Setting up with external Drobo mini SSD RAID

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Setting up with external Drobo mini SSD RAID

I am getting a Drobo mini (connected through Thunderbolt) with 4 240GB SSD drives and setting it up with RAID 5, so I have three drives for data and one protection drive.

My goal is to set up my Late 2012 iMac (internal 1TB Fusion drive) so that when I migrate to the next system, I don't have to transfer all of my data from my internal drive as most of it will be on my external RAID box.

Ultimately, I would like to just have my internal drive with the OS and Applications if possible and then have all of the data (music, videos, photos, Office documents, mail, etc.) placed on my external Drobo. I know that iTunes library and some of the other apps I can easily set the data to be put on any drive (internal or external), but can all of the apps do this? I haven't seen that possible with iPhoto, Mail, etc.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Posted on Dec 14, 2013 9:54 PM

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Answer 1

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mende1

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93,538 points

Dec 14, 2013 10:26 PM in response to David Blank2

What you can do is to put the user account in your external drive, so all your user files and app settings are there.

To do this, follow these steps > http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57365307-263/moving-your-home-folder-in-os- x/ Be extremely careful following the steps

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Answer 2

David Blank2 Author

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Dec 14, 2013 11:13 PM in response to mende1

Thank you. I'll try that. The Drobo mini and SSDs arrive next week, so i'm gathering all of the information ahead of time.

Thanks again.

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Answer 3

mende1

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Dec 14, 2013 11:14 PM in response to David Blank2

You are welcome

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Answer 4

David Blank2 Author

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Dec 15, 2013 4:23 PM in response to mende1

The other option I'm mulling around is just making the Drobo as my boot up drive with all of my data, OS, etc., and just using the internal 1TB Fusion drive as my Time Machine backup.

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Answer 5

THJ2013

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Apr 4, 2014 7:12 AM in response to David Blank2

Just wondering if you purchased the Drobo mini with 4 SSD's in the end? Really intersted in SSD read and write speeds for both USB 3 and Thunderbolt with the mini.

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Answer 6

David Blank2 Author

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Apr 4, 2014 7:41 AM in response to THJ2013

I purchased the 256 GB M500 SSD's from Micron. If was going to make a recommendation on which SSDs to use, I've read that the fastest and most reliable are the Samsung 840 Pro. I've heard there are others that are approaching the same speed, but I got the Micron since they were less expensive and still faster than other brands.

Now, I did run a benchmark test between USB 3 and Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt 1 was twice as fast as USB 3 in the benchmark tests using the M500's SSD.

I'm still waiting for Drobo to get their software so I can make the Drobo mini a bootup device which their firmware doesn't support just yet.

Right now, I have it set up for backups and I have about 600+GB already used up.

I've owned this device for a few months now, and it was easy to setup and I don't have any complaints per se about it working. I'm just waiting for them to update the firmware so I can use it as a boot up device using Thunderbolt. I just downloaad a new firmware (second firmware update since I bought it in December 2013), but I don't know if this update allows it to boot up under Thunderbolt. I have to read up on what the latest update does.

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Answer 7

THJ2013

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Apr 4, 2014 8:19 AM in response to David Blank2

Thanks for all the info.

I also have M500 SSD's. They are great and really resonably priced (for an SSD).

Be really intersted in the benchmark scores if you still have them.

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Answer 8

David Blank2 Author

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Apr 4, 2014 9:09 AM in response to THJ2013

I ran the Blackmagicdesign Disk Speed Test and it's coming up with various scores, but I did get a max READ of around 300MB/s. WRITE times I have gotten a max of around 230MB/s. But when I let the test run, it just gives me different test results each time it cycles through and this is connected to Thunderbolt 1. USB 3 runs about half of whatever I get with Thunderbolt.

Does that help?

Also, I don't have that mSATA SSD installed, I think that's more for using the Drobo mini with standard HDDs.

The unit is quiet with the two fans, I just have to periodically vacuum the insides of the unit for dust, which I do every so often. I live in a dusty environment so unfortunately, the bad air from my local area is the culprit since I don't smoke or have pets in the room.

The other thing I was going to mention is the other reason why I use it as a Thunderbolt drive is that I have an USB DAC that connects to my stereo system and I can't have any USB drives on the same bus, so it's best to keep everything that eats up bandwidth to be off the USB bus for optimal performance of playing music through the USB DAC.

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Answer 9

David Blank2 Author

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Apr 4, 2014 9:17 AM in response to THJ2013

I also wanted to mention, just in case, is that the unit comes with both a USB 3 and a Thunderbolt cable inside the box, so if you buy one of these, you shouldn't need to buy an extra cable.

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