usb keys stripped, with a pgp key on them, which must be then inserted in to the security system at the same time for it to work or something

    i dunno, im just spouting things!

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    1. Re:Very James Bond by iJames · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Actually I think it's a very clever idea. Not for a conventional RAID implementation, sure, but it'd be very simple to write an encoder/decoder that would stripe at a word level (or byte, or bit) and spread data across two flash drives for security. Now the information's only retrievable if two people agree to cooperate. Add a third drive with parity data, and you've got error resilience and a "democratic" security system where any two out of three people can retrieve the information.

      Granted, I can't see an application for this that couldn't be managed simply by having two people encrypt the information with separate keys. But it's about as cheap as you could get with a hardware solution, and it does have a spyish sort of coolness to it.

  4. Re:Awesome Hack! by geoffspear · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I'm guessing the idea of a RAID of iPod Shuffles began with alcohol too.

    It's probably unlikely to end with a Darwin Awards entry, though, unless there's a mjor design flaw.

    A RAID of 40GB iPods would be orders of magnitude more useful, but if you've got that kind of money you'd be better off buying an Xserve RAID; you can get a 1 TB unit for the price you'd pay for a 600GB iPod RAID, without the rats nest of firewire cables (not to mention the really slow performance).

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  5. Mirrordot Mirror by tijmentiming · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://mirrordot.com/stories/b810b5b7bf18eb8d82adf 1137dae0587/index.html

    Btw, Why not automatically create a mirror on mirrordot and link it here? Why do we need a nerd to search for the mirrordot link if we have enough nerds to fix a small problem like this?

  6. Re:Instead of OS X... by biglig2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yeah, man, we don't want to hear about insane and pointless misuse of hardware unless Linux is involved!

    Heh, OK, let's get round that by thinking of a use for this... in fact I know a good one.

    RAID 5 your very sensitive data onto say 5 shuffles. Then unplug them and all five people take one each.

    You then can't access the data on those sticks unless you are quorate - 4 or more people needed to mount the volume.

    Hmmm, I was trying to think of an example of what to put on this and all I could think of was terrorist plans. Does this make it a bad idea?

    --
    ~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
  7. Re:Awesome Hack! by Bilestoad · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Among geeks the only insipration you need is "because it was there!". Witness cheap RAID on Mac that works, driven by a Mac mini:

    "The Mac mini Maxi"
    http://www.appletalk.com.au/articles/index.php?a rt icle=4433

  8. Re:Instead of OS X... by jacobcaz · · Score: 4, Interesting
    • Hmmm, I was trying to think of an example of what to put on this and all I could think of was terrorist plans. Does this make it a bad idea?
    How about corporate secrets? You know, like how the Coca Cola formula is supposed to be stashed in several bank vaults in Atlanta?

    If you have 1/5th of the data (plus parity) you can even duplicate your iPod Shuffle as needed to keep the data intact.

    Just make sure that 4 out of your 5 all fly on the same plane or travel in the same car (or really, attend the same conference) with their share of the data.

    You can also scale it up and down (4 drives needing 3 or 25 drives needing 24).

    The only downside with RAID5 is that you can only lose 1 device, so with larger numbers you need a higher and higher majority of your group to unlock the data.

    Another idea is to RAID the data and form a tontine using iPod Shuffles. It worked for Abe Simpson.