Triplicator Quickstart
January, 2011
The Triplicator enables you to make multiple identical copies of your data simultaneously. It can
be connected to a Mac or PC computer via eSATA, FireWire or USB using any of the ports marked
"computer connections". The target drives are connected to the Triplicator via eSATA cables, using
the ports marked "eSATA drive 1", "eSATA drive 2", etc. The Triplicator supports any eSATA
connected drive, including the Glyph PortaGig 50, PortaGig 62, GT 050Q and GT 062E.
Using the Triplicator with clean drives (unformatted, with no data)
Start by connecting two or three target drives to the Triplicator, and power them on. Next connect
the Triplicator to your computer via eSATA, FireWire or USB, and power it on. Once powered on,
the Triplicator’s blue LED blinks to indicate that you must press the
Init. Drives
button on the
front panel. The
Init. Drives
button is designed to guard against unintended drive initialization.
When you press this button, the Triplicator will initialize the drives, and any data on the drives will
be lost. The blue LED will then go to solid. After a few seconds, the Triplicator’s red LED will begin
blinking to indicate the number of drives that have been initialized in the Triplicator drive set. A
volume will then be visible to your computer. Format this volume using your operating system
utility, and you're ready to go.
(NOTE: The Init. Drives button will initialize the drives ONLY when the blue LED is blinking. Pressing the
Init. Drives button at any time other will have NO effect on the drives attached to the Triplicator.)
Using the Triplicator with an existing Triplicator drive set
After you have created a Triplicator drive set and copied data to the drive set, the Triplicator and
drive set can be powered off and on. On power up, it will discover and mount the previously
created drive set. There are several restrictions to be aware of:
1.
Drives must be powered on and connected before the Triplicator is powered on.
2.
Drives must be cabled to the same eSATA ports as they were when the array was created.
3.
Data on the drives cannot be changed independently between power-ups. Triplicator
does not support synchronizing data on the drives if the data has been changed when
connected directly to a computer. Once the data on any drive has been changed, it cannot
be brought back and included in a Triplicator drive set.
4.
If drives with data from different Triplicator sets are connected to the same Triplicator, a
drive set will not be mounted. Instead, the blue LED will blink to indicate that button press
is required.
When you press this button, the Triplicator will initialize the drives, and any
data on the drives will be lost.
User Interface
In normal use, the red LED pattern blinks to show the number of attached drives. Three blinks =
three drives attached. If no drives are attached, the LED goes solid red. If a discovered drive
disappears in the course of operation, the Triplicator LED goes solid red.
In use
You can use the Triplicator volume as you would use the volume on any drive. However, when
you copy data to the Triplicator volume, the data will be copied to all target drives at the same
time. Once you are done working with the drives, you can unmount the volume just like any
external drive, and connect the target drives individually to a computer. You will see that the same
data is on each drive. (If you change the data on the individual drives, you cannot bring them
