Late-2011 MBP Dual SSD+HDD Config Help

[BashOne2]

I've recently purchased and installed a new Vertex4 SSD into my Late-2011 MBP. I've gotten it fully functional with Lion installed on it.

I decided that since I have my stock 750GB HDD just sitting around, I would install it in the Optibay so I am currently waiting on the adapter to arrive in the mail.

My question is how to properly configure the two drives after they are physically installed in my MBP?

Should I completely erase everything on my HDD (Lion & all the applications)? I do not have any media on it right now and already have Lion and my applications on my SSD.

I've also read about using RAID. However, since this is my first time doing this I do not know what to do or what options to use if thats the best thing for my MBP. I want to make the best of the setup primarily for speed.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Rajpdx]

raid would be a bad idea, the drives should be similar sizes and speeds.

You could use the HDD as a data drive, or leave Lion on it and have a second OS X Install - use the rest as storage space. Either will work fine. I have an SSD + 750 and have 2 x OSX, Windows 7 Bootcamp and a load of space for storing stuff off the SSD. I've also used a portion of the drive to keep an up to date mirror of the SSD too that works quite well - 750gb is a big drive.

You can also format the drive using bootcamp and have Windows on the second drive.

You will lose some battery life from replacing the optical drive with a hard drive though.

 

[yusukeaoki]

Hi, I also switched to optibay recently.

If you're thinking to use the HDD as a data only, just copy the user folder.
Its where all the documents, downloads, movies, music, etc.
I use my SSD to boot apps and use my 1TB HDD to store musics, movies, documents and all.

So again, if you are thinking to store data just copy your user folder from your previous HDD.
From there, when ever you download music or movies, you can just drag and drop to your HDD from your SSD.

 

[ayeying]

RAID with bootcamp is going to cause issues. You can, however, do 500GB 7200RPM + 750GB 7200RPM and raid that and still have room for bootcamp. Creating RAID with 2 identical drives, say 2x750GB 7200RPM, you'll be left with 3 partitions after RAID.