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Hybrid or SSD conundrum

wildatheart

wildatheart

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 28, 2008
73
1
Hi Everyone

I have an early '11 17" Unibody with an optibay caddy. I am a photographer and my main activity is Lightroom, and I am looking for the best compromise of speed & storage. My Home folder is 500Gb without any of my work; I use the optibay to store my Lightroom images.

Current setup;
HD Bay: SATA3 Seagate Momentus 750Gb Hybrid; System, Apps, Home folder
Optibay: SATA2 Hitachi 500GB 7200rpm; Lightroom images

considering;
HD Bay: SATA3 Samsung 830 128Gb SSD; System, Apps
Optibay: SATA2 Samsung 1Tb 5400rpm; partition 1 600Gb Home folder, partition 2 400Gb Lightroom images



PS. Lightroom speed seems to be mostly limited by processing power, rather than read/write speeds

many thanks for any thoughts
 
B

Blue604

macrumors regular
Mar 6, 2012
163
0
wildatheart said:
Hi Everyone

I have an early '11 17" Unibody with an optibay caddy. I am a photographer and my main activity is Lightroom, and I am looking for the best compromise of speed & storage. My Home folder is 500Gb without any of my work; I use the optibay to store my Lightroom images.

Current setup;
HD Bay: SATA3 Seagate Momentus 750Gb Hybrid; System, Apps, Home folder
Optibay: SATA2 Hitachi 500GB 7200rpm; Lightroom images

considering;
HD Bay: SATA3 Samsung 830 128Gb SSD; System, Apps
Optibay: SATA2 Samsung 1Tb 5400rpm; partition 1 600Gb Home folder, partition 2 400Gb Lightroom images



PS. Lightroom speed seems to be mostly limited by processing power, rather than read/write speeds

many thanks for any thoughts
Click to expand...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1504919/

from what the op of the above said, he noticed huge improvement from 5400rpm to hybrid, not so much from hybrid to ssd. And also you are going from 7200rpm to 5400rpm in optical bay. I am not sure overall if you will notice significant speed. Perhaps getting WD 750GB 7200rpm instead of 1TB?

I have 2009 MBP 13", and I am using M4 512GB + WD 750GB 7200RPM (optical). I don't use light room, but i use Aperture a lot. My Aperture library is around 300GB(30,000+ photos), and I put them on main SSD. Much smoother than when they were in WD 750GB 7200RPM.
 
wildatheart

wildatheart

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 28, 2008
73
1
Blue604 said:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1504919/

I have 2009 MBP 13", and I am using M4 512GB + WD 750GB 7200RPM (optical). I don't use light room, but i use Aperture a lot. My Aperture library is around 300GB(30,000+ photos), and I put them on main SSD. Much smoother than when they were in WD 750GB 7200RPM.
Click to expand...

Interesting; so perhaps I should consider this;

HD Bay: SATA3 Samsung 830 512Gb SSD: partition 1 System, Apps; partition 2 Lightroom catalog + images
Optibay: SATA2 WD 750Gb 7200rpm; User Folder
 
NewishMacGuy

NewishMacGuy

macrumors 6502a
Aug 2, 2007
636
0
wildatheart said:
Interesting; so perhaps I should consider this;

HD Bay: SATA3 Samsung 830 512Gb SSD: partition 1 System, Apps; partition 2 Lightroom catalog + images
Optibay: SATA2 WD 750Gb 7200rpm; User Folder
Click to expand...

That'll probably be best for raw speed (short of putting a 512GB SATA II SSD in the optibay as well), but it'll be pricey, borderline more pricey than its worth to upgrade a 2011.

I would probably stick with:

SATA III 256GB SSD + SATA II 750GB 7200rpm & DIY FUD

or the somewhat radical suggestion

Keep the MoXT where it is + 256GB SATA II SSD in optibay & DIY FUD
 
wildatheart

wildatheart

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 28, 2008
73
1
NewishMacGuy said:
That'll probably be best for raw speed (short of putting a 512GB SATA II SSD in the optibay as well), but it'll be pricey, borderline more pricey than its worth to upgrade a 2011.

