SSD Drives

[Ermz]

Hey guys,

Are there any SSD drives worth buying at the moment?

I suspect my system drive is on its way out (500GB WD Caviar Black) so I might be forced into buying a new one. Wondering whether to 'modernize' or not.

Cheers!

 

[Morgan C]

As you're aware I've got a new PC with an SSD drive (Patriot Inferno 60GB, ~$140). From what I read the Vortex OCZ3 is insanely fast, but also really expensive. I came from a laptop with a 5400rpm hard drive, so it was a huge upgrade for me. On install it was ridiculous - clicking on Internet Explorer opened it up almost instantly. It took about .2 seconds. It's slowed down a bit with all the junk I've already installed on it, and I'm using Firefox which is a bit slower, but even that loads up in under a second. Internet is faster too, just loading simple web pages.

Boot up takes around 20-25 seconds from when I press the 'on' button to when everything is loaded, there's no hourglass. This includes typing in my password. Coming awake from sleep mode is instant.

I've got all my games and software installed on a separate drive (Momentus XT), so my load times for games and that aren't THAT fast. But for the select few programs I've got installed on the SSD it's pretty much instant. To be totally honest, it takes a little while to get used to. I, and I'm sure most people, will click on something to load up, and then go do something else on the computer. Now, you click on something to load up, and go to do something else and the program loads and it's window gets in the way and you click on the wrong thing.

TL;DR: Yes.

 

[Wisheraser]

I have a vertex 2 as my system drive and it works great. As Morgan said, with an SSD you'll have incredibly fast boot up and program loading times. Also, the reduction in computer noise is wonderful. I can barely hear my computer running these days even though it's only a couple feet away from me.

If you're trying to stay on a budget, get the vertex 2. If not, get the 3.

 

[Aaron Smith]

I've been really curious about SSDs for a while now too. From what I understand though, they are a bad choice as an audio drive, since there is a limited amount of write capability before the write speed starts to severely decline...can anyone confirm this, or is this only in earlier model SSDs? If I get one, I was thinking actually that it might be coolest for sample streaming, that way it would be used almost exclusively for reading rather than writing.

 

[Ermz]

Yes, to the best of my knowledge they have limited writes in their lifecycle and using them as audio drives would eat into those substantially. Also, their write times aren't as good as their reads, so it somewhat defeats the point. It'd be used as a system drive, nothing more.

What bothers me is how very small they are. For instance 60gb wouldn't even come close to holding me over. I'm currently using a 500gb system drive, and I've used roughly 200gb of it. I need something that, at the very least, caters to that. Are SSDs still very size-limited?

Shall look into the Vertex drives. Thanks guys.

PS. Do all of them come in the 2.5" profile? I wonder because I'm not sure it'd mount into the HDD cage on my P183.

 

[sprack]

They're almost all 2.5" form factor. All the intel and ocz retails come with 3.5" mounting rails.

25nm refresh is coming this summer with higher density drives. Everything is moving to MLC for cost/density.

 

[Ermz]

Good, good. I shall hold out then and just get a regular drive for the time being if need be. The cost to benefit ratio is very disproportionate with SSD at the moment. Seems it still holds the 'new technology' premium. Half a grand for a tiny drive.... I can pass.

 

[ballstix]

I think the best, most cost effective solution right now is to pair up a small SSD with a large HDD. That way you can launch Windows and your DAW and what not from the SSD, but you can keep your working files on the HDD. Intel's upcoming chipset even makes use of the idea of pairing the two together; I think it's the Z68? In any case, I'd personally get a 64GB Crucial M4 (OCZ has basically taken the shit as of late regarding service) and something like a 1TB 7200RPM HDD to complement it.

 

[Ermz]

The problem is that I run two Windows installations in parallel. One for general use and one only for audio. Those two alone would eat up a majority of the 64GB SSD drive. The absolute minimum size I'd need for a system drive is in the 200gb+ realm. This is of course paired with the other 3 HDDs in my system, which are used for audio work and storage (a RAID0 array, and a single large drive respectively).

 

[Morgan C]

The problem is that I run two Windows installations in parallel. One for general use and one only for audio. Those two alone would eat up a majority of the 64GB SSD drive. The absolute minimum size I'd need for a system drive is in the 200gb+ realm. This is of course paired with the other 3 HDDs in my system, which are used for audio work and storage (a RAID0 array, and a single large drive respectively).

Why do you need 200gb+? You could get an 80GB SSD, install two Windows installs as well as your DAW, and then install everything else to another drive.

 

[Ermz]

Then the only benefit I would gain is to boot-up times? Since you can't keep the page file on the SSD, that's all I can see benefiting that way. The day-to-day programs, at least, need to be on the SSD in order to gain a continuous benefit. Not to mention the games (at 8GB+ a piece, it adds up). Otherwise might as well just grab a regular drive and coast along until SSDs become more mainstream, and practical.

 

[Aaron Smith]

Ermz, the Australian dollar has been kicking the US dollar's ass over the last year though, so it's not as bad for you as it once was

 

[Lasse Lammert]

For a second there I thought slate is now also selling drives.

 

[Ermz]

Ermz, the Australian dollar has been kicking the US dollar's ass over the last year though, so it's not as bad for you as it once was

Trust me Aaron, it's always bad for us uke:

 

[exoslime]

For a second there I thought slate is now also selling drives.

lol

 

[OneDaySky]

I know some guys in IT that use SSD Drives, they say they great for the speed etc. But thewy crash on a regular basis apparently. Can anybody confirm this?

 

[kvoid]

I entertained the idea for a while myself but decided against it. They're just too damn expensive sorry. And yeah I'd need 256GB at least. Besides, performance ramps up as the SSD gets bigger. While I was keeping in touch with what's going on in the market the Crucials were untouchable. Then came the insanely priced new OCZ, then the 25nm fiasco happened...

And I just went out and got me a cheapass Hitachi one terabyte old skool drive.

 

[John_C]

worth a read:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-ssd-price-per-gb-ssd-performance,review-32175.html

 

[barricade]

I have the vertex 2 for system... only 64gb though... better to get a bigger one. I have only 6gb free and im using it only in the studio!

 

[kev]

Worth every penny for me, so much so that I get a bit aggravated by standard hard drives now.

I've just got the one RAID of SSD's which at the moment totals 128GB (looking to add to it possibly but I used to survive off of a 60gb ssd so im used to it and still have plenty over the recommended 25% free available). Anything small or regularly loaded is installed on there, all program files- but games/sample libraries however are far too big so reside on a seperate HDD RAID of samsungs. Counterstrike is the only game i have on the C:, as even at 25 i thoroughly enjoy shooting you Germans after work everyday

In your case Ermz its a bit more of a pita using dual boot, but easily worth it. Its a shame you have to have the two windows installs, but its your living so I'd do the same to be frank. I'd get 2 of the vertex drives 2, 128gb (£160 each), smack em in a RAID 0 config, do your two partitions on it building it up to your spec and then image the fucker. Have a scheduled daily backup for any data you might have going onto the RAID (ideally you should tweak your installs so that NO data at all resides on your operating system drive (even down to your desktop and your favourites) and then if you ever have an OS issue (which ive never really had on win 7 yet and i manage hoards of clients) you will be back up and running in a matter of minutes.

Somebody said about ssd freezing, never encountered any of that. Also dont be fooled by the Anti MLC brigade- realistcally the drive is going to last 5 years or longer and you really arent going to have that hardware running then and you know it I was very worried originally so splurged about 400 notes on a SLC- then took a chill pill a few years later and got some mlc.

P.S i think you might have an issue with your 183 unless its the slightly newer one