2 hard disks installed in MBP, switch between them before startup?

djbrantrandall · Jun 27, 2015

Late 2011 MBP 2.4 i5, 8GB RAM, 500 HDD

Here's what I want to have:
1TB SSD (installed in main drive bay) with nothing but OSX and DJ Software running on it with my music library, so it is perfectly clean, nothing else that could possibly influence or affect it....ie. downloaded software from internet, etc.
&
My existing 500GB HDD (installed with an adapter into the optical drive), where I continue to use it as my primary drive with all my existing software, files, etc.(everything that potentially slows it down, or in worst case infects it).

I want to use my 500GB 99% of the time, and always boot to that when I start up, and use it as normal. Then when I have a gig, I want to start up my MBP, and choose to boot from the 1TB SSD, and simultaneously turn the old HDD off, so the two essentially never have a way of "talking with each other".

Essentially like if I were to flip a light switch on the side of my computer telling it which drive I wanted to use that day.
I don't want to choose one to boot from, and then have to eject the other once the machine is up and running. I'm trying to have the one I'm not booting up as "dead" but still physically installed in my machine.
My whole agenda is trying to keep my DJ software SSD drive whistle clean and perfect, where it never interacts with the other drive.

Is there anyway to accomplish this without physically removing and installing the drives? I don't think removing my back panel and swapping drives daily is too great of an idea. Thanks for any advice, I'm stumped.

chabig · Jun 27, 2015

Use the option key when you startup to select the boot drive. After the machine starts, eject the disk you don't want to use. You say you don't want to do this, but this is the way to achieve what you want--the only other way is to put the drives in external cases and only connect one at a time.

djbrantrandall · Jun 27, 2015

chabig said: ↑

Use the option key when you startup to select the boot drive. After the machine starts, eject the disk you don't want to use. You say you don't want to do this, but this is the way to achieve what you want--the only other way is to put the drives in external cases and only connect one at a time.
Click to expand...

When I do that, isn't the drive I ejected actually still "on" in essence? meaning that it could be affected say a worst case scenario virus? ( I know Mac's are way less susceptible to viruses, but just worst case scenario)?? Or is it essentially Dead at that point and not able to be affected by anything else on the other HDD?

chabig · Jun 27, 2015

An unmounted disk isn't part of the file system, so it's logically disconnected and cannot be modified.

djbrantrandall · Jun 27, 2015

chabig said: ↑

An unmounted dusk isn't part of the file system, so it's logically disconnected and cannot be modified.
Click to expand...

Cool, thank you very much, for giving me an answer, been trying to figure that out for a while now with nothing to show for it.. I appreciate it

hallux · Jun 28, 2015

djbrantrandall said: ↑

My existing 500GB HDD (installed with an adapter into the optical drive), where I continue to use it as my primary drive with all my existing software, files, etc.(everything that potentially slows it down, or in worst case infects it).
Click to expand...

I'd swap the drives. With the HDD in the optical bay you lose the sudden motion sensor protection for the spinning drive. The SSD doesn't need this protection.

You can ignore this comment if the 2011 doesn't have SATA 6G in the optical bay as it's preferable to have the SSD on that interface.

snaky69 · Jun 28, 2015

djbrantrandall said: ↑

Late 2011 MBP 2.4 i5, 8GB RAM, 500 HDD

Here's what I want to have:
1TB SSD (installed in main drive bay) with nothing but OSX and DJ Software running on it with my music library, so it is perfectly clean, nothing else that could possibly influence or affect it....ie. downloaded software from internet, etc.
&
My existing 500GB HDD (installed with an adapter into the optical drive), where I continue to use it as my primary drive with all my existing software, files, etc.(everything that potentially slows it down, or in worst case infects it).

I want to use my 500GB 99% of the time, and always boot to that when I start up, and use it as normal. Then when I have a gig, I want to start up my MBP, and choose to boot from the 1TB SSD, and simultaneously turn the old HDD off, so the two essentially never have a way of "talking with each other".

Essentially like if I were to flip a light switch on the side of my computer telling it which drive I wanted to use that day.
I don't want to choose one to boot from, and then have to eject the other once the machine is up and running. I'm trying to have the one I'm not booting up as "dead" but still physically installed in my machine.
My whole agenda is trying to keep my DJ software SSD drive whistle clean and perfect, where it never interacts with the other drive.

Is there anyway to accomplish this without physically removing and installing the drives? I don't think removing my back panel and swapping drives daily is too great of an idea. Thanks for any advice, I'm stumped.
Click to expand...

So you're basically wanting to install 1 OS per disk?

I'm sorry to be a bit blunt but that's kinda dumb and completely negates the benefit of having your SSD when you're running on the other disk.

Why is it that you want to do this? SSD's do not suffer from slowdowns as they fill up nearly as much as mechanical hard drives do. You'd be hard pressed to notice any difference at all in performance during normal use. Perhaps you could in an artificial benchmark, but those don't really represent reality.

nexusdroid26 · Jul 7, 2015

i have 2 hdd running all the time the main one in the main bay is my 240gb ssd which has the os on and the programs i use and a 750gb drive in my optical bay which is idle storage as long as you pick the main drive for the os it will boot into that one only, also when i switch my mac on it powers up both drives but only boots into the sad.

T'hain Esh Kelch · Jul 7, 2015

djbrantrandall said: ↑

When I do that, isn't the drive I ejected actually still "on" in essence? meaning that it could be affected say a worst case scenario virus? ( I know Mac's are way less susceptible to viruses, but just worst case scenario)?? Or is it essentially Dead at that point and not able to be affected by anything else on the other HDD?
Click to expand...

There are no virus' in the wild for OSX, so that is a mood point. And in any case you do have a backup (I hope, because anything else would be incredibly stupid if you care about your work).

And I agree with everyone else - When you have an SSD in the machine, use it, otherwise it would be a waste. Your proposed scenario is pointless.

2 hard disks installed in MBP, switch between them before startup?

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