MP 7,1 Mac Pro 2019 - backing up to an INTERNAL SSD?

[Shadow Puppets]

Hi everyone,

I have a nMP with 8TB storage from Apple in our studio here. It is my understanding that it is actually two separate 4tb SSDs that have been combined (I don't know the technical terms, I'm sorry).

Is it possible at all to split them into individual 4TB and 4TB drives and have one as my main drive and one as my Time Machine drive?

Apologies if this is a stupid question or if it has been asked before.

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

 

[profdraper]

Sure, but would use a fixed size partition vs. flexible APFS volume lest time machine run away and fill up endlessly.

Having said this, I would still use a different disk to that of the primary Apple volume. If the Apple disk fails in any way, then so too does the time machine backup. I use a separate 4GB SSD via thunderbolt & this can be split up in any number of ways to accommodate backups, eg, one partition for time machine and another for a Carbon Copy Cloner image (which can be immediately be cloned back onto the system disk in entirety if necessary ); time machine better used for clean system install, migration etc where this only holds the macOS data vol (not OS).

 

[OkiRun]

Sure, but would use a fixed size partition vs. flexible APFS volume lest time machine run away and fill up endlessly.

Having said this, I would still use a different disk to that of the primary Apple volume. If the Apple disk fails in any way, then so too does the time machine backup. I use a separate 4GB SSD via thunderbolt & this can be split up in any number of ways to accommodate backups, eg, one partition for time machine and another for a Carbon Copy Cloner image (which can be immediately be cloned back onto the system disk in entirety if necessary ); time machine better used for clean system install, migration etc where this only holds the macOS data vol (not OS).

These are some words of wisdom to take to heart. I know how tempting it is to use the Apple 8tb as the sole time machine location. So easy and no extra cable/drive. However, putting all the data in one basket is a disaster waiting to happen. If you do go done this path, also keep an external ssd drive as a second backup for time machine.

 

[LeonPro]

My understanding is that the OP is asking whether it's possible to physically split the built in 8TB Apple SSD which is essentially a 4TB x 2 on it's own.

The answer is no. As each Apple SSD is only a "dummy" chip. The actual memory controller is the T2 chip. It is the presence of the T2 chip plus the two dummy memory chips that create one "SSD stick" per se.

Until Apple changes the behaviour of the T2 chip to control each memory container to function independent of each other, you'll need to use an external drive to back up which as the others have already stated is the the correct way to go without putting all your eggs in one basket.