MP 1,1-5,1 2010 cMP Configuration Drives

[bjolester]

I have a 2010 cMP Westmare 2.4Ghz eight core Mac Pro, and am looking for advice about how to configure the drives and TimeMachine backup. I was planning to use the Mac Pro for recording music in my home studio (Logic Pro) and also photography (Aperture and Affinity Photo), but have ended up using the machine mostly for editing photos. I am a hobby photographer and photograph with both digital and film cameras, and often edit very large tiff image files from scanned film. I have upgraded to 32GB RAM (OWC/rebranded Samsung), and am running OS Sierra. My current configuration of drives are as follows:

BOOTH: Apple original SSD 512GB for system and apps (100GB used)

MASTER: OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD 1TB for image and sound files (600GB used)

BACKUP: HGST Deskstar 7K4000 4T for manual backup of MASTER drive


* In addition I also regularly backup the MASTER drive on two external HDD drives.


I would like to start using my large BACKUP HDD as a TimeMachine backup drive, and am planning to partition the drive into maybe three partitions:

BOOTH_TimeMachine: 500GB
MASTER_TimeMachine: 2TB*
STORAGE: 1500GB

*I have read several places that it is recommended to have 100% larger size on the TimeMachine volume than the drive that is being backed up (MASTER drive 1T < MASTER_TimeMachine volume 2T), but maybe this is a waste of space?

1. Is it a good idea to use SSDs as BOOTH and MASTER volumes (drives) like I do?

2. Would it be better to use a HDD as MASTER volume (drive)?

3. Is it a good idea to partition the large HGST BACKUP drive into three partitions when using this drive for TimeMachine backup?

4. I plan to clone BOOTH and MASTER volume regularly (CCC) and keep these clones on an external drive.

5. Any other suggestions about how best to configure the drives in a cMP?


I am grateful for any advice about my query!

 

[h9826790]

1）It's entirely correct to use SSD for the system, application, and your frequent access files.

2) I can't quite see why HDD will be better, apart from cheaper. Of course, HDD is easier for data recovery, however, this only important if you don't have proper backup.

3) There is no need to partition the HDD. TM will create an image file for each backup, that image file will adjust size by itself. Micro manage the partitions will only limit the max capacity for each usage, but won't optimise them.

4) IMO, it's a good habit to have CCC clone regularly.

5) Keep the OS and Applications on the 512GB SSD. This is the primary SSD. But since that's just 100GB usage, if I were you, I will also CCC the OS and software to the 1TB SSD (which still has 400GB empty space anyway). So that, even the 512GB SSD die, I can boot from the backup OS straight away, easy recover, no down time.

It seems you have multiple backup for the data files already. I think that's good enough. But lack of backup OS is the weakest point on your setup. By considering there are so much empty SSD space in your setup. I highly recommend you consider to have a backup OS.

 

[bjolester]

1）It's entirely correct to use SSD for the system, application, and your frequent access files.

2) I can't quite see why HDD will be better, apart from cheaper. Of course, HDD is easier for data recovery, however, this only important if you don't have proper backup.

3) There is no need to partition the HDD. TM will create an image file for each backup, that image file will adjust size by itself. Micro manage the partitions will only limit the max capacity for each usage, but won't optimise them.

4) IMO, it's a good habit to have CCC clone regularly.

5) Keep the OS and Applications on the 512GB SSD. This is the primary SSD. But since that's just 100GB usage, if I were you, I will also CCC the OS and software to the 1TB SSD (which still has 400GB empty space anyway). So that, even the 512GB SSD die, I can boot from the backup OS straight away, easy recover, no down time.

It seems you have multiple backup for the data files already. I think that's good enough. But lack of backup OS is the weakest point on your setup. By considering there are so much empty SSD space in your setup. I highly recommend you consider to have a backup OS.

Thank you very much for your helpful answer! Most appreciated.

3) I will activate TimeMachine backup of BOOTH and MASTER drives on the HDD drive ASAP

5) Thank you for highlighting the importance of cloning the BOOTH (OS and APPs) volume, I will follow your advice.

 

[bjolester]

About Carbon Copy Cloner:

I want to make a clone of my BOOTH drive (OS and APPs). If I choose my MASTER drive as destination, will CCC touch the files and folders on the MASTER drive? Or will the BOOTH clone appear as an additional item?

The reason I am asking is that the instructions for CCC mention preparing a "clean" destination, like an empty formatted USB flash drive or a formatted SSD/HDD.

 

[h9826790]

About Carbon Copy Cloner:

I want to make a clone of my BOOTH drive (OS and APPs). If I choose my MASTER drive as destination, will CCC touch the files and folders on the MASTER drive? Or will the BOOTH clone appear as an additional item?

The reason I am asking is that the instructions for CCC mention preparing a "clean" destination, like an empty formatted USB flash drive or a formatted SSD/HDD.

You can set CCC to not to touch the destination drive's file. Besides, you can enable SafetyNet.

I always put my own files inside the SafetyNet to ensure CCC won't touch them. So that I am free to use any clone options including auto delete old files on the destination drive.

Of course, I won't 100% trust the SafetyNet, I have multiple backup of those files.