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Dual SSD RAID 0 in MacBook Pro
- Thread starter MGLXP
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I think the problem of EFI update for most people is the drive can't even be used after the update.
Is the problem that RAID 0 does not work in the new unibody or having a SSD in the optical bay does not work? I was thinking about doing RAID 0 but if that does not work, I can just put my current HDD in the optical bay (with adapter of course) and have a boot SSD and have my core apps installed on it.
It will not be as fast as a RAID 0 but I would be faster than my 5400rpm HDD
thoughts?
It will not be as fast as a RAID 0 but I would be faster than my 5400rpm HDD
thoughts?
I am also having problems with raid0 in the unibodies with the 1.7 efi.
I have 2 g.skill ssd's
a 17" macbook pro 2.93 with 1.7 (I don't know why it has this firmware)
The G. skill ssd's work fine connected to the hdd sata cable. When connected via the optical bay they function at 1/10 the speed. They will boot individually from the optical bay, but again awkwardly. I am able to partition them as a raid0 drive using disk utility. When I install osx it hangs during the last few minutes. Disc Warrior and Disk utility end up showing node structure errors upon verifying the raid0 AFTER osx installed.
Right now I am booting off of one g.skill ssd in the hdd bay with the stock drive connected to the optical bay. The stock drive functions normally in the optical bay.
I have 2 g.skill ssd's
a 17" macbook pro 2.93 with 1.7 (I don't know why it has this firmware)
The G. skill ssd's work fine connected to the hdd sata cable. When connected via the optical bay they function at 1/10 the speed. They will boot individually from the optical bay, but again awkwardly. I am able to partition them as a raid0 drive using disk utility. When I install osx it hangs during the last few minutes. Disc Warrior and Disk utility end up showing node structure errors upon verifying the raid0 AFTER osx installed.
Right now I am booting off of one g.skill ssd in the hdd bay with the stock drive connected to the optical bay. The stock drive functions normally in the optical bay.
Thanks for this very detailed update. Looks like what I wanted to do - SSD + large HD - would work. But I am holding off a bit to see what happens. This is a production machine and stability is more important than speed...
SSD Raid
Hi. I have a 2009 MBP 15" with two Corsair P256 drives set up with Raid 0. I did not do the EFI 1.7 update, so I'm still using SATA 1.5 but, hey, it works. The procedure to put in the drives is easy. I used a MCE Tech drive enclosure to hold the second drive in the optical drive bay. Format the two drives as a Raid 0 using Disk Utility from the install disk before trying to install the OS.
Here is the XBench info. I had a few things up and running but nothing serious.
http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=380921
Hi. I have a 2009 MBP 15" with two Corsair P256 drives set up with Raid 0. I did not do the EFI 1.7 update, so I'm still using SATA 1.5 but, hey, it works. The procedure to put in the drives is easy. I used a MCE Tech drive enclosure to hold the second drive in the optical drive bay. Format the two drives as a Raid 0 using Disk Utility from the install disk before trying to install the OS.
Here is the XBench info. I had a few things up and running but nothing serious.
http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=380921
According to those numbers, there's no speed advantage to having a raid0 setup. Just 1 large ssd.
So far, yes. The SATA 1.5 is limiting the speed that would be recognized. Those with a similar setup with the 17" MBP see faster results. Also, the block size makes a difference. I have VMware images in the 60GB range but I also do normal email, etc. so I picked a mid level block size. I didn't experiment with the smallest and the largest sizes. With the Raid you do get a larger drive, so I have a logical drive size close to 500GB.
ok so, jsut to put it to rest...
the new macbook pros selling in the apple store right now... cant have dual SSD in Raid0 installed in the laptop?
People ahve tried it and it either works with the old EFI firmware but at Sata 1,5 speed or.. with new EFI and SATA 3 speed... Doesnt work?
thanks
p
the new macbook pros selling in the apple store right now... cant have dual SSD in Raid0 installed in the laptop?
People ahve tried it and it either works with the old EFI firmware but at Sata 1,5 speed or.. with new EFI and SATA 3 speed... Doesnt work?
thanks
p
Makes a huge difference
While I do not have a uMBP, I can provide any #s if you want to see a SATA II number on this machine.
Sorry for the tangent.
yes, I'm a big fan of the RAID 0
While I do not have a uMBP, I can provide any #s if you want to see a SATA II number on this machine.
Sorry for the tangent.
yes, I'm a big fan of the RAID 0
I just purchased 2x 512GB SSD's and am waiting for a fix so I can throw them into a 1TB RAID0 partition. The drives cost almost 3x what the laptop did. :/
I need the space and find it difficult to go back to an HDD after using SSD's the past couple years!
I had to laugh at this. Maybe someone can post this topic to the Apple boards so the techs can be like "wtf, seriously?"
I was just saying I agree with your comment; there will never be a fix because i too am sure Apple didn't intend the macbook pro to be A: Opened and B: Raid configed.
That's all.
I have now obsessed about this for an hour, and read everything in the apple discussions thread about this: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2054387&start=0&tstart=0
Here's the deal:
1 - The 1.7 EFI update basically breaks SATA. Not just the optical bay, it affects a very large number of third party drives. SSDs, HDs, everything. It's broken.
2 - If you have updated to 1.7 EFI, you are SOL until Apple comes out with a fix.
3 - Unibody 17" MacBook Pros never got the 1.7 EFI update so they are safe. I am not sure new ones sold would have the newer EFI. I have boot rom version MBP52.008E.B00 on my UMBP17 (mid 2009), which, according to Apple is somewhere inbetween EFI version 1.6 and 1.7. See here:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237
So my guess would be that the optical drive will be fine unless you have the EFI 1.7 update installed. Looks like a major f-up on Apple's part there.
Conclusion: Apple will most certainly fix the SATA issue, there will probably be a new EFI update or OS release soon. And that, in turn, will most likely fix any optical bay issues as well - I believe the optical bay was just along for the ride with this issue.
@orthorim
does that include the early 2009 macbook pro unibody?
I'm planning to get this on refurb:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC026LL/A?mco=MjE0NDk5Mw
any idea if 8gigs will work? I have mixed replies when I ask about it last month.
does that include the early 2009 macbook pro unibody?
I'm planning to get this on refurb:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC026LL/A?mco=MjE0NDk5Mw
any idea if 8gigs will work? I have mixed replies when I ask about it last month.
No idea about the 8GB. As for the EFI update, it's impossible to know whether the 1.7 update was applied or not. It probably was. So it would be affected until Apple releases a new EFI update.
Most definitely this type of setup requires a back-up just in case; RAID 0 is fast and powerful, but a simple error can do away everything. Also, as obviously stated before, this procedure can sure burn a hole in your wallet.