SSD + HD Partitioning

[parasbuy]

Hi Folks... I just received a 250GB SSD for Christmas and would like to use it as the primary boot drive. I currently have a 1TB as my primary and another 1TB as a Backup on a Mac Pro 5,1. I was wondering what the best strategy was in terms of maximizing performance?

I should add that I also have a 250GB SSD on my MacBook Pro and regularly work with my DropBox files because they are synced everywhere. However, I use Lightroom quite a bit on the MacPro and also have Movies and MP3s that are using up most of the space on the drives.

I suppose what I would like to do is have all my Applications on the SSD as well as the DropBox and everything else on the 1TB drive. Is there a way to partition the SSD + 1TB Primary as a single partition? Would this be a good idea? I am thinking that my DropBox would be my Backup for current files and I can setup CCCloner to backup the 1TB drive to its current Backup.

I would have to transfer Mail to the new SSD and will Archive to reduce space. Lightroom, iMovie, and iTunes would have to be directed to the 1TB drive for the folders, though I don't know if there will be issues with this?

Thanks for the input.
Paras.

 

[ManoaHi]

Hope This Helps

Sorry, @Paras, I'm a little lost. You have a lot going on.

Let me try to break up your questions.

Current Setup:
MacPro Late 2008.
You currently have two 1 TB HDDs. One is primary and one is backup.
Have a new 250 GB SSD
OS X version: unknown (please specify)

MacBook Pro - irrelevant as far as your questions pertain to the MacPro only, or so I hope otherwise I'm way off base.

Your questions:
1. New SSD make as primary drive. Yes, very easy to do.

2. All applications on SSD as well as DropBox folder. (the app and the folder are two sparate things so when you say "DropBox" please clarify app or folder). This is fine too.

3. a. Want SSD and 1 TB disk as single partition. Yes, but your disks must be erased and setup as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and setup as RAID as Concatenated Disk Set. You will not be able to be sure what goes where, so you can't ensure your apps are on the SSD
3. b. Do you want to setup as Fusion Drive? This is quite involved and it has to be done manually through the Terminal app. Apple is unlikely to do it using the Disk Utility GUI. It is not for the faint of heart, but if your used to configuring *NIX file systems, it is straight forward but still tedious. If you are willing to do all the steps involved, including configuring the disks, Fusion is a great solution since the OS will move files around based on their usage. The minimum OS is OS X 10.8.2 (which is the latest Mountain Lion)

4. CCClone. Great cloning app.

If I were in your situation, as I far as I know that your primary use is Lightroom, which is a highly intensive app, install the OS and ALL the apps on the SSD. Do not do 3a nor 3b as mentioned above. If you lose one disk you lose the entire data set and would have redo the whole thing again. It also puts your system backup at risk, you would have to image 1.35 TB of storage. You won't be able to CCC the 1 TB that is stuck forever into the Concatenated disk set, that will be the case in either of the #3 options. If you truly use the second 1 TB as backup, I'd keep each disk separate and RAID 0 (mirror) the two 1 TB HDDs for 1 TB and then if you loose one of the HDDs, you still have the other one. In other words, let the OS "clone" them for you, automatically. Still you should have a large external disk or two to TimeMachine it all.

3a: Upside, one partition to hold everything. Downside: failure of HDD will require reconfigure reinstall everything from backup. You will have to reformat disks of that system.

3b. Upside, faster for frequently used apps as they migrate depending upon use. Downside, one disk failure takes out the whole thing. You'll have to backup

Primary Disk: SSD, OS and apps, nothing else, leave the rest of it for swap and temp files. Upside, highest speed. Downside: waste of usable disk space

Secondary Disk: Mirror the two HDD and keep all data here including the DropBox folder. Upside: effectively an automatic backup that remains online that is usable through 1 disk failure (remember HDD failure is not an "if" it is a "when"). Downside: waste of disk space (wasting an entire drive), slower write to disk (since it has to write to two).

