Are OSX partitions of internal drive truly independent?

[propower]

I have a killer nMP with 512G internal SSD. I have been using two partitions so I can have two different install possibilities on the internal drive (main and an alt one for trying new revs of PT, OSX or plugins).

I did a fresh install on the ALT and have some odd issues (computer only shuts down 1/3 of the time I say shut down) etc...

Does PT or other installers put any of the copy protection or license keys in places that both partitions see? Is the Apple recovery disk in one place on the drive or is it duplicated on each of the partitions?

In short - is partitioning just a bad idea for the internal drive??

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by propower

I have a killer nMP with 512G internal SSD. I have been using two partitions so I can have two different install possibilities on the internal drive (main and an alt one for trying new revs of PT, OSX or plugins).

I did a fresh install on the ALT and have some odd issues (computer only shuts down 1/3 of the time I say shut down) etc...

Does PT or other installers put any of the copy protection or license keys in places that both partitions see? Is the Apple recovery disk in one place on the drive or is it duplicated on each of the partitions?

In short - is partitioning just a bad idea for the internal drive??

The boot partitions are independent from each other but one partition can see what's on the other. Seeing as how PT uses iLok for copy protection this isn't an issue as you'd need to have separate install of the ILM s/w on each partition. For license keys/cp with other programs it depends on the specific program; I have a couple that can see the authorization on the other partition and have no need for putting the auth on each partition. Interesting one: on one partition I have Digital Performer 8.07 and on the other partition I have DP9.02. When I'm in the partition (Mavericks) that has DP9.02 I can use DP8.07 so apparently for at least that instance one partition can see and run programs on the other.

As to the recovery partition, at least on my system, I have one for each boot partition. For those purposes each partition is treated as if it were a separate physical disk.

I do have the occasional issue (maybe 5% of the time) of the computer not shutting down in the Mavericks partition when I say to shut down and I have to do the shut down sequence a couple of times before it actually does shut down. It's not enough for me to worry about. Then again my system drive is not an ssd but a 2 TB 7200 rpm spinner split into two partitions. I actually had it split into three partition with ML, Mavericks and Yosemite but the latter was so unstable I deleted it.

Keep in mind that when updating programs you have to update each partition separately if you have the same program on each partition.

[JFreak]

Performance-wise, it is useless or counter-productive to partition SSD drives. For upgrade, re-install or backup purposes it might be useful. In the end, if you lose the drive, you lose all partitions. You just need to think about what you want to achieve with the extra trouble. I myself haven't partitioned my 1TB MBP drive and it's just great like that.

[propower]

Not about any performance issue for me (nMP totally cured that). I keep my boot drive(s) small as possible and just like having alternate boot partitions for things like checking out new SW or OS updates. It is interesting that I too have seen certain programs that use non-ilok auths sometimes working in partitions before I authorize them (hence my question).

Appreciate the input on multiple recovery partitions. I was always worried that one would mess up the other.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Performance-wise, it is useless or counter-productive to partition SSD drives. For upgrade, re-install or backup purposes it might be useful. In the end, if you lose the drive, you lose all partitions. You just need to think about what you want to achieve with the extra trouble. I myself haven't partitioned my 1TB MBP drive and it's just great like that.

It makes no difference whether you have an ssd or spinner for a system drive - lose that and you lose your partitions. But that's no different than any other drive. I like having the separate partitions and wouldn't look back.

[drguitar]

Partitioning a MBPro's internal SSD/Flash drive is a great way to test different OS X and/or PT versions. Yes there is true separation but, as someone mentioned, you can look at the files on all partitions. Just out of an abundance of caution I use a script that ejects all additional partitions the moment I boot up. But there isn't a problem with doing this.
It's a good idea.

[lancemcv]

It might be the version of OS your running, I had shutdown issues with Yosemite
big time on my mac pro, On El Cap 10.11.1 no shutdown issues. But I do have other issues with Pro Tools 12.4 and El Cap with the laggy GUI but over all things are running better than they were in Yosemite. I guess your still on Mavericks which I did not use. You might just want to test El Cap on an external drive boot off it and install pro tools to see how it works for you, or backup your partition and update to El Cap. But again there are issues with PT and El Cap, soo depends on which is the lessor evil, but having to force shutdown can cause drive corruption.
Also try ejecting all drives but the system your working off of then try shutting down. Avid application manager is crappy, I removed it from loading itself on boot up. If your using it try quitting it then try shutting down and any other background apps. Also try logging out then shutting down.
my two cents :)

[Darryl Ramm]

First thing to suspect with any shutdown problems are applications running or drivers. All potentially get to stop a shutdown. Look at what processes are running (with ps) and find any non-standard ones starting up automatically on boot etc. and stopping that, force quit/kill them if needed. that includes online file sharing agents/apps, all that crap. Disconnect any unneeded hardware peripherals and use kextstat to see what device drivers are loaded.