Put the data files which came from the HDD wherever it makes sense for you. If your files all fit comfortably on the SSD, I would just put them there. I have a HDD which is always connected to my computer where I put my downloads, log files from an app server which can get big (gigabytes) pretty quickly when I do certain type of processing and the original install files from various applications, among other files. My media (audio, video) are also stored on HDD's which are also always connected. In the case of my media, there's probably 6TB of it so that obviously can't fit on my 500GB SSD. As for the other files, it's just a matter of avoiding writing to the SSD when I really don't need to. In your case with the Samsung 860 Pro, unless you do something like edit 4K videos all day that then get moved off to a HDD, it's not worth worrying that much about avoiding SSD writes to prolong it's life.
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macbook slow - new models have same spec
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Put the data files which came from the HDD wherever it makes sense for you. If your files all fit comfortably on the SSD, I would just put them there. I have a HDD which is always connected to my computer where I put my downloads, log files from an app server which can get big (gigabytes) pretty quickly when I do certain type of processing and the original install files from various applications, among other files. My media (audio, video) are also stored on HDD's which are also always connected. In the case of my media, there's probably 6TB of it so that obviously can't fit on my 500GB SSD. As for the other files, it's just a matter of avoiding writing to the SSD when I really don't need to. In your case with the Samsung 860 Pro, unless you do something like edit 4K videos all day that then get moved off to a HDD, it's not worth worrying that much about avoiding SSD writes to prolong it's life.
I had 126gb of data on my hdd so I have space to leave it on my sad and still have ample room.
But would leaving it on my hdd make my computer faster or is leaving it on my ssd quicker as it may not have to think as much?
Can you still do search function on all files on the ssd and hdd or does the search only apply to documents on the main drive (ssd in my case)
But would leaving it on my hdd make my computer faster or is leaving it on my ssd quicker as it may not have to think as much?
Can you still do search function on all files on the ssd and hdd or does the search only apply to documents on the main drive (ssd in my case)
The times where a person can notice it taking longer to get data from the SSD such as yours (the very highest end of the available SSD's) vs. the HDD would be very few - maybe not $100 million lottery odds, but perhaps $1,000,000 lottery odds. Obviously if you have some unusual application where 5 processes are trying to access the same 5GB file, maybe, but for most people for most uses, that's not going to be the case.
The Spotlight search defaults to searching all disks. If you don't want that, that can be changed.
I just tried to use my all external hdd (not the one put into my optical drive) to backup on time machine and it says:
"There was an error preparing the time Machine backup disk"HD_1000GB".
"This disk is already reverting."
How do I fix this?
One google search outlines I should go and try to convert to APFS in disk utility - I tried this but I can't do this - the option doesn't let me as it is blanked out.
Is there any way I can fix this so that I can use my old hard drive to back up on time machine?
"There was an error preparing the time Machine backup disk"HD_1000GB".
"This disk is already reverting."
How do I fix this?
One google search outlines I should go and try to convert to APFS in disk utility - I tried this but I can't do this - the option doesn't let me as it is blanked out.
Is there any way I can fix this so that I can use my old hard drive to back up on time machine?
I'm presuming you don't need anything on the external HDD. Apple says you can't do a Time Machine backup to an APFS disk and it "offers to reformat it as HFS+".
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/disks-you-can-use-with-time-machine-mh15139/mac
So, in Disk Utility, select the disk, not the partition (the one with the arrowhead pointing down or to the right) and format (Erase) it in the "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" or with the encryption option and with the Scheme of "GUID Partition Map". I would suggest formatting any external disk or flash drive you use the same way. If the erase fails, try again. It's not uncommon for the erase to fail the first time only to work the second time. Sometimes Disk Utility just gives up so if you can't get it to format to HFS+ (Mac OS Extended), just post back.
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/disks-you-can-use-with-time-machine-mh15139/mac
So, in Disk Utility, select the disk, not the partition (the one with the arrowhead pointing down or to the right) and format (Erase) it in the "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" or with the encryption option and with the Scheme of "GUID Partition Map". I would suggest formatting any external disk or flash drive you use the same way. If the erase fails, try again. It's not uncommon for the erase to fail the first time only to work the second time. Sometimes Disk Utility just gives up so if you can't get it to format to HFS+ (Mac OS Extended), just post back.
It worked - thanks! You are a superstar.
Can I get my time machine to backup my HDD and SDD drives? Or will it only do my SDD?
[doublepost=1531655953][/doublepost]Also, for extra precaution is it a good idea to transfer my main user file from my SDD to my external hard drive or does the time machine back up already do that?
Can I get my time machine to backup my HDD and SDD drives? Or will it only do my SDD?
[doublepost=1531655953][/doublepost]Also, for extra precaution is it a good idea to transfer my main user file from my SDD to my external hard drive or does the time machine back up already do that?
You can include external HDD's as part of a Time Machine backup, but it would be put together with your system disk backup. I have seen a post from somebody who says it's possible to backup individual external disks but very few people do that (if it actually works properly). If you don't mind spending $35 (it's an online store and I don't know if you just use a credit card and pay the foreign exchange charges or what), you can get Carbon Copy Cloner.
https://bombich.com/
I don't use it myself but in the time it's been on the market, I don't recall seeing one negative comment about it. You can use it to backup individual external disks and you can also use it to create a second backup of your SSD - a bootable clone - which you can boot from if your SSD stops working, although with the 860 Pro, that's less likely that most of the other SSD's out there (but it's always good to have a second backup of your system disk available). You can try it out for free and see if you like it. They have a different graphic than what I've seen before on their main page which shows how you can setup named tasks for doing your different backups - I like what I see there.
For me, I'm familiar with using the command line software tools on the Mac using the Terminal app, so I use the rsync command to backup my external drives to a corresponding backup drive. There are also free graphic front-ends for rsync. So if you're interested in these options, just ask. rsync is a bit more tricky than some of the other OS commands out there. Apple is also starting to do things differently in High Sierra that makes rsync less viable in that OS for bootable backups (I need to do more testing to figure if it's finally time for me to spend the $35 or not for CCC for bootable backups).
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