SSD or not?

[KrishnaM]

I was thinking to get a OCZ 90G SSD for boot drive in my macpro. Is the SSD technology reliable and trouble free or is it still too early to switch to SSD?

 

[axelhi]

I've been having a SSD in my MacBook Pro for 2 years and can really recommend it for the OS and program files.

 

[stinkin]

I just went through this & just updated to a ssd & although it is still pretty new to me, don't anticipate ever going back they are fast.

 

[KrishnaM]

Why are there so many SSD drive failure reports online (esp. OCZ)? Which brand are you guys using? Is Intel better? Speed is good but stability and reliability are important for me.

Thanks
Krishna

 

[axelhi]

As always, people without problems don't write about it. At this point I would get one with SandForce controller, such as OWC.

 

[pprior]

I have used an intel G2 SSd and recently upgraded to an OWC branded SSD. No problems and very stable. Just stick with known performers and I think the OWC is the best.

The performance difference is astounding, the best upgrade you will ever do.

--
This message was created with 100% post-consumer electrons

 

[leicaman]

I am going to wait just a little while. I have friends that work with a high-profile external HD manufacturer and they have been doing reliability testing for use in external RAID drives. They feel that while the reliability is now there the price point is coming down fast enough that sizable drive should be affordable within the next year... but at the moment it's still not that cost effective.

I can't wait to get rid of the spinning platters.

 

[r210]

Nothing

 

[_timo_]

I have an OWC SSD boot drive in my MacPro. The set up is fairly new, but so far no problems.

One thing I will say: for me, it hasn't made such a dramatic difference in day-to-day work; boot and launch times can be faster, but e.g. Aperture still takes just as long to start up as always (as my library, as well as other data, isn't on the SSD).

I also have a Mac Pro here at work with a standard winchester drive boot/data with which to compare.

 

[KrishnaM]

I was also confused when I read lot of postings in other mac forums that improvement in boot time was significantly more for windows operating system and only little for OSX. But there after the application loading time is faster with SSD compared to conventional hard drives. Is it true?

I was considering the Intel X25-M G2 80G SSD for boot drive as I was told that it has the highest read time (4kb read time, what ever that means). The writing time is not important for me as I'll be using a WD 1TB black for home(data) drive.
One more question: is it ok to use superduper to clone the boot files on to SSD?

Thanks
Krishna

 

[Bob Rockefeller]

Go with a SandForce controller in the SSD. I have a pair of OWC SSDs as a RAID 0 for my boot drive on a Mac Pro:

http://www.bobrockefeller.com/2010/09/25/ssd-raid-is-fast/

--
Bob
------------
Bob Rockefeller
Richmond Hill, Georgia
http://www.bobrockefeller.com

 

[naurholm]

I'd strongly recommend either OCZ Vertex 2 or Corsair F SSD. Just installed the Corsair in my Macbook Pro and the difference from (given 5400RPM) to this is amazing.

2009 MBP (2.66 C2D/4gig/SSD) from off to usable desktop is 21 seconds if I allow automatic login.

But the Intel SSD's are not as fast as OCZ Vertex 2 or Corsair F drives, + the economy is better in both OCZ/Corsair. The ones from OWC is faster but again more expensive.

Good luck with the upgrade but I can only recommend going with SSD.

PS: Keep the library file of AP3 on your SSD and just use the option to keep files where you want them (managed masters I think) and have the files them self on storage disk.
--
Books make you smart, experience makes you wise, pick your poison.
In vita veritas est (In life truth is)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/naurholm/

 

[Herb177572]

I have been struggling with this a lot. On the one hand the advantage is on boot up and loading programs. I don't do that very often, so I do not think it would be a big deal. On the other hand, people I know that have done it now say the would never go back.

Read this:

http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-HowToUpgradeBootDrive.html

He will answer a lot of your questions. Then branch out on his site for recommendations and other info. He is a big fan of the OWC SSD drives, and has done substantial testing.
--
Herb

 

[axelhi]

If you are not in a hurry, you could wait a few weeks as many SSD manufacturers are about to release new SSDs that are even faster: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4116/corsair-performance-series-3-ssd-benchmarks

 

[KrishnaM]

How much decrease in boot time with SSD in a mac? I read figures from 15 to 40 seconds. Is it different in macbook compared to a macpro with data on different drive? Does it even matter? I read in lot of posts about need for resetting PRAM. Are there any other changes need to done when I use SSD for boot drive?
I am getting nervous..(don't laugh at my computer knowledge)

 

[axelhi]

I'm not sure about Mac Pros, on my 2008 MBP with a 2-year old SSD the bootup time is about 20 seconds from pressing the power button to desktop. SandForce-controlled SSDs are probably even faster. I didn't have to reset the PRAM.

How much decrease in boot time with SSD in a mac? I read figures from 15 to 40 seconds. Is it different in macbook compared to a macpro with data on different drive? Does it even matter? I read in lot of posts about need for resetting PRAM. Are there any other changes need to done when I use SSD for boot drive?
I am getting nervous..(don't laugh at my computer knowledge)

 

[jhwalker]

I was thinking to get a OCZ 90G SSD for boot drive in my macpro. Is the SSD technology reliable and trouble free or is it still too early to switch to SSD?

Have to echo what others have said, going to SSD makes a big difference. I recently purchased new Macbook Pro (few months ago, now), and ordered the "stock" 7200RPM, 500gb hard drive + 4gb RAM. At the same time, I ordered a 240gb SSD and an additional 4gb of RAM from OWC.

When the MBP came in, it was much faster than my 4-year-old machine, as would be expected. First thing I did was to clone the drive, then upgraded from 4gb > 8gb RAM, which made very little difference (other than give some breathing room for Photoshop, etc.). I then swapped the 500gb 7200RPM drive with the new SSD, transferred my cloned image to the new SSD, and . . . wow. What a difference! Startup went from about 55 seconds to 20, programs launch virtually instantaneously, the whole "feel" of the system is different.

BTW, I put the 7200RPM hard drive in my older MBP and am using it as a music "server" now. It runs much faster with a faster hard drive, as well (the older drive was a 100gb, 4500RPM unit).

--
John Walker
http://jhwalker.smugmug.com/

 

[Per Zangenberg]

A recent study (google it) showed that Intel SSD's had a substantially lower failure rate than other SSD brands.

 

[calson]

It makes sense for a laptop but their is negligible gain in the real world for general use. Applications depend primarily on the speed of the CPU and the amount of RAM. SSD is still a lot slower than RAM, especially with writes due to the large block size used. SSD is fast for reads and handy for quickly booting a laptop while traveling.

SSD tests I have seen from Intel always show a 4-drive array to demonstrate the performance compared to a single hard drive. When a company's engineers blatantly create a false test I become suspicious.

 

[ArneMarco]

I am using a 120 Gb SSD from OWC as boot disk on a Mac Pro ... the timescrew under the Applesymbol at boot up makes only 1 and 3/4 turn before it is up an running ... and the programs all start very fast. I have all my data on two 1 Gb HD WD Caviar Black in a Raid 0 configuration ... I am very satisfied with the response of this computer ...

--
My photos:
http://www.arnemarcophotos.com/