RAID 0 in Non-Retina MBP

[steiney]

Hello All!

I just came across this article on OWC. The basic jist is that you can get the 2012 Non-Retina MBP, swap out the HDD for an SSD, and then use the OWC Data Doubler to put a second SSD in the optical bay. Then, you can link the two with a RAID 0 set up. The result/benefit is that your data speed is effectively doubled, up to 1000 MB/s read and 900 MB/s write.

I'm strongly considering buying a 2012 Non-Retina MBP and having this done to it. I just have some questions which I'm hoping someone might have answers for.

1. As per Apple's website, the current Non-Retina MBP can only go up to 8 GB of RAM. Does anyone know if that's the true limit of if I could put two 8 GB chips in there and get it up to 16 GB?

2. Regarding RAID, would it be possible to implement RAID 10 instead of RAID 0, so that I have the added benefit of having a backup copy? The way I'm thinking this would work is to partition each physical SSD in half, so I have SSD1: 1a+1b and SSD2: 2a+2b. Then, I would use 1a+2a for the striping and 1b+2b as mirrored drives. Would that work? My knowledge regarding RAID is limited.

3. Is there any data transfer speed bottleneck I would hit or expect to hit if I have an SSD that can read 1000 MB/s and write 900 MB/s? Or would I be able to get the full benefit of having a SSD that fast?

4. Would it be possible to buy a Retina LCD panel and have it installed in the Non-Retina MBP? My guess here is that Retina LCD panel wouldn't fit in the Non-Retina MBP, due to differences in the form factor.

Well, if anyone has any information or insights into any of this, it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

steiney

 

[Xenn0X]

nope only raid in mac pro with raid card.

 

[MaxPower72]

I have 2 Samsung 830 512 GB in Raid 0 and 16 Gb of RAM
it rocks

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the form factor isn't the only thing preventing the swap, also the GPU in the rMBP is overclocked to handle the high res.
If I could have had that done I'd have the perfect mac laptop: classic Macbook Pro with Retina display, 1 TB SSD, 16GB RAM

 

[steiney]

Awesome! Is your MBP a 2012 or earlier? Reason I ask is that if it works with a 2011 model, I could buy a refurb from Apple and save some money there. I don't really see too much difference between the 2011 and 2012's to justify spending the extra money. I have a 2006 MBP right now that I'm pretty happy with. I've been holding off as long as I can to buy my next MBP. I want the difference in speed to be ridiculous. As it stands, the difference in GeekBench benchmar scores is huge. Mine is around the 2000's. The current flagship Apple model is around the 12000's. Have you done any benchmarking to see where you stand against the current flagship Apple model?

So I'm guessing you don't know about the RAID 10 instead of RAID 0 situation?

Good point about the LCD panel. I should have thought of it. I remember reading about that on here. It would be nice to have the Retina display, but I've always been perfectly happy with the normal definition laptop display. It's sweet on the iPhone because you hold it so much closer to your face normally. Granted, if I were a graphic designer or photographer, I would really want the extra definition.

EDIT: During further reading, I realized I will need to buy the 2012 classic MBP to get the 6 Gb/s optical drive speed, since previous versions apparently use 3 Gb/s speed.

 

[steiney]

Well I must say I feel silly. After further Googling, I realized this is a pretty common set up and very well documented. When I stumbled across it on OWC, it came across as this niche market and something done by very few people.

 

[cookiesnfooty]

Well I must say I feel silly. After further Googling, I realized this is a pretty common set up and very well documented. When I stumbled across it on OWC, it came across as this niche market and something done by very few people.

Yeah I have the same 2011 MPB 13" 16GB RAM and 2x512GB SSD bootup time after chime 2 seconds.

 

[alphaod]

I have a gaming laptop with 2x SSDs in RAID 0. Sure it's fast, but I really can't tell the difference between that and my Retina MacBook Pro with just one SSD in day to day use. You can't always just look at benchmarks.

 

[steiney]

Good to hear. Two seconds to boot is ridiculously fast. I've decided I'm still going to wait at least another year to make a purchase. I have to get the 2012 cMBP because that's the earliest one with a 6Gbit optical drive connection. So, I'll wait a year until I can pick one up refurbed for way less.

Also, I'm still weighing the pros and cons, such as:

1. No TRIM support on RAID 0.
2. No Retina display (obviously).
3. Something else I thought of previously but can't think of right now.

 

[MattyDlotus]

Hi, Ive got a 2012 15" cMBP and have 2 Crucial SSDs in RAID 0 and 16GB RAM. Geekbench scores are about 13200 give or take

 

[steiney]

Nice. That's about 1000 higher than the fastest MBP's I've seen listed on Geekbench.

How do you feel about not having TRIM support on your SSDs? Have you had the setup long enough to notice performance degradation or do you not expect it to be a problem?