Suggestions for new 120GB SSD

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Thu May 03, 2012 7:18 pm

Hey all-- need advice.

A GOOD friend is giving me a 120GB SSD drive that's on a PCIe card. It's new. He doesn't need it. I can't afford to get another so trying to decide how to utilize it in my MacPro 1,1 running SL.

My instinct is to make this my boot drive and run DP and my apps off of it. The thought of fast boot ups in enticing. The other option I suppose would be to make it projects drive and put in progress projects on it for speed of audio streaming, etc. but my projects aren't that big and I don't really have a bottleneck currently.

One concern: not sure if I can install from Snow Leopard original install disc because it probably doesn't include drivers for this drive?

Any thoughts? Does this sound like a good plan?

120GB isn't particularly big, so I may leave my iTunes and iPhoto libraries on the current 640GB conventional boot drive.

kgdrum · Post by **kgdrum** » Thu May 03, 2012 8:10 pm

From my understanding of SSD,I'd avoid using as a project drive as the SSD's are better if there isn't lots of editing rewriting etc.....
I'll suggest boot or samples for SSD's.

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Thu May 03, 2012 11:38 pm

Thanks! Only thing about boot drives is doesn't the OS constantly write and rewrite cache files to the boot drive too?

kgdrum · Post by **kgdrum** » Fri May 04, 2012 2:59 am

You are probably correct re:cache files but that's above my "pay grade".
My 1st inclination though would be to use as either boot or sample drive as this seems to be the preferred choice for utilizing SSD from most users.
Full disclosure, I don't have or use SSD but have been following many threads to learn about them so take my perspective as a curious bystander fwiw.
I'm still a bit sceptical with the cost factor,reliability issues etc.... But as you got it as a gift you might enjoy the benefits SSD's offer.
Most users say once they try SSD they'll never go back,please let us know how much of an performance improvement you see once you make the transition.
Good luck,
KG

kwiz · Post by **kwiz** » Fri May 04, 2012 9:55 am

Don't forget about the Trim function for the SSD since you're on Snow Leopard.
You can download it here: http://www.groths.org/?page_id=322

The Trim function is explained in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnBk2IGYerU

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Fri May 04, 2012 10:07 am

I believe most folks are just using their SSD as a boot/scratch drive, unless they're like Kwiz, who has oodles of SSDs!

With a PCIe SSD, bootability could be an issue, though. Regardless, you can use the SSD as a scratch disc for your current project for quick load times and high track counts.

Keeping photos and most data on a separate drive is probably a good idea. And keep at least two backups... it seems SSD's are not yet the fail-safe devices they will almost certainly someday be!

labman · Post by **labman** » Fri May 04, 2012 10:52 am

What brand? if it is OWC no trimming should be done. And OWC will boot automatically.

We are loving an SSD boot drive. Just clone it often in case.

kwiz · Post by **kwiz** » Fri May 04, 2012 11:29 am

HCMarkus wrote:I believe most folks are just using their SSD as a boot/scratch drive, unless they're like Kwiz, who has oodles of SSDs!

With a PCIe SSD, bootability could be an issue, though. Regardless, you can use the SSD as a scratch disc for your current project for quick load times and high track counts.

Keeping photos and most data on a separate drive is probably a good idea. And keep at least two backups... it seems SSD's are not yet the fail-safe devices they will almost certainly someday be!

I don't know about oodles but I love the 2 that I'm using.

Good point about the PCIe version!

kwiz · Post by **kwiz** » Fri May 04, 2012 11:34 am

labman wrote:What brand? if it is OWC no trimming should be done. And OWC will boot automatically.

We are loving an SSD boot drive. Just clone it often in case.

Yep, I just installed 2 OWC 3g SSD's on a clients system with OSX Lion and no Trim was required.

The Apple brand doesn't need the Trim function as well, but I think those are the pre-installed SSD's. (My laptop came with an SSD and doesn't need Trim)

Killahurts · Post by **Killahurts** » Fri May 04, 2012 11:39 am

Love mine as a sample drive, for the most disk intensive libraries (or the most inefficient, like East West Play).

