Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Best method for using 2 HD?

O

OmarKanawati

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 13, 2013
6
0
Hello everyone..

I installed 2 hard drives on my MBP using data doubler(120 GB SSD in the main tray and 750 GB HDD in the data doubler).

I need help to decide what's the best way to install the OS (mountain lion) and all my apps on the currently empty SSD, and at the same time, I want to keep all my files on the 750 GB HDD (Which currently have the OS as well).

Can anyone please tell me what is the best option to do that ?
 
B

benwiggy

macrumors 68020
Jun 15, 2012
2,381
193
Why not make a Fusion drive, and let the OS place the files in the best place?
A Fusion drive can have files in the same folder on different devices, which is much more detailed level of management than "files on HDD; OS on SDD".

Then you have the appearance of one big drive, and don't have to worry about where you need to put things. And you get the speed of an SSD with the storage of an HDD.
 
O

OmarKanawati

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 13, 2013
6
0
benwiggy said:
Why not make a Fusion drive, and let the OS place the files in the best place?
A Fusion drive can have files in the same folder on different devices, which is much more detailed level of management than "files on HDD; OS on SDD".

Then you have the appearance of one big drive, and don't have to worry about where you need to put things. And you get the speed of an SSD with the storage of an HDD.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a great idea. I will do that :)
Thanks for your reply.
 
Yahooligan

Yahooligan

macrumors 6502a
Aug 7, 2011
965
114
Illinois
Just be aware, in case you weren't, that if one drive in the Fusion setup fails then you will have corrupt files on the good drive. Fusion Drive moves blocks, not entire files, between SSD and HDD devices so if you have part of a large file on the SSD and the rest on the HDD and the SSD fails then the remaining bits of the file on the HDD will be corrupt as well.

This shouldn't cause more of a problem than two single drives as long as you do what everyone should be doing, and that is have current backups. :)
 
O

OmarKanawati

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 13, 2013
6
0
Yahooligan said:
Just be aware, in case you weren't, that if one drive in the Fusion setup fails then you will have corrupt files on the good drive. Fusion Drive moves blocks, not entire files, between SSD and HDD devices so if you have part of a large file on the SSD and the rest on the HDD and the SSD fails then the remaining bits of the file on the HDD will be corrupt as well.

This shouldn't cause more of a problem than two single drives as long as you do what everyone should be doing, and that is have current backups. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot, but I am already aware of that ;)

I was just wondering, is fusion drive the best option for me (performance-wise)?
 
B

benwiggy

macrumors 68020
Jun 15, 2012
2,381
193
OmarKanawati said:
Did anyone try this Metohd ?
http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/owc_techknowlogy/keeping_system_files/
It basically keeps your files on the HDD and the OS + apps on the SSD ..
Click to expand...
Too Long; Didn't WATCH. :D

Fusion is more efficient than any method of simply "dividing" everything yourself.
As I've said, it can store files (and indeed sub-file blocks of data) in the same folder on different devices. Anything you don't use often will get moved to the HDD. Anything you use frequently will get put on the SSD. (This is once you've got enough to start using both. Initially, it will fill up the SSD.)
This could include foreign language segments of apps, instruments in GarageBand that you don't use; it could also put email and user caches on the SSD.
 
O

OmarKanawati

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 13, 2013
6
0
B

benwiggy

macrumors 68020
Jun 15, 2012
2,381
193
OmarKanawati said:
See in the attachment, it says in this article : that apple fusion is not actually for high-end use in terms of performance. What I care about most is performance, because I am going to use VMware and some programming and designing programs.
Click to expand...
What is says is that if you use files that larger than 4Gb in size, you may see some performance penalty when dealing with those files.

But if you were using those files on the un-fused HDD anyway, then you would get the HDD low performance anyway.
 
O

OmarKanawati

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 13, 2013
6
0
benwiggy said:
What is says is that if you use files that larger than 4Gb in size, you may see some performance penalty when dealing with those files.

But if you were using those files on the un-fused HDD anyway, then you would get the HDD low performance anyway.
Click to expand...

Now, I actually understand :)

But is there a way to make the space in the SSD more than 4 Gb ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom