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Migration to SSD in MP...

Killerbob

Killerbob

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 25, 2008
1,946
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Hi,

I am starting a small upgrade project, and would like some validation that I am doing the right things;

I currently have a Raid0 setup, based on two Samsung F1s. This is setup as one master drive, and all files (excluding data) comes to 130GB. I'd like to improve on the experienced speed, and install an Intel X25 160GB SSD.

I think need the drive, one of these MaxConnect 2.5" -> 3.5" caddies, and a day of fiddling.

I'd install the SSD, get it recognised in OSX, and then use Clonedisk to "copy" the Master contents onto it? Shutdown, disconnect the existing Raid0, and boot it all up on the SSD. Following all is working, I'd recreate a new Raid0 on my F1s, for data etc. Anything wrong in my logic?

Thanks in advance,

KB
 
Having just done similar your plan is sound. I booted from Leopard install disc and used disk utility to create and restore from the old array to the new array (pair of 160gig Intel SSD, 2nd gens). The only problem I ran into is having to reinstall my 8800gt to boot from the Leopard disc as I'm currently using a 285gtx.
 
I have always used "Carbon Copy Cloner" for imaging a hard drive. Can I really use Disk Utility to copy/image from the existing Raid0, to any SSD?

Also, what mounts did you use for the two SSDs?

KB
 
Yes you can use DiskUtility to clone, it's called restore in Disk Utility parlance. To clone your boot drive you'll need to boot from your Leopard install disc. If you have a 3rd party graphics card you may need to reinstall the original.

For mounting I used the overpriced MaxConnect 2.5" optical bay kit. No instructions are included, cable routing is somewhat a pain, but it works.
 
The MaxConnect kit are all very pricy but also nicely machined. Alternative for the optical bay: Addonix disk array. Only one power cable.
 
I was in the same situation roughly a month ago.
Here is what I did, and would do to improve it the next time ;-)

I made a final Time Machine backup (Backup now basically) and took the RAID drives out. Put the new drive in (OCZ Vertex Turbo in a Kingston caddy) and booted the Mac Pro installation DVD.
From the menu I chose to restore an image.

Problem: The Time Capsule is so friggin' slow that is took about 2 hours to restore about 80GB of data. Not fun. And I used a 1Gbit connection. Don't even want to know how slow it would be with the wireless-n connection.
Suggestion: Make a Time Capsule backup on a firewire/USB drive (not sure if USB works though).

Another problem, I think anyway in my case, is to disable Time Capsule on other Mac's while restoring. I noticed that when it hang while my MBP started a Time Capsule backup. Quite annoying :-(
Not sure if it's valid, but I will next time myself.
 
Thanks all for the feedback. However, I can't use the optical bays, as I have two drives there. Hence, I need to use one of the four hard drive bays, and need a mounting kit for the Intel x25-g2 I want to use.

I say a so-called Icy-box, but they have a bad reputation, and I think I also saw a kit somewhere, but that was for the 2009 Mac Pro. I have an early-2008 Mac Pro.

KB
 
I heard the Icydock was fiddly installing the SSDs into? Especially becuase it was a "tool-free" installation, and the alignment between Icydock and SSD was not ensured.

KB
 
Killerbob said:
I heard the Icydock was fiddly installing the SSDs into? Especially becuase it was a "tool-free" installation, and the alignment between Icydock and SSD was not ensured.

KB
Click to expand...

Check the Kingston thingy. Works perfectly.
Here is a link to a Dutch site. Hard to find on the Kingston site...
 
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