Upgrading my iMac with an SSD.. any thoughts?

[dale_a_smith]

I'm gunna swap my hard drive ( iMac late 2007 ) for an SSD.

I've decided on the OCZ Vertex 2, which is supposed to be, pound for pound, the best on the market.

Anyone done this, or had experience of SSD's when recording audio?

cheers

 

[AboutBlank]

just installed the vertex 2 for my OS and love it so far, it's not that you go "aah, sooo fast" but you will recognize it positively everyday, it's just more smoothly running.

 

[dale_a_smith]

Great to hear..

I'm going to be running audio and OS from it ( iMac = 1 Hard drive ) but with the massive increase in read / write speed, i've been assured it'll do the job no worries..

 

[InHiding]

I've seen a test on notebookreview where Intel's drives had the smallest amount of breakages/data problems so you might want to look into that too.

 

[dcb]

just installed the vertex 2 for my OS and love it so far, it's not that you go "aah, sooo fast" but you will recognize it positively everyday, it's just more smoothly running.

youll notice a huge difference when investing in an SLC SSD disk. (THE VERTEX IS MLC)
they are a lot faster, but also 1 gb costs about 15€....
something like an intel x25 extreme....

 

[AboutBlank]

Yeah, but that would be totally of the hook for me(and many more I think), financial-wise...

The vertex has the most bang for the buck, imo, and it's def an upgrade from the HDD's.

 

[dale_a_smith]

The cheapest I've seen the Vertex 2 3.5" for the 120gb is £170.. just under 200 euro..

I've got my HHD down to 60gb, including DAW OS and full compliment of Slate Platinum.... So 120gb is probably enought..

I have 3 external drives for backups..

 

[dale_a_smith]

Yeah, but that would be totally of the hook for me(and many more I think), financial-wise...

The vertex has the most bang for the buck, imo, and it's def an upgrade from the HDD's.

+1

 

[dcb]

The cheapest I've seen the Vertex 2 3.5" for the 120gb is £170.. just under 200 euro..

I've got my HHD down to 60gb, including DAW OS and full compliment of Slate Platinum.... So 120gb is probably enought..

I have 3 external drives for backups..

guys, dont forget these drives do not live forever!
id definately invest in somethign a little more pricey
like an intel ssd.

id recommend you this if you dont wanna go the slc way :
the intel X25-M,
its the fastest of the mlcs.

 

[dale_a_smith]

The review of the Vertex that I saw ( SSDreview.com or something like that) had it rated faster in every aspect compared to the Intel x25m.

I understand the worry about the life span of these drives, but they are way more reliable than they where a year ago and OCZ guarantee them for 3 years. ( by which time I'll have a mac pro and a DDR drive )

 

[dale_a_smith]

Just re visited that review and there is a difference between the Generation 1 and 2 intel drives. the vertex falls directly in between them performance wise..

 

[AboutBlank]

Of course, theres everytime smthg better around but sometimes you have to stay on the carpet...

 

[SethTheGreat]

I've been running a 60 gb ocz vertex for 2 years without a problem. I wouldn't bother recording audio onto it or using it for sample libraries though... I just use it for OS and applications. Recording audio to an SSD won't be too much better than a standard HDD but it will shorten it's lifespan by quite a bit.

If you'd like my take on "is it worth it?" performance-wise, I'm so used to my zippy machine I get pissed when I try to use anyone elses HDD equipped machine.

 

[dale_a_smith]

Problem is, I only have one drive available to me, with it being an iMac, so I need to run OSX and apps and audio all off the same drive.. ( I considered using a firewire external drive, but I'm using firewire for my audio interface, and didn't fancy having two separate units running on the same firewire buss..)

 

[kev]

ive got a samsung slc, and an ocz vertex 2 mlc. They are both very nippy drives especially in a raid config together. At the rate that computers are advancing i suspect you may as well get an MLC rather than an slc. Get an slc though if you are planning to keep it for years.

Im going to link this video again just because i want to watch it for the millionth time



P.S

Watch out for these beasts next month.. http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=28703

 

[AboutBlank]

Thats just completely crazy...

 

[Strangedogs]

I have 4 external FW drives on my Imac - daisy chaining works great!