2 SSDs: RAID or not?

[sneak3]

Hello!

I would like to know what's the best path to be taken in my case. I have two 256gb SSDs.

1st option: 2 partition (OSX + Bootcamp) in one drive and 1 partition in the other one for sharing data between them.

2nd option: Raid them and make it 3 partitions. One for OSX, one for Windows and one for data.

I have a mid 2012 mbp 15" + data doubler.

 

[yjchua95]

Hello!

I would like to know what's the best path to be taken in my case. I have two 256gb SSDs.

1st option: 2 partition (OSX + Bootcamp) in one drive and 1 partition in the other one for sharing data between them.

2nd option: Raid them and make it 3 partitions. One for OSX, one for Windows and one for data.

I have a mid 2012 mbp 15" + data doubler.

If you want to use Boot Camp, you can't have more than two partitions, otherwise it'll destroy the Boot Camp partition (it's some limitation in the EFI).

 

[.X.]

I wouldn't raid them in your case as there is no real benefit in doing so.

On the contrary, if you raid them that way you will increase the risk of data loss by having two potential sources of failure for all 3 partitions.

Unless of course you're talking about mirroring them, in which case you will have redundancy but lose half the storage space. In that case it really comes down to what you need the most, space or security?

 

[maflynn]

I personally wouldn't risk them, true you'd see some speed benefit but the risks outweigh the reward.

you'll need a rock solid backup plan if you decide to go the RAID solution

 

[sneak3]

Alright gents.

No RAID at all then.

Question answered!

 

[Mike Boreham]

Hello!

I would like to know what's the best path to be taken in my case. I have two 256gb SSDs.

1st option: 2 partition (OSX + Bootcamp) in one drive and 1 partition in the other one for sharing data between them.

2nd option: Raid them and make it 3 partitions. One for OSX, one for Windows and one for data.

I have a mid 2012 mbp 15" + data doubler.

I know you have decided already, but for the record, Bootcamp can't be installed on a RAID volume, irrespective of how many partitions.

 

[Warhawk15]

I know you have decided already, but for the record, Bootcamp can't be installed on a RAID volume, irrespective of how many partitions.

So I have 2 ssds in raid 0.

Dumb question, if I wipe them, is there anyway I can get bootcamp on it?
Can I have the two drives not in a RAID volume/format?
It would make sense if it worked, but I don't want to go through the headache of restoring it in case it doesn't.
I just miss bootcamp.

 

[simonsi]

So I have 2 ssds in raid 0.

Dumb question, if I wipe them, is there anyway I can get bootcamp on it?
Can I have the two drives not in a RAID volume/format?
It would make sense if it worked, but I don't want to go through the headache of restoring it in case it doesn't.
I just miss bootcamp.

Raid 0 is normally done for speed at the cost of your data is striped across both/all drives so lose ANY drive and your data is gone.

Why the quest for more speed with SSDs? You may be maxxing your interface without RAID 0 so you may <just> be putting your data at more risk.

Of course you can un-RAID them and have them as separate drives.

 

[hfg]

FWIW: I have taken 2 SSDs, one a 512GB and one a 256GB, and partitioned the larger one into 2 ea. 256GB partitions. I then used one of the partitions along with the smaller SSD to create a 512GB RAID-0 for OS X. The remaining partition of the larger SSD was a bootable 256GB Windows installation.

Thus with 2 physical drives I had a standard Windows installation, and a RAID-0 OS X installation ... and it worked great in my Mac Pro drive bays.

Note however, that I have not found a dual-drive PCIe card that would support this, or even 2 operating systems on separate SSDs on the same card.

-howard