External Disk(s) Large: Time Machine above, exclude self. If you put on two or more, alternate the TimeMachine to all of them. Or you can just TimeMachine backup the SSD since the 1 TB mirror will have it's own natural backup.

For my only Mac, a MBA I run 5 TimeMachine disks. Two at home, 4TB disks, 1 TB at work and remains there. 1 additional 2 TB at work and 1 still yet another 2 TB in trunk and this one and one of the work ones rotate every work day, so the one in trunk goes to the office and one of the office ones goes in trunk. What this yields me is that if my Mac got lost/stolen/dead, I could get another Mac an restore everything from either where I am with my car, or in the office or at home. This means I have multiple off site backups.

 

[parasbuy]

Wow... thank you, ManoaHi... I appreciate the time you must have put in to provide these suggestions. I've learned a lot and it has already been very helpful, for sure. Thank you!

Current Setup:
MacPro Late 2010.
Currently have two 1 TB HDDs. One is primary and one is backup.
Have a new 250 GB SSD
OS X version: 10.10.1

Macbook Pro Early 2014
250GB SSD
OS X version: 10.10.1

The risks you outlined in #3 A+B were too high for me, so I've taken and implemented a lot of your suggestions...

1. Installed the new SSD as the Primary

2. Installed the OS, Apps, and Dropbox folder integrated in Finder onto the SSD

3. Kept the former Primary 1TB HDD as a Secondary and the 1TB Backup as still being a 1TB backup for the Secondary. The Secondary is still a bootable drive and I can get into via pressing Option during the boot-up sequence.

4. Continuing to use CCCloner to clone from the Secondary to the Backup on a daily and monthly basis. The Secondary also has Dropbox (integrated into Finder) so I expect that as long as I use only documents that are in Dropbox while on the Primary SSD, everything should be copied to the Secondary, and then cloned to the Backup drive.

5. Same thing with the SSD on the Macbook Pro, as I use only documents that are in Dropbox (integrated into Finder), everything should sync through with the other drives in the same manner. I bring up the MBP because, similar to your setup, it is my travel buddy for my most current files, just as the Primary SSD is on the MacPro.

6. Finally, via an alias to the Documents folder to the Secondary HD, I can still readily access the music, video, and photography files.


So, a few questions...

A. I've implemented the SSD into the data connection located in the second (empty) DVD-drive bay of the MacPro. Is this slower or the same as inserting where all the other HDD drive bays are?

B. Is the assumption in #4 true? Will CCC do a backup from the Secondary to the Backup without my actually being in it. What if I am using the SSD while the scheduled backup time comes up (it's scheduled to do this in a few hours so I guess I'll find out what happens the hard way.

C. What I was trying to avoid via putting a single partition with the SSD + (now) Secondary HD was the split in the file structure of having some things on the SSD and others on the Secondary. So, I am currently only using Lightroom by booting into the Secondary. This is obviously inconvenient and inefficient, so I would like to transition to using Lightroom via the SSD instead. However, I'm not familiar with how to implement this properly yet within Lightroom. It seems as if I will have to manually move files from Lightroom on the SSD into Lightroom on the Secondary, but I am not sure. I cherish my photos immensely so I want to be sure I don't inadvertently lose files while working across the different disks.

D. To make things more practical, I've erased using Apple Mail on the Secondary and now kept it only on the Primary SSD. This takes up a lot of space, however, so I will need to Archive, etc. Same with Calendar, it's too confusing and too much downloading and syncing going on.

E. Similar issues with other apps... Mendeley / Zotero has too many and large files for the SSD. iMovie and Blender for videos. iTunes for music. Is there a better way?

F. I using engineering software.. Solidworks, Matlab, etc. via a Windows drive and have a backup for it, as well. I was hoping to use Windows and these apps via a dual-boot partition on the SSD as well, but it seems I won't have enough space and things seem convoluted enough already.


I must say, as well, that the SSD is really very nice compared to using the HDD. It's amazingly quiet and booting up / down is so much faster than before.

Thank you again for your input!

Best regards,
Paras.

