Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Bootcamp TB2 solution needed for nMP

Killerbob

Killerbob

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 25, 2008
1,916
664
I have been looking all over, read hundreds of posts, and nowhere can I find someone who has documented a solution where 2 SSDs are setup in Raid0 in an external Thunderbolt 2 chassis, and it is bootable in a Bootcamp partition.

All I want to do is buy an external enclosure which can hold my SSDs in Raid0, which can be used for a Bootcamp partition holding Windows 8.1. I can easily find a TB enclosure which can hold 1 SSD, and I assume I can easily use one like that for a Bootcamp partition. However, I have 2 Samsung 840 Pros which I would like to Raid0 for that purpose, and all the solutions I can find, Promise Pegasus2, OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual, etc., are perfectly usable in OSX, but not as a boot solution for Windows.

I checked out LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2, but alas, it will probably only work as 2 individual SSDs in Windows...

Anyone?
 
Since we know that you can move a Bootcamp volume on to a single TB drive, I think your real question is:

1. Are there low-cost dual-drive TB enclosures that include hardware RAID0 (such that the OS only sees one big, fast drive)? and/or

2. Can Bootcamp boot from a software Raid0 volume?

I think the answer to both Qs is likely "no."

What might work:

Put a minimal bootcamp volume on a partition of one of your SSDs. Then, from inside Windows, add a volume filling the rest of the space on the first SSD, then create a software RAID with the other SSD under Windows as a "D:" drive where you can put all your apps/data/etc.

Or you could buy an expensive enclosure with Hardware controller, but prob cheaper to simple buy one bigger SSD......
 
I remember I used to have a small Taurus enclosure that fitted two HDDs, and using a switch on the back, you could pick between Non-Raid, JBOD, Raid 0 and 1. It was dirt cheap, and had USB2, FW400 and FW800 connectivity.

These kind of enclosures, are they not possible on TB?
 
I don't so much worry about price, I just want something that works...

As for the Mercury Elite Pro Dual, I do not believe it is bootable on Windows. At least the info says it is only bootable on OSX.
 
Why do you need RAID-0 and Boot Camp?

Size, performance, or both?

Technically, what you are looking for is a multi-drive chassis with HW RAID controller, that presents itself as an AHCI device.

Alas, the solutions to date require a separate driver for OS X and a different driver for Windows.

What is it you are trying to do?
 
Speed, speed, speed. I game in Windows, and want the fastest I can get for that. I know I should just have a separate computer for that, but I also do not want to many devices on my desk.

I guess I'll have to settle on a TB enclosure for a single SSD then, and hope such a device does become available eventually...

However, even TB enclosures that'll fit an SSD are not readily available - at least I can only find solutions that come with SSDs already installed. Anyone?

And, with regards to the Pegasus, I do not believe you can, as the Raid0 is not recognised in Windows...
 
Killerbob said:
Speed, speed, speed. I game in Windows, and want the fastest I can get for that. I know I should just have a separate computer for that, but I also do not want to many devices on my desk.

I guess I'll have to settle on a TB enclosure for a single SSD then, and hope such a device does become available eventually...

However, even TB enclosures that'll fit an SSD are not readily available - at least I can only find solutions that come with SSDs already installed. Anyone?

And, with regards to the Pegasus, I do not believe you can, as the Raid0 is not recognised in Windows...
Click to expand...

Amazon has several enclosures without drives.

Also, some purchase refurb LaCie drives and swap out the mechanism. For SSD, both the Rugged and the Little Big Disk v1 are offered by the LaCie online shop as well as at MacMall. I've picked up a few and haven't had any issues.

I understand this may not be a solution if outside the US.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back