虽然你可能觉得这个技巧太简单了，但毕竟真的去做的人实在不多，所以我们还是来介绍一下。如果你愿意放弃心爱的Apple MacBook里的光驱，Macenstein不止示范如何用 MCE OptiBay 套件来把第二颗硬盘装进你的电脑，还教你如何活用它，你可以只是当做一个数据碟，或着一个装Windows的专属硬盘，或着就搞个RAID 0来让你的Mac OS X跑的飞快！不过别忘了，这颗硬盘不止会把机壳顶开1 mm，还会让水果公司一直搞不定的电池更加虚弱。在破坏自己的保固之前，最好先想清楚喔...（Casper，别冲动！）
320GB striped array (RAID 0) in a Macbook Pro (Computers)
:: Thursday, April 26th, 2007 @ 6:09:30 pm
Macbook Pro with 2 drives installed
Today, I installed an MCE OptiBay Hard Drive (a second 160GB 5400rpm drive) into my Macbook Pro. The directions that came with the drive were simple to follow, and it took about 15 minutes install (requiring the removal of 20-25 screws, plus two ribbon connectors).
When I booted back up, Mac OS X recognized the drive immediately (a SAMSUNG HM160JC) and asked me if I wanted to initialize it.
Instead, I rebooted from an external drive (backed up by the excellent SuperDuper) and created a striped RAID 0 array using the two internal Macbook Pro drives.
At this point, I discovered that you cannot partition a Mac OS X software RAID volume, so I was stuck with a single, 297.46GB volume. I back up my volumes with SuperDuper, and will just have to create scripts that backup a bootable system copy without images or video (and I’ll back up images/video separately, which is fine).
Shown here before the 2nd drive was installed. Installation requires the removal of 25 screws.
I ran Xbench on my system, and the results [download] are pretty impressive. My machine’s results are in the first column, compared to results of comparable configurations pulled out of the Xbench comparison site. The last column features benchmarks from a Mac Pro with a 250GB 7200rpm 3.5″ drive.
The results are impressive, except that the RAID 0 doesn’t seem to like small-block (4k) reads. Both sequential and random reads performed poorly. This should be fine, as I’m most often working with large images and video files.
screws removed during install160GB 5400rpm drives are supposed to become much faster as they fill up. My drives are about 30% full, and I plan to re-run the test when they become more full.
MCE reports that the drive is supposed to shorten battery life on the system by 10-15%, but I haven’t had a chance to do my own tests.
As for sound, I can hear the 2nd drive now, spinning quietly on the right-hand side of the machine. It’s audible, but not annoying. The replacement drive chassis doesn’t have the same clip receptacles that the SuperDrive chassis has, so the keyboard top on my Macbook Pro no longer sits exactly flush on the right side. There’s probably a 1mm gap, which isn’t enough to really bother me.
1mm gap between keyboard and chassis on right side
Subjectively, the system feels more snappy, and I’m happy to have made the upgrade. I use up at least 20-30GB per week in the field, and it will be great to be able to work on my notebook without having an external drive chained to it.
Many people don’t like using RAID 0 arrays because they double the likelihood of catastrophic failure; I back up my data all the time — even when I’m traveling — so I’m not so worried.
Also see:
- Seagate Momentus 7200rpm 160gb drive benchmarks on BareFeats.com
a single-drive upgrade for better disk performance
— UPDATE, AFTER ONE DAY —
This machine is really much faster now. I just booted up Windows XP in Parallels, and it didn’t do the usual “take the computer down for a bit” routine during XP startup. It just booted, and was fast immediately after boot, as it is on my Mac Pro. Normally, the XP load process in Parallels slows my entire machine down as it struggles to pull data from the disk.
My Macbook Pro has always run hotter than my old Thinkpad did. Even when doing simple web surfing or writing e-mails, I can’t use the machine in my lap for long periods of time without putting a book or pillow between it and my crotch. It *seems* to run a bit warmer with the 2nd drive in, but it’s hard to remember, in comparison. The left palm area was always much hotter than the right (make sense — it’s where the main drive is); now the right side is also a bit warm — but nowhere near the warmth of the main drive area.
The metal strip above the keyboard is always hot, now. I don’t remember if this was the case before I put in the 2nd drive. It could also be because it has suddenly become warm here in the Bay Area. The temperature in my loft has gone up by a lot in the past two days.
The internal cooling fans do not run any louder or more often than they used to.
—COMMENTS ON DIGG COMMENTS—
Some folks on the second Digg page are saying that it’s stupid to use RAID 0 in a computer, because there are “no real world benefits” and because it’s too dangerous.
I disagree. My machine is clearly running much faster, and it doesn’t seem to be running that much hotter. The fans still only spin up with high CPU usage. Battery life has always sucked on the Macbook Pro, and the estimates of losing 10-15% seems to be accurate so far. Finally, I back up frequently onto bootable, external media, even when I’m on the road, so losing my internal volume wouldn’t be catastrophic. At home, my system backs up automatically to NAS every night. The only problem is that I would have to work off of an external drive, if the RAID failed. I’d have the same problem even if I wasn’t using RAID.
I used to use a Thinkpad T-series notebook, which was a great machine because it allowed the use of two hard disks at a time in a supported, modular way. I loved that thing.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I’d love to hear about the negative Digg commenters’ personal experiences with running RAID 0 in a notebook. I’ll bet none of them have ever done it, and are speaking without any facts to back up their claims.
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发表于 2007-5-1 12:54
发表于 2007-5-4 03:59
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