Okay, so one of the recurring complaints about OS X is the lack of a more modern file-system. While Core Storage shows a great deal of promise, we're still lacking any protection against bit-rot, and since my main block of storage is 3tb I'm thinking I really should get more serious about it, as I've already noticed blips and crackles in my oldest music files, so god knows what else has degraded with time and migration from different drives.
Anyway, while I made a switch from SSD for OS and HDDs for files to using a Fusion Drive, I'm hoping to get a bigger SSD when I replace my current computer. I'm thinking that what I'll do is partition the SSD into 25% for Mac OS X and Applications, 25% for Bootcamp, and the rest will be the SSD part of a Fusion Drive for my files (the HDD side will be a RAID-5 to give at least partial protection against drive failures).
I'll also have a separate volume for Time Machine (HDD only).
I'm thinking the Time Machine volume is the most important one to protect since the files should be in there long-term, and in theory any files being backed up should be recent and thus unlikely to have suffered bit-rot yet. However, I'm wondering if anyone has managed to get Time Machine to run from a ZFS volume? I know there's a trick that sometimes works by creating an HFS disk image on a volume and pointing Time Machine to that, but will it work when running from a ZFS volume? If so then I believe it would add protection to the disk image?
I believe OS X won't boot from ZFS at all, so that rules it out for OS and Applications, but that's not such a big issue I think since both are fairly easy to just re-install if required.
That leaves my user folders volume. First question for that is will ZFS work for that? Obviously ZFS will need to be available before logging in, but is that as simple as just waiting a while before logging in? What if I wanted to have FileVault 2 enabled on my OS partition?
On a related note, I know that MacZFS doesn't support encryption yet, but do any of the other drivers? Can ZFS be used as a file system on a Core Storage volume in order to add encryption (and/or Fusion Drive) that way?
Anyway, I'd appreciate hearing how other people have their systems setup with ZFS, why, and what advantages/disadvantages they've found to that setup (e.g - quirks or annoyances with how OS X lets you operate that way).
For example, I'd really like to avoid having to split my home folder across multiple volumes, or using a files-specific volume; I did that in the past and found it to be nothing but a hassle as sym-linking my ~/Movies folder to point at another volume just provided nothing but annoyances thanks to the inconsistency with which various apps handle sym-links, even though the whole point is that they're supposed to be invisible.
Anyway, while I made a switch from SSD for OS and HDDs for files to using a Fusion Drive, I'm hoping to get a bigger SSD when I replace my current computer. I'm thinking that what I'll do is partition the SSD into 25% for Mac OS X and Applications, 25% for Bootcamp, and the rest will be the SSD part of a Fusion Drive for my files (the HDD side will be a RAID-5 to give at least partial protection against drive failures).
I'll also have a separate volume for Time Machine (HDD only).
I'm thinking the Time Machine volume is the most important one to protect since the files should be in there long-term, and in theory any files being backed up should be recent and thus unlikely to have suffered bit-rot yet. However, I'm wondering if anyone has managed to get Time Machine to run from a ZFS volume? I know there's a trick that sometimes works by creating an HFS disk image on a volume and pointing Time Machine to that, but will it work when running from a ZFS volume? If so then I believe it would add protection to the disk image?
I believe OS X won't boot from ZFS at all, so that rules it out for OS and Applications, but that's not such a big issue I think since both are fairly easy to just re-install if required.
That leaves my user folders volume. First question for that is will ZFS work for that? Obviously ZFS will need to be available before logging in, but is that as simple as just waiting a while before logging in? What if I wanted to have FileVault 2 enabled on my OS partition?
On a related note, I know that MacZFS doesn't support encryption yet, but do any of the other drivers? Can ZFS be used as a file system on a Core Storage volume in order to add encryption (and/or Fusion Drive) that way?
Anyway, I'd appreciate hearing how other people have their systems setup with ZFS, why, and what advantages/disadvantages they've found to that setup (e.g - quirks or annoyances with how OS X lets you operate that way).
For example, I'd really like to avoid having to split my home folder across multiple volumes, or using a files-specific volume; I did that in the past and found it to be nothing but a hassle as sym-linking my ~/Movies folder to point at another volume just provided nothing but annoyances thanks to the inconsistency with which various apps handle sym-links, even though the whole point is that they're supposed to be invisible.
