SSD for Boot Drive...?

[corbo-billy]

I've been considering an SSD for my Sample Libraries drive.

Attention to the TRIM notion to store data on an SSD: may not be very wise .

[James Steele]

I've been considering an SSD for my Sample Libraries drive.

Attention to the TRIM notion to store data on an SSD: may not be very wise .

I'm not sure what you mean? I thought on many of the new SSDs sold by OWC, etc, that the Trim function was handled by the OS transparently to the user. Why should I be worried about storing sample libraries or any other data on an SSD?

[corbo-billy]

Considering the many read / writes to an SSD with the data samples for example, the conditions are not the same as with conventional HD .

The problem is that SSDs can only write new data to empty regions—they can’t overwrite data directly like hard disk drives can . The TRIM function can wreak havoc ...
An SSD is recommended for HD System but not too much the rest or else to run in RAID 0 or RAID 5 _

Moreover, it is measured by the length of warranty on the SSD (2 or 3 years) which is thin.

[frankf]

I've been considering an SSD for my Sample Libraries drive. I already have an Accelsior for my boot drive, however it's 120GB and a bit "cramped." I was wondering about using a SSD for the projects drive, but as was said, audio isn't very demanding and I don't know if that would be worth it. I DO however think using one for VI instruments/samples is a great application. DP projects would probably open a WHOLE LOT FASTER if you have many instances of VIs like MachFive, etc.

My current projects reside on an internal 7200 rpm HD. Sample libraries and boot on SSDs. The loading of VIs and their samples are very fast. Changing buffer settings for example, which reloads the audio system, is no longer a drag.

I've had no problem with my OWC SSDs regarding trim. Give OWC tech a call to confirm but here Is info from OWC why we should not enable Trim in their Sandforce Controller SSDs:
http://blog.macsales.com/11051-to-trim- ... the-answer

And here, accurate although a bit promotional:
http://blog.macsales.com/21641-with-an- ... d-for-trim

HTH

[James Steele]

Thanks so much, Frank!

[BobK]

MPG (Mac Performance Guide) has several great SSD articles and reviews.

Interesting quote from the review of the 960 GB OWC Mercury Electra (Electra is OWC's lower-end SSD line):

The OWC Mercury Electra 960GB SSD was fast enough to beat out the OWC 480GB 6G SSD when used in a Mac Pro as the Photoshop scratch disk, showing that it is an error to assume that a 3G device is slower than a 6G SSD with real tasks.

[mikehalloran]

6G SandForce under $500.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electroni ... ds=ssd+1tb

[James Steele]

6G SandForce under $500.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electroni ... ds=ssd+1tb

Wow... looks pretty cool! My current Samples drive is 500GB. 1TB is nice but budget tight. One of those and the OWC kit for installing in MacPro and you'd be good to go I guess. I might look for slightly smaller capacity for less $$$.

[James Steele]

Sorry for the silly question, but is it safe to assume that all the SSD's are pretty much identical as far as placement of the connectors? So these would work no problem with the Samsung drive:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/ADPTADRV/

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MMP35T25/

[buzzsmith]

Mine popped right into drive bay 4 on a 2009 MacPro. The adapter was defective (OWC sent a replacement), but the drive plugged in even without the adapter which makes the install a bit more stable. FWIW!

Buzzy

As time and $$ permit, I'm gonna put my VIs and plugins on a 2nd. Hopefully, I won't have the path issues that I referred to in an earlier thread!

Right now, I think I'm 100% bootable and workable from the system SSD which is ML and DP 8.06.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BobK]

I just ordered one of these for my boot drive:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSD7 ... RRWidgetID

...except I ordered if from B&H, who sell it for a little less with free 3-day shipping to the west coast.

After doing some reading at MPG, I feel a little safer going with OWC, though I realize a couple of folks here have had problems with that brand.

So far I've managed to slim down my boot drive from over 500 GB to around 300 GB by trashing some stuff I no longer need, archiving other stuff, and moving a few sound libraries installed in the Library folder by default to other drives.

Sibelius 7 sounds, Logic sounds, Garageband VIs, and Apple Loops alone freed up 100 GB. I put symbolic links where those folders used to be, and so far the apps seem to be finding them without any problems.

For those of you who have SSDs for your boot drive, do you move your User folder to another drive, or just try to keep its size under control?

[mikehalloran]

Sorry for the silly question, but is it safe to assume that all the SSD's are pretty much identical as far as placement of the connectors?

The qualifier is SATA. 2.5" form (notebook) is all the same but different than 3.5" form (as required by the Mac Pro), hence the adapters. All 2.5" form connectors will be the same.

There are now a number of different forms to consider besides the two for SATA. PCIe, you know but there are others, too. So make certain you are comparing 2.5" SATA to the same thing.

Except for the PCIe, all OWC are the 2.5" SATA form for notebook drives.

[HCMarkus]

6G SandForce under $500.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electroni ... ds=ssd+1tb

Wow... looks pretty cool! My current Samples drive is 500GB. 1TB is nice but budget tight. One of those and the OWC kit for installing in MacPro and you'd be good to go I guess. I might look for slightly smaller capacity for less $$$.

The Samsungs have proven to be an excellent SSD choice. If I were buying an SSD today, it would be Samsung, although I would go with the this http://www.addonics.com/products/ad4mspx2.php 4-bay PCIe card and mSATA drives to allow greater future expansion. Slightly higher priced, though currently lot less than PCIe SSD.

DEFINITELY: Google, install and activate "Trim Enabler" before writing to your new Samsung SSD for best long-term results. The time to enable Trim is sooner rather than later.

The OWC drives use SandForce controllers. As long as the drives are not over-filled, Trim is less important, but still generally recommended. Apple enables Trim on Macs that ship with SandForce drives.

Regardless of drive make, best to always leave significant spare area with SSDs. An easy way to do this is to create a small second partition and never write to it.

With all respect to CorboBilly, SSDs do not present a reliability problem, no matter how used. But, as with any digital storage medium, BACKUP IS ALWAYS RECOMMENDED. You only own data that resides in at least three places.

Order of importance for SSDs (IMHO):
1. Boot/application drive. Speedy startup and general snappiness.
2. VI Sample Data. Quicker project load time and ability to use smaller sample buffers.
3. Project/Audio Data work drive.

As noted previously, buy SATA3 drives, they work fine with SATA2 ports.

[BobK]

DEFINITELY: Google, install and activate "Trim Enabler" before writing to your new Samsung SSD for best long-term results. The time to enable Trim is sooner rather than later.

The OWC drives use SandForce controllers. As long as the drives are not over-filled, Trim is less important, but still generally recommended.

OWC and Lloyd Chambers at Mac Performance Guide advise against trim for their drives. See Frank's earlier post in this thread with links to OWC blog posts, one of which includes a link to this 13-page article 'Real World SSD Performance' at the MPG site:

http://macperformanceguide.com/SSD-RealWorld.html

[mikehalloran]

Trim is only an issue if the drive is connected via SATA. Otherwise, it cannot be executed.

LSI, OWC and others seem to believe that SandForce SSDs are reliable in installations that do not allow for Trim such as TB, USB 3, Ethernet etc.