I would probably stick with:

SATA III 256GB SSD + SATA II 750GB 7200rpm & DIY FUD

or the somewhat radical suggestion

Keep the MoXT where it is + 256GB SATA II SSD in optibay & DIY FUD
Click to expand...

Thanks for your thoughts - what's DIY FUD (I've had an indulgent night so brain not very sharp..)?

The 256GB SATA in optibay is interesting - it begs the question which is more effective;

System on SSD SATAII and the User folder at SATAIII

or System on SSD SATAIII and User folder at SATAII?
 
Last edited:
NewishMacGuy

NewishMacGuy

macrumors 6502a
Aug 2, 2007
636
0
wildatheart said:
Thanks for your thoughts - what's DIY FUD (I've had an indulgent night so brain not very sharp..)?

The 256GB SATA in optibay is interesting - it begs the question which is more effective;

System on SSD SATAII and the User folder at SATAIII

or System on SSD SATAIII and User folder at SATAII?
Click to expand...

DIY FUD = do-it-yourself Fusion Drive

And a DIY FUD would obviate the need to manage what goes where as the OS will do it for you.

http://tomasz.korwel.net/2012/11/04/apple-fusion-drive-on-late-2010-macbook-pro/
 
wildatheart

wildatheart

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 28, 2008
73
1
Thanks again - the FUD looks a little too 'beta' to me to use professionally (though I may be wrong) and I like having all my LR images in one partition; easy to back up.

So I come back to

HD Bay: SATA3 Samsung 830 512Gb SSD: partition 1 System, Apps; partition 2 Lightroom catalog + images
Optibay: SATA2 WD 750Gb 7200rpm; User Folder

Pricey, as you say - so the question is, whether in day-to-day Lightroom editing I'll notice a difference vs. my current setup

HD Bay: SATA3 Seagate Momentus 750Gb Hybrid; System, Apps, Home folder
Optibay: SATA2 Hitachi 500GB 7200rpm; Lightroom images
 
Last edited:
NewishMacGuy

NewishMacGuy

macrumors 6502a
Aug 2, 2007
636
0
wildatheart said:
Thanks again - the FUD looks a little too 'beta' to me to use professionally (though I may be wrong) and I like having all my LR images in one partition; easy to back up.

So I come back to

HD Bay: SATA3 Samsung 830 512Gb SSD: partition 1 System, Apps; partition 2 Lightroom catalog + images
Optibay: SATA2 WD 750Gb 7200rpm; User Folder

Pricey, as you say - so the question is, whether in day-to-day Lightroom editing I'll notice a difference vs. my current setup

HD Bay: Momentus 750 XT: System, Apps, User Folder
Optibay: Hitachi 500Gb: Lightroom images
Click to expand...

Some difference I'm sure, but you'll probably be surprised by how little difference you feel. I'd be willing to bet that a large portion of the system files and apps that you use regularly are cached in the 8GB flash on the MoXT. Your Lightroom catalog will load faster for sure though.

Apple does the same thing to enable its own FUDs and creating a single core storage volume from two drives is not new so the tech is not "Beta." That the OS automatically shuttles the info between the two drives is new to the OS surely, but I don't see how that threatens your data safety if you regularly back up to a TM (which I'm sure that you do). But then again, I'm no expert.
 
wildatheart

wildatheart

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 28, 2008
73
1
Many thanks for your input - much appreciated. I use Superduper for my image backups - quick & easy & automatic when I can point Superduper to a particular partition that holds my images.
 
richnyc

richnyc

macrumors regular
Nov 8, 2012
180
1
NYC
I wouldn't use Fusion drive yet. If one drive goes bad, the whole thing goes bad. I prefer to keep things separate. It doesn't require that much work and it seems from your writeup that you are use to it...

I like the config you are considering but would try to get a SSD with at least 256GB, or even 500-512GB, if you are willing to spring for it. For 256GB, I'll be looking at Sammy 830 models, for the 500GB, I'd like the new 840 (non-Pro) model, just because it is bigger bang for your $$$ than either 830 or 840 Pro.
 
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