LaCie 2big thunderbolt/win7/bootcamp?

[Runnernorth]

Hi all, can anyone please explain to me if the LaCie 2big thunderbolt hdd in raid0 can be read in windows7 under bootcamp?
Kindly regards

 

[hfg]

Hi all, can anyone please explain to me if the LaCie 2big thunderbolt hdd in raid0 can be read in windows7 under bootcamp?
Kindly regards

If it is like the LaCie "Little Big Disk", then the answer is no.

This is because the RAID-0 is done with software running in OS X. You can access it with a Windows virtual machine such as Parallels or VMware Fusion running under OS X, but a bootable Windows (BootCamp) will not be able to use the RAID-0 disk.

You could un-RAID it and use it as separate disks which could be accessible from BootCamp Windows, but you would lose all speed advantage of the RAID-0 with OS X. Of course, the disks would have to be formatted compatible with both operating systems (exFat, fat32, or add drivers) if you wish to fully utilize them.

 

[Runnernorth]

Hi hfg, damn, it was that answer I was fearing to have, ;(
As I've heard, I can't use a virtual windows7, only bootcamp. I need the windows OS to install XBMC in, and the reason for installing XBMC in windows is, it's the only way to bitstream (HD Audio, DTS HD master and others)
Then there's only one option back, USB3, because the main reason for choosing the 2big thunderbolt was the RAID0,SPEEEEED. Choosing to run the 2big thunderbolt in RAID1 will not not give me any speed benefits, sadly........I LOVE the design/form factor/quality of the 2big disk....
Thx for your reply, kind of you 🙂

 

[hfg]

My experience has only been with a couple of "Little Big Disk" drives which I have installed SSDs in, and I do like them very much.

However, I have been struggling to install bootable Windows on them (non RAID), although I believe they will work as a simple data drive. Of course, LaCie specifically states that these are not Windows compatible.

I have been successful in installing/booting Windows 8 from a Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter with a Samsung SSD mounted to it and it is pretty fast, although not as fast as the LaCie RAID-0.

(Testing with Crucial M4 512GB SSD and BlackMagicDesign "Disk Speed Test" using 4GB file size option.)

write / read
263 / 387 MB/s ........ Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter SSD (OS X)
405 / 522 MB/s ........ LaCie RAID-0 Little Big Disk SSD (OS X)

200 / 250 MB/s ........ LaCie non-RAID Little Big Disk (OS X) single SSD drives

197 / 201 MB/s ........ LaCie 2TB RAID-0 Hard Disks as received in Little Big Disk (OS X)

-howard

 

[Runnernorth]

Howard, maybe I was to fast when stating just to go for USB3, because I just now discovered that the LaCie 2big thunderbolt also allows JBOD configuration(as you told me). But I don't quite know if the the speed in JBOD is the same as in RAID1, or slower or faster..... I've googled but can't seem to find the answer, neither in any reviews, do you know the about speeds, or where I can find them?
I'm only going to read from the disks once they are "established".
The LaCie 2big thunderbolt 6tb is reasonably priced at the moment in my country, about 10% below retail price.
Kindly
Jan

 

[hfg]

Howard, maybe I was to fast when stating just to go for USB3, because I just now discovered that the LaCie 2big thunderbolt also allows JBOD configuration(as you told me). But I don't quite know if the the speed in JBOD is the same as in RAID1, or slower or faster..... I've googled but can't seem to find the answer, neither in any reviews, do you know the about speeds, or where I can find them?
I'm only going to read from the disks once they are "established".
The LaCie 2big thunderbolt 6tb is reasonably priced at the moment in my country, about 10% below retail price.
Kindly
Jan

Configuring the drives in OS X as RAID-1 or JBOD will produce much different results.

RAID-1 will mirror the data on both drives and your drive capacity will be that of a single drive. This is commonly used in situations where no down-time is desired in the event of a disk drive failure. I believe a RAID-1 array is slightly slower than a single disk when writing, but the read speed is the same as a single disk. Of course, RAID-1 is not a backup solution ... bad data written to one disk will instantly be written to the other as well. (With the drive mentioned you will have a 3TB disk with redundancy).

JBOD takes the 2 independent disks and concatenates them into a single large volume which is the size of the 2 disks combined. It is usually easier to manage your data on a single large disks rather than 2 separate smaller disks, and the speed should not suffer on read or write. You can of course, access the 2 drives separately if you desire with no "raiding" applied at all. Failure of one drive will lose the contents of that drive only, the other drive will still be intact. (With the drive mentioned you will have a 6TB disk or 2 ea. 3TB disks with no redundancy or speed benefit).

RAID-0 also combines the capacity of both drives, however it runs the two drives in parallel and stripes your data across both drives. The benefit is much greater speed, but the risk is that a disk failure will render all of your data unreadable. (With the drive mentioned you will have a fast 6TB disk with no redundancy and statistically greater failure potential).

But that is why we all keep good backups! 🙂


If you are using hard disks, it probably doesn't matter if you attach via thunderbolt or USB-3, as the interfaces are faster than the drive data. If you are using SSDs, the data rate may approach the limits of USB-3, in which case it will be faster using thunderbolt. Most any RAID-0 will benefit from the faster thunderbolt interface, and for ultimate speed you will find systems which do a RAID-0 over several (more than the 2 in your LaCie) disks. You could make a 4-drive RAID-0 using 2 of your LaCie 2BigDisks connected via thunderbolt which would really fly ... but still no Windows as the RAID functionality is in OS X.

 

[Runnernorth]

Thx Howard for your adequate info. All right then, think I'll look further into the LaCie USB3 hdd then, think they are a bit cheaper than the thunderbolt hdd.
Just wish that OSX would support bit streaming HD audio, then I would have chosen the RAID 0, no doubt about it 😉
Have a nice day
Kindly
Jan

 

[krravi]

I just installed Windows 8 on Bootcamp. Have the Lacie as a OS X Raid disk.

You have to install MacDrive Pro to see OS X RAID drive in windows. Yes you can read and write to it and the speed from Windows 8 is phenomenal as well.