SSD Comparisons?

[buzzsmith]

Hi, all...

I think that I'm getting pretty close to buying an SSD to use as my startup drive with DP more than likely copied to the new SSD.

(I'll keep my current main drive online, but use the SSD as the startup.)

There seem to be 3 main "competitors" for my $$...(approximate 500 GB...around $340.00)

OWC

Crucial

Samsung

Anyone have any thoughts or reviews, etc.? Tips, warnings?...

I know that I also will need the drive bay adapter...anything else?

(Late 2009 Intel Xeon Quad with 1 open bay...still OS 10.6.

Thanks!

Buzzy

[HCMarkus]

All good, but all different. Go to Anandtech.com and read under SSDs... lots of great info. A summary from my mummory: Crucial M500 is a great budget drive that may be a little slower than the other two as a boot drive, but at 500GB, still very fast (more memory chips means greater throughput than smaller SSDs). Samsung EVO very strong, but uses triple-channel memory that could be susceptible to more rapid wear. Many folks disavow SandForce-based SSDs these days; the OWC drives are SandForce. On the other hand, I have four SandForce-based Intel SSDs in my Mac that have been perfect so far (knock wood!)

Buzzy, whatever you pick, (as long as you don't get a lemon - see reviews at NewEgg - every drive brand has the occasional FAIL, but you can exchange) you will be very happy booting from SSD. It makes starting your Mac a breeze, which is good, cause no worries if things get a little glitchy, just reboot and seconds later, you're back in business.

You can connect SATA3 drive to Mac Pro SATA2 ports and, for boot drive use, probably wouldn't even notice the speed incerease if you went to SATA3. For streaming applicaitons, you need a PCIe card to get max throughput. But, either way, SSDs make computing better than ever. Enjoy!

[HCMarkus]

Take a look at this Buzz:

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... 61#p482524

A whole new approach, cheaper than PCIe SATA but, fully loaded with mSATA drives, pushing the theoretical limit of a 4x PCIe 2.0 slot (PCIe 2.0 in MP 4,1 and 5,1). Just a thought... up to four drives in one PCIe slot. If I was moving to SSD today, I'd seriously consider this approach.

[artfarm1]

I'm using drives from OWC and Crucial without any problems at all.

[buzzsmith]

Thanks HC and Art.

This is all new to me so I'll read and research further.

I did see the "This Could Be It" link before I posted and I'll check that out, as well.

Buzzy

[daniel.sneed]

No comparison, here, Buzz, but I must say I'm glad with my Samsung 500Go-840Pro ssd.
MacBookPro boots fast, read and write are lightening.

[stevenew]

Hi,

Using 3 Crucial SSD in my 'new to me' 2009 Mac Pro 8 Core and they seem real fast to me, bought 3 OWC Sleds to mount them in, all really quick and easy to install.

I have Mavericks boot on one, Mountain Lion boot on one and my samples on the other.

So far no problems. I chose Crucial as I got two on offer at the beginning of the year, here in the UK Crucial were much cheaper than other makes.

Steve

[buzzsmith]

Thanks, Steve.

Buzzy

[James Steele]

I don't have much to add other than check to see what speed your SATA buss operates at and don't waste money on a 6G drive if you have 3G (3 Gbps) SATA bus in your particular Mac.

[Michael Canavan]

I don't have much to add other than check to see what speed your SATA buss operates at and don't waste money on a 6G drive if you have 3G (3 Gbps) SATA bus in your particular Mac.

Mostly all Mac Pros besides the new black ones, are 3Gps, but the PCI bus is not, (up to at least 5Gps on most systems), so there is a solution to this, and it allows OS booting apparently.
http://www.addonics.com/products/ad4mspx2.php Available at Mac Mall for $60.

[James Steele]

I hear you. I have an OWC Accelsior.

[buzzsmith]

So much to learn! I thought that this would be a no-brainer that didn't require any...well...brains.

So, if I'm understanding correctly, merely installing a 480 GB SSD on my late 2009 Mac Pro Quad in the remaining empty drive bay won't give me the full benefit of just the SSD without the PCI card?

I'll continue looking into the downloadable guides, specs, etc.

Thanks...

Buzzy

[James Steele]

So, if I'm understanding correctly, merely installing a 480 GB SSD on my late 2009 Mac Pro Quad in the remaining empty drive bay won't give me the full benefit of just the SSD without the PCI card?

Well, I think it means that SSD can theoretically transfer faster than the 3Gbps SATA bus on that machine. I have the same machine. But still, that's gonna smoke a conventional hard drive. You just buy the SSD that's rated at 3Gbps. Depending on the application, I don't know that I'd necessarily worry about going direct to the PCI bus with a card. It's still going to be noticeably faster. Only reason I ended up with an Accelsior card is a friend gave it to me when he upgrade to a larger one. I have the 120GB that I use to boot with, but my Home folder is on a different, conventional drive.

[buzzsmith]

Thanks, James.

That's basically what I want to do.

On the SSD clean install 10.6.8 (or whatever SL version I have on DVD-update if needed), buy and update that to ML and install and authorize DP 8.05 (6?) (and a few other things, probably) and leave my current Main HD alone and online in case I want to switch back to 10.6.8 and DP 8.0.1.

Buzzy

[frankf]

In my Mac Pro 3,1 with 3GBps limit, I have a 3GBps startup drive and 2 6GBps sample library drives. All OWC. The 6's dumb down to 3, but I wanted to be able to get max speed when I move to faster Mac in the future. Not that much more $. The SSD improvement is so great that I've relegated HDs to archive and clones


Frank Ferrucci