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    Anyone using Dual SSD?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by altecX, Jul 1, 2010.

  1. altecX

    altecX Notebook Deity

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    I'm debating using a dual 60GB SSD raid in my macbook or just a signal 120GB SSD. I never use the optical drive.

    Anyone have this setup? any opinions?
     
    altecX, Jul 1, 2010
    #1
  2. ifti

    ifti Undiscovered

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    I was very close to RAID'ing 2 Vertex 2 240GB SSD's - but after installing the first one I realised the speed was more then enough for me! Hence I decided to sell the second drive rather then RAID it.

    If you also like to keep the firmware of your drives up to date, its a little harder with drives set up in a RAID array.
     
    ifti, Jul 1, 2010
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  3. aznguyen316

    aznguyen316 Rock Chalk Jayhawk

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    cool Macbooks can do raid in OSX?
     
    aznguyen316, Jul 1, 2010
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  4. altecX

    altecX Notebook Deity

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    You have to remove teh optical drive and get an adapter.


    I was looking at the OWC SSD's how are their reviews?
     
    altecX, Jul 1, 2010
    #4
  5. aznguyen316

    aznguyen316 Rock Chalk Jayhawk

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    I figured as much. But nice to see that RAID is supported. =)
     
    aznguyen316, Jul 1, 2010
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  6. doh123

    doh123 Without ME its just AWESO

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    nothing new... OSX has done software raid for a loooong time... and for machines you can add cards to, there are many hardware raid controllers.
     
    doh123, Jul 1, 2010
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  7. aznguyen316

    aznguyen316 Rock Chalk Jayhawk

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    ^ good to know, only ever owned the Macbooks and at that time I never looked into replacing the ODD.
     
    aznguyen316, Jul 1, 2010
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  8. stylinexpat

    stylinexpat Notebook Evangelist

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    If I had the choice of choosing again I would not run raid on my MBP. I have 2 Vertex 2 SSD's in there now. Boot is slower by about 7-8 seconds running raid as opposed to just one SSD. Once things are open of course things are much faster running raid. I get less battery time running raid on my new 13" MBP. I think one SSD is plenty quick for the MBP. You won't notice the difference unless you are constantly transferring large files everyday on your notebook andyou also get about 20-25% less battery life too if you run raid. I got better battery life when I switched my from my HDD to the Vertex 2 SSD but when I added the second Vertex 2 SSD and ran raid I got worse battery life time.
     
    stylinexpat, Jul 3, 2010
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  9. crazycanuk

    crazycanuk Notebook Virtuoso

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    agreed, if you need RAID, battery life suffers and a software RAID is nowhere near as efficient.
     
    crazycanuk, Jul 4, 2010
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  10. ifti

    ifti Undiscovered

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    The Vertex 2 drives use the SandForce controllers - I have one myself and cant recommend it enough!
    Check the video in my sig ;)

    This is exactly why I decided against running RAID on the 2 Vertex 2 240GB drives I purchased. Hence Ive just sold the second drive instead!
     
    ifti, Jul 4, 2010
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  11. E30kid

    E30kid Notebook Deity

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    For most people, putting two SSDs in RAID is overkill for basic usage on a laptop. Just get a boot SSD and a bigger HDD for storage.
     
    E30kid, Jul 4, 2010
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  12. wasabi.

    wasabi. Notebook Consultant

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    How big should the boot SSD be? 40gb? 80gb?
     
    wasabi., Jul 5, 2010
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  13. E30kid

    E30kid Notebook Deity

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    It really depends on what you want to put on it. If you want to be loading games off of it, I would get at least an 80GB drive. If it's just an OS and a few GBs of apps then you don't need more than 40GB.

    The OS itself shouldn't take up more than 10-15GB. I couldn't see myself needing more than 60GB for all of the stuff that I wanted to put on my SSD, so I went with the Vertex 2. The RealSSD seems to be faster though. The Vertex 2 works for me, so whatever.
     
    E30kid, Jul 5, 2010
    #13