Another great use is for putting movies you are syncing DP with, keeps the audio drive and movie apart, nice and tidy.

I just don't feel comfortable yet using one as a boot drive.. I'm sure I will eventually warm up to it, though.

VitcoMusic · Post by **VitcoMusic** » Fri May 04, 2012 12:21 pm

Speaking of putting movies you're scoring to in DP, I sometimes use a RAM disk. Much easier on the hard drives. Videos are always backed on another anyway. I imagine it keeps things cooler.

DV

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Fri May 04, 2012 12:33 pm

Pretty sure it's OWC. I just hope it works with Snow Leopard as Lion is just not an option for me. It's also PCIe 2.0 but my MacPro 1,1 does not support that so won't be quite as fast.

Also my interfaces are on the PCIe buss so may be good if it's a boot drive. I considered using it for sample libraries, but I don't really use lots of VIs. Gotta figure out how to move my iPhoto and iTunes library to a disc other than the boot disc.

Steve Steele · Post by **Steve Steele** » Thu May 10, 2012 4:20 pm

In your situation I would use it as a boot drive. However, if you were having bottlenecks with your projects I would switch that and use the SSD for the projects drive. Using the SSD as a boot drive is sort of a luxury. Using it as a sample or project stream drive could be a necessity. And no, SSDs have no problem with continuous read/writes of any data, even Incompressible Data. In fact, they're faster than platter drives. I'm not sure where that rumor comes from.

Is yours one of those PCIe cards that has room for another drive? You might add another SSD to the PCIe card (one for os/apps, one for projects/samples), and use your internal bays for platter backup drives. You'd be moving faster than 6Gbs for both SSDs! That's the way to go.

Have you guys seen this...

http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews- ... lsior.html

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/PCIe ... lsior/RAID

kwiz - Have you ever used a single SSD as both the project and sample library drive? Any problems?

kwiz · Post by **kwiz** » Sat May 12, 2012 6:44 am

nightwatch wrote:In your situation I would use it as a boot drive. However, if you were having bottlenecks with your projects I would switch that and use the SSD for the projects drive. Using the SSD as a boot drive is sort of a luxury. Using it as a sample or project stream drive could be a necessity. And no, SSDs have no problem with continuous read/writes of any data, even Incompressible Data. In fact, they're faster than platter drives. I'm not sure where that rumor comes from.

Is yours one of those PCIe cards that has room for another drive? You might add another SSD to the PCIe card (one for os/apps, one for projects/samples), and use your internal bays for platter backup drives. You'd be moving faster than 6Gbs for both SSDs! That's the way to go.

Have you guys seen this...

http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews- ... lsior.html

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/PCIe ... lsior/RAID

kwiz - Have you ever used a single SSD as both the project and sample library drive? Any problems?

No, I use one as a boot up drive and a second one for project audio files.
Very fast!

Steve Steele · Post by **Steve Steele** » Sat May 12, 2012 12:49 pm

kwiz wrote:
nightwatch wrote:In your situation I would use it as a boot drive. However, if you were having bottlenecks with your projects I would switch that and use the SSD for the projects drive. Using the SSD as a boot drive is sort of a luxury. Using it as a sample or project stream drive could be a necessity. And no, SSDs have no problem with continuous read/writes of any data, even Incompressible Data. In fact, they're faster than platter drives. I'm not sure where that rumor comes from.

Is yours one of those PCIe cards that has room for another drive? You might add another SSD to the PCIe card (one for os/apps, one for projects/samples), and use your internal bays for platter backup drives. You'd be moving faster than 6Gbs for both SSDs! That's the way to go.

Have you guys seen this...

http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews- ... lsior.html

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/PCIe ... lsior/RAID

kwiz - Have you ever used a single SSD as both the project and sample library drive? Any problems?
No, I use one as a boot up drive and a second one for project audio files.
Very fast!

I meant have you ever put both your sample libs and project audio files on the same SSD? Any problems?

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