Setting up RAID 1, then a Partition, then Time Machine using Disk Utility - Help with backups

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zeebra10 Author

Level 1

4 points

Setting up RAID 1, then a Partition, then Time Machine using Disk Utility - Help with backups

Hello,

Here is what I am trying to achieve:

I would like to have 2 x 16TB HHD drives running in a RAID 1 configuration
I want to create 2 partitions or containers
One will have some backup video files, the other will have Time Machine setup for my laptop

How would I proceed using Disk Utility in MacOS Sonoma?

Order and format questions:

I hear that Mac OS Extended Journaled is best for Hard Drives and APFS is for SSDs. I also hear that Time Machine runs best in APFS. Which format I select when creating a RAID 1 configuration? Which format for the partition?
Once that RAID 1 configuration is setup? How do I setup the partition? On which of the two drives? I am not able to select 'partition' on the newly created RAID1 container. I can only partition one of the two drives.
Can I setup the partition with Time Machine in APFS, while backup video files partition will be setup in Mac OS Journaled?
Considering the way Time Machine works, how do I setup the size allocated to each? My MacBook Pro has 1TB of storage. Can I change any of this down the road?
Finally, is there maybe a better software for what I am trying to achieve and for higher speeds? I would like to try to avoid creating a partition to keep it real simple.

Hope someone can shed light!

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.1

Posted on Mar 27, 2024 3:56 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,126 points

Mar 31, 2024 2:04 PM in response to zeebra10

APFS is not optimized for mechanical drives in that it doesn't care about file extents. You can spread them all over an SSD without issue. On a spinning HDD, that will eventually cause slowdowns. Those predominately occur when you save a file, open it for editing, then save it back to the drive. If you are not doing that which it sounds like you are not, then APFS is fine on a HDD. Even if it does slow down a little, you are just archiving, not editing. If you intend to edit on the drive, then APFS on the Video partition would not be suitable.
What type of RAID are you considering? Regardless, you don't choose which disk. The RAID shows up as a single entity.
Yes, but as I noted, there should not be any issue using APFS for both.
I would not partition the RAID but instead create APFS Volumes. Volumes share the storage in the full container, but are separate from a disk volume perspective. You can set a quota on the Time Machine volume. It should be 2x to 3x the size of the data you intend to backup.
My suggestion on 4 solves this to some extent, but it really depends on the type of RAID and how it is configured. A striped array uses multiple drives to speed up writing data. A mirrored array will duplicate on each drive. Striping will be faster and mirror will not. A hardware-based RAID will make things faster. I don't know the relative statistics of using a software RAID vs hardware or even against just writing to the drive itself. My guess is the connection method might have more effect on write speed than the RAID.

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