SSD for editing

[JonathanBenoit]

I'm looking to swap out my stock hard drive in my macbook for an SSD drive.

Any recommendations?

[ErikKaffehr]

http://macperformanceguide.com/index_topics.html#cat_ssd

- Diglloyd recommends OWC Mercury Pro
- I got the impression that SSDs with Sandforce controllers are the best right now.

BR
Erik

I'm looking to swap out my stock hard drive in my macbook for an SSD drive.

Any recommendations?

[alain]

http://macperformanceguide.com/index_topics.html#cat_ssd

- Diglloyd recommends OWC Mercury Pro
- I got the impression that SSDs with Sandforce controllers are the best right now.

BR
Erik

Eric

The sandforce controller does compress the data, I don't know what the speed effect would be on images.  Images are usually not that good for compressing lossless.

Images are also "big" files and reading/writing big files is something that HDD's do rather well.  It's with random I/O that SSD's really make the very big difference.

[JonathanBenoit]

I'm not sure how I feel about OWC. I was looking for a 80GB SSD, but they only have 60 and 120. I've read good things about the corsair force 80.

[John.Murray]

The main reason you want to go with a sandforce controller is that it natively supports  trim ("garbage collection" or re-using previously written blocks), which OSX does not.

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

[JonathanBenoit]

The main reason you want to go with a sandforce controller is that it natively supports  trim ("garbage collection" or re-using previously written blocks), which OSX does not.

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

I'm sure OWC SSD is a great product, but I am a bit weary of Diglloyd's reviews of them since they are a sponsor for his site.
I havent seen any comparisons of their product to the Corsair Force, which also has TRIM.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

Yes I'm aware of that. On the other hand it seems that OWC puts some real effort in finding and validating stuff that actually works. Diglloyd also does a lot of testing, so I guess that he knows what he writes about.

I have bought 16 GByte memory from OWC when that option was brand new and a 4 bay RAID which I for external backup. I have been very satisfied with both. I just ordered a SSD from OWC.

Best regards
Erik

I'm sure OWC SSD is a great product, but I am a bit weary of Diglloyd's reviews of them since they are a sponsor for his site.
I havent seen any comparisons of their product to the Corsair Force, which also has TRIM.

[Jack Flesher]

I use the OWC RE SSD's in both my laptop and desktop.  They are screamers, totally silent, and use a lot less power than a spinner.  Had em in for around 8 months now and would buy them again: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce/Solid_State_Raid_Edition

[Steve Weldon]

Another choice which I'm using is the Crucial C300's.  They're a mature drive and one of the fastest available and they have TRIM support natively.  I have several of their 256g models and I'm very happy with them.

The truth is.. you're not going to be able to 'feel' the difference between the top 10 SSD's or even the top 20 for that matter.  You'll be able to measure the difference.. but unless you spend a lot of time learning to understand the tests and how they relate to your files that won't mean much either.

What matters.. is TRIM support, proven reliability, and a mature product with all the bugs worked out.  Intel, Crucial, and some Sandforce controlled products qualify.

[JonathanBenoit]

I went with the 120GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD with 6 GB RAM(maxed out). Unfortunately I cant remove the optical drive and put another SSD in its place. I probably would have bought two 60GB and striped them.

[Steve Weldon]

SSD's don't really need drive bays.  Put a square of double sided mounting tape on the thing and stick it anywhere the cables will reach.  They're very light, don't move/vibrate, or get hot.. so this works.

[K.C.]

The truth is.. you're not going to be able to 'feel' the difference between the top 10 SSD's or even the top 20 for that matter.  You'll be able to measure the difference.. but unless you spend a lot of time learning to understand the tests and how they relate to your files that won't mean much either.

So true.

But we're in a forum where hearsay and conjecture often overrule facts. As demonstrate by statements like: "On the other hand it seems that OWC puts some real effort in finding and validating stuff that actually works. Diglloyd also does a lot of testing, so I guess that he knows what he writes about."

[bartsgb]

SSD's don't really need drive bays.  Put a square of double sided mounting tape on the thing and stick it anywhere the cables will reach.  They're very light, don't move/vibrate, or get hot.. so this works.

I actually recommend doing this if other hardware you use gets seriously hot. Attaching your SSD's on the side of your case will improve airflow and increase the life of your hardware!

[dchew]

I have a MBP, 2.66ghz core-2D, 8g, and a 320g now 60% full (100g free).  This is the original Fujitzu HD that Diglloyd calls a true "dog" and it is getting slower.  I'm planning to replace it with (2) 256g OWG SSD drives.  For this computer, running LR, PS5 etc, what would be my best approach?  Images are on portable eSATA drives connected via Sonnet express card, backed up to NAS. When I make the switch I will clean up some stuff and probably gain ~50g of space.  This notebook is my only computer, and I'd like to get another year or two out of it.

