Disk config

Elric · 1 Aug 2012 at 11:08

Not sure whether to put this in hardware or software, so...

I've got a 2011 (Oct) MBP 17" with a 512Gb Crucial M4 SSD in the HDD bay and the 750GB 7.2K HDD in the optical bay slot. All the data (not much yet) is stored on the SSD, the HDD is not used yet.

I've also shrunk the SSD partition down so that I could have a 64GB BootCamp partition. (I think this is too small to be really useful.)

I've downloaded and updated ML on to it to test it out and I'm in the position where I can scrub the system and do a fresh install.

So, thoughts please on the best option for configuring the SSD / HDD for storage?

bloodiedathame · 1 Aug 2012 at 11:20

SSD for OS and Applications.
HDD for user accounts.

Is that what you mean?

Elric · 1 Aug 2012 at 12:58

Kind of.

Putting the whole of the user account(s) on the HDD would be ideal for large items / infrequent stuff, but with 512GB available on the SSD, I'd be tempted to use some / more of that for faster access / retrieval times.

I might even try and put the BootCamp partition on the HDD, to keep the SSD just for OSX, not sure...

So, has anyone been in a similar situation / configuration and if so, how have you done yours.

Feek · 1 Aug 2012 at 15:00

iMac, 256Gb SSD and 2Tb mechanical drive.

I have my iTunes library on the mechanical drive and everything else on the SSD.

With my Mac Pro I had a much smaller SSD so I messed around with symlinks and moved loads of stuff onto a mechanical drive but I've not even half filled the SSD on the iMac.

bloodiedathame · 1 Aug 2012 at 15:26

The way I roll:

64GB SSD has my OS and all applications.
500GB HDD has user folder and all files. It also hosts about 50GB music samples and instruments etc on it which I made alias' of and dropped into the Library on the SSD so Logic thinks they are local.

Elric · 2 Aug 2012 at 15:30

Thanks for the info guys.

I've gone for the following setup, which I'll test out for a few weeks and make sure it's right for the needs.

512GB SSD [361GB for OSX & 150GB for BootCamp]
750GB HDD with specific folders [Downloads / iTunes / Aperture Library / other]

I've not bothered with any symlinks yet, I'm trying to see if I can let it work as above.