 

[ManoaHi]

Reply to Questions, A Few More

A. I've implemented the SSD into the data connection located in the second (empty) DVD-drive bay of the MacPro. Is this slower or the same as inserting where all the other HDD drive bays are?
This depends, location doesn't matter as much as connection. I don't remember the Pro's internal configurations. I feel the need to ask if you have two empty drive bays? I think you do and the two 1 TB HDDs are on sleds, which makes them cable free as they connect into the connectors in the bays. The bays contain the power and the data connections so if you have the sled they will plug into the SATA connectors. Unless you got a full-sized SSD, you need an adapter sled. While, I believe the optical bays have an SATA connector. Ideally you want your disks on different controllers and the only way to tell is to learn how to read the Apple-->About This Mac-->System Info. Unless I can see that and even if you post it, it will be useful. I'm going to assume they are on different controllers. This is ideal. If they are not, no great loss.

Is the assumption in #4 true? Will CCC do a backup from the Secondary to the Backup without my actually being in it. What if I am using the SSD while the scheduled backup time comes up (it's scheduled to do this in a few hours so I guess I'll find out what happens the hard way.
Sorry, I don't know how CCC behaves when files are open, since it' backup is block by block, where as most backup is file by file. Normal backups skip open files. Still CCC is probably the best backup system. I only use it once in a while, just prior to upgrading the OS. Like just prior to going from 10.10.0 to 10.10.1. I make sure I can boot from that clone. All other backups are TimeMachine. A CCC/Time Machine combo is likely the absolute best at this time.

What I was trying to avoid via putting a single partition with the SSD + (now) Secondary HD
Oh God, I hope you don't/didn't try this. It requires a lot of prep. Re-partitioning your disks will necessarily require erasing the disks. If you're not really careful in your backups, you might lose data.

I would like to transition to using Lightroom via the SSD instead. However, I'm not familiar with how to implement this properly yet within Lightroom. It seems as if I will have to manually move files from Lightroom on the SSD into Lightroom on the Secondary, but I am not sure. I cherish my photos immensely so I want to be sure I don't inadvertently lose files while working across the different disks.
I don't know how Lightroom keeps track of the data (photos). I'd suggest contacting Adobe and find out how to migrate the program but not the data. Some programs keep their "database" hidden and if so, there is a lot of meta data that you can't really see or understand and that can be a daunting task. Adobe should, 1 either be able to tell you since migrating to new machine is normal, and 2. Adobe's forum to find out from other users.

To make things more practical, I've erased using Apple Mail on the Secondary and now kept it only on the Primary SSD. This takes up a lot of space, however, so I will need to Archive, etc. Same with Calendar, it's too confusing and too much downloading and syncing going on.
Um, not quite sure what you're saying. Apple Mail is on iCloud, it's not "in" your Mac. Are you referring to "backups" by exporting mail (I'd suggest doing that if you have important mails)? Apple Mail is, however, taking up your iCloud space, so you could run out of your free 5GB of iCloud. I saw this on the original post, but I didn't address it then. You can put the exported files wherever you like, you get to choose when you select a folder to export, just be sure to check the box about subfolders.

Similar issues with other apps...
Contact the vendor. For iTunes have a look at Locate and organize your iTunes files - Apple Support

I was hoping to use Windows and these apps via a dual-boot partition on the SSD as well, but it seems I won't have enough space and things seem convoluted enough already.
If you're concerned about performance, don't overload your SSD. What is your current RAM capacity and configuration? If you don't have enough RAM. the OS will create swap files on your boot disk in this case the SSD. It can even get to the total slug speeds as it swaps out/in smaller sections. You actually don't have much disk space to do everything you need/want to do. Do you have a lot of external disk space?

I have loads of disk space. I have a MacBook Air, my son has a MacBook Pro. The women, wife and daugther prefer Windows, but Window 8 had TimeMachine like capabilities, yet they don't take backups, which irritates me. My son is pretty diligent in backing up his iPhone and iPad as well as his Mac. I have about 14TB disk connected to my Mac, albeit majority TimeMachine. More if you include NAS. No such thing as too much disk space.