1.  (2) 200 OWC RE drives Raid-0 stripped, no dedicated scratch
2.  (2) 240 OWC installed individually, with PS and LR on one and everything else on the other. Not sure where to point the scratch...?

Would I notice any difference given my hardware?  Option 2 gets me 80g more space and saves $180.  Is there a third better option?  
Dave

I went with the 120GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD with 6 GB RAM(maxed out). Unfortunately I cant remove the optical drive and put another SSD in its place. I probably would have bought two 60GB and striped them.

[alain]

I went with the 120GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD with 6 GB RAM(maxed out). Unfortunately I cant remove the optical drive and put another SSD in its place. I probably would have bought two 60GB and striped them.

Hi how speedy is you're SSD with raw and tiff files?  Isn't the compression killing the speed? 

[Jack Flesher]

I have a MBP, 2.66ghz core-2D, 8g, and a 320g now 60% full (100g free).  This is the original Fujitzu HD that Diglloyd calls a true "dog" and it is getting slower.  I'm planning to replace it with (2) 256g OWG SSD drives.  For this computer, running LR, PS5 etc, what would be my best approach?  Images are on portable eSATA drives connected via Sonnet express card, backed up to NAS. When I make the switch I will clean up some stuff and probably gain ~50g of space.  This notebook is my only computer, and I'd like to get another year or two out of it.

1.  (2) 200 OWC RE drives Raid-0 stripped, no dedicated scratch
2.  (2) 240 OWC installed individually, with PS and LR on one and everything else on the other. Not sure where to put point the scratch...?

I would I notice any difference given my hardware?  Option 2 gets me 80g more space and saves $180.  Is there a third better option?  
Dave

With 8G ram, you will tag scratch with large files.  However you probably won't regularly with medium to smaller files.  With CS5, the main slow-down is the initial reservation of scratch.  With option 1, this will be virtually instantaneous since that array is so freaking fast.  When you actually need scratch I/O, option 1 is still so freaking fast that it probably won't be much of a bother.  However, when scratch is being tagged, option 2 *might* perform better assuming OS & Apps are on one drive and CS scratch is on the other.  

Another main constraint is the MBP architecture itself being rather limiting on disk I/O.  Personally, I would choose option 2 and then partition off around 48G for dedicated scratch -- the partition just so I could isolate and regularly wipe the temp scratch files CS creates.  

 

[Chris_Brown]

A decent place to look for info is storagereview.com, plus they have a fairly comprehensive database here.

A quick looks shows the OWC Mercury Extreme a favorite.

[tived]

The OWC Mercury Extreme is a Sandforce based SSD, its the same as the Corsair Force, and every dog and his friend who makes/labels SSDs with their name have one, except for Intel and Crucial.

Storagereview.com is an excellent place to look for information on storage ofcourse! :-) as mentioned by Chris_Brown.

The bench mark shown in the link above, confirms what others have said, that there is very little difference between them.

Top SSD disk is currently the C300, then there is the PCIe based SSD's by OCZ and others which is essentially two or more disks without their casing, attached to a raid controller, which in turn will give you x times more speed, some of these are also bootable (on windows!)

I think at the moment you will find very aggressive pricing on the Corsair Force series, so go to newegg or similar and pick out the similar drive and compare.

I know I am planing on using SSD's

Henrik

PS: If you can hang in, Intel will be releasing their 3rd Gen within the next several months (could tell you when, but sooner then later!) considering that current 2nd Gen are keeping up or almost keeping up, with current drives is very encouraging

[dchew]

Thank you for the responses.

PS: If you can hang in, Intel will be releasing their 3rd Gen within the next several months (could tell you when, but sooner then later!) considering that current 2nd Gen are keeping up or almost keeping up, with current drives is very encouraging

Henrik, I'm guessing that (as Jack points out) my MBP would limit any noticeable difference between the current offerings and the upcoming Intel.  Would you agree?

A decent place to look for info is storagereview.com, plus they have a fairly comprehensive database here.

Thank you Chris; I did not know about this site.

Personally, I would choose option 2 and then partition off around 48G for dedicated scratch -- the partition just so I could isolate and regularly wipe the temp scratch files CS creates.

So this is where I get a bit confused: If I go with this option, what should go on which drive?  I was thinking this way:
Drive 1
OS, CS5 and LR
LR catalogs
Documents

Drive 2
Scratch
MS Office
iWorks

No rhyme or reason other than to balance the stuff. Does this make sense?

Dave

[tived]

Hi Dave,

Of the two options that Jack is pointing out, I would choose option two as well.

(boot disk) Have OS and apps
Disk 2, partition as Jack suggested, keep my data and lightroom catalog on the main part
          50GB scratch disk partition

Sorry I missed the bit originally about you working from you Macbook Pro, I was thinking Macpro!

All the best

Henrik