Resolved Best way to backup RAID0?

[eldudorinio]

Hi,

I'm really not sure under which forums I should create this post, but here goes.

I am planning to add 2 new SSD drives on my late 2008 MacBook and configure them in RAID0. I have 2 questions:

1. What is the best way to create the RAID0? SoftRAID, DiskUtility, other?
2. What is the best way to backup RAID0?

Current specs: 8GB RAM, 640GB SATA hard drive, the rest as shipped with the late 2008 2.4GHz MacBook.

I have not yet decided which OSX version I will install. Anything between Mountain Lion and Yosemite.

Regarding backup I was thinking of taking TimeMachine backups daily and keep a spare hard drive to replace the SSD drives in case of failure.

Any thoughts?

 

[MacUser2525]

1. Disk Utility to create it, all you ever get on a mac unless you have MP with add in card is software RAID anyways.

2. Same as any other backup you have the idea in your post. Use TM for main backup keep spare for bootable drive in case the raid goes titsup. I have Carbon Copy Cloner backup my RAID0 install to spinning drive every morning.

If you buy USB enclosure for your already existing drive then you need not install anything new or different. You can simply create the raid then boot the recovery partition on the old drive then use Disk Utility to restore the OS from it either that or the already mentioned CCC will do it from the live running disk OSX will not allow this live restore anymore.

 

[eldudorinio]

1. Disk Utility to create it, all you ever get on a mac unless you have MP with add in card is software RAID anyways.

2. Same as any other backup you have the idea in your post. Use TM for main backup keep spare for bootable drive in case the raid goes titsup. I have Carbon Copy Cloner backup my RAID0 install to spinning drive every morning.

If you buy USB enclosure for your already existing drive then you need not install anything new or different. You can simply create the raid then boot the recovery partition on the old drive then use Disk Utility to restore the OS from it either that or the already mentioned CCC will do it from the live running disk OSX will not allow this live restore anymore.

Just to clarify something, can CCC make a bootable backup to an external drive? So, if RAID0 fails, I simply pop in the backup drive and I'm up and running? Is there a way I can do this from OSX?

 

[Gav2k]

Personally I would do some testing to make sure your optibay link speed negotiates correctly. I remember having issues with mine way back when. The main drive sat at sata2 but the optibay would sit at sata1, sometimes after a reboot it would negotiate at sata2.

It wouldn't cause any data loss issues but it would drag the array to sata1 speeds and in turn your two drives wouldn't be performing as quick as a single ssd in the main bay at sata2 if you get me?!

 

[eldudorinio]

Personally I would do some testing to make sure your optibay link speed negotiates correctly. I remember having issues with mine way back when. The main drive sat at sata2 but the optibay would sit at sata1, sometimes after a reboot it would negotiate at sata2.

It wouldn't cause any data loss issues but it would drag the array to sata1 speeds and in turn your two drives wouldn't be performing as quick as a single ssd in the main bay at sata2 if you get me?!

Good tip!
I'll keep this in mind when I do the upgrade. Although in System Info for both SATA ports it shows Link Speed: 3 Gigabit.

Worse case scenario: I have 2 separate SSDs, instead of a RAID0 volume.

 

[MacUser2525]

Just to clarify something, can CCC make a bootable backup to an external drive? So, if RAID0 fails, I simply pop in the backup drive and I'm up and running? Is there a way I can do this from OSX?

CCC will make a bootable clone on an external drive that is my third backup option I use, first TM then cloned second drive/partition on it finally external clone. OSX does it with the already mentioned Disk Utility ran from the recovery partition with its restore option, it is just inconvenient to boot to it just to clone when CCC does it from running system on/at a scheduled time even if you want.

 

[eldudorinio]

Thank you both @MacUser2525 and @Gav2k for your input.

I believe I have finalized my backup plan in my head now.