DIY Fusion SSD Size?

icemantx · Sep 16, 2013

I have a DIY Fusion in my early 2009 iMac with a 256GB Crucial M4 for the SSD along with a 2TB Seagate HDD. I am wondering if I will see improved performance for things such as loading and working with the iPhoto or iMovie libraries if I upgrade to a larger SSD to replace the M4 and create a new fusion? Such as the Crucial M500 960GB?

Anyone had experience with difference size SSD in a fusion setup?

I do not want to spend any money on an older computer if any difference will really be minimal compared to what I have now.

Thanks!

Bear · Sep 17, 2013

icemantx said:
I have a DIY Fusion in my early 2009 iMac with a 256GB Crucial M4 for the SSD along with a 2TB Seagate HDD. I am wondering if I will see improved performance for things such as loading and working with the iPhoto or iMovie libraries if I upgrade to a larger SSD to replace the M4 and create a new fusion? Such as the Crucial M500 960GB?

Anyone had experience with difference size SSD in a fusion setup?

I do not want to spend any money on an older computer if any difference will really be minimal compared to what I have now.

Thanks!

How much of an improvement you will see depends on how many hot files you have.

Is the 2TB Seagate drive 7200RPM? If it's a slower one, that might be a better choice to replace (and would cost less).

Although, you might just want to consider seeing what the next iMac update brings. SSD prices might be lower. Apple's fusion drive might have a larger SDD portion. Using the 2012 iMac configurations, I would get a FD in the iMac and get a 256GB SSD on USB 3 or Thunderbolt for files that I feel need to be on SSD. If the next iMac has much better SSD prices, I would get at least a 512GB SSD in the iMac and get a 2 or 3 TB HD externally.

icemantx · Sep 17, 2013

Bear said:
How much of an improvement you will see depends on how many hot files you have.

Is the 2TB Seagate drive 7200RPM? If it's a slower one, that might be a better choice to replace (and would cost less).

Although, you might just want to consider seeing what the next iMac update brings. SSD prices might be lower. Apple's fusion drive might have a larger SDD portion. Using the 2012 iMac configurations, I would get a FD in the iMac and get a 256GB SSD on USB 3 or Thunderbolt for files that I feel need to be on SSD. If the next iMac has much better SSD prices, I would get at least a 512GB SSD in the iMac and get a 2 or 3 TB HD externally.

Yes, the 2TB Seagate is 7200 RPM. Only thing about the new iMacs is the price and spending $2,000-2500 is not in the budget right now. This is why I was looking into the best I could do until I save up enough cash for a new iMac. I completely started over with iPhoto last night and re-imported photos and even with iPhoto being 135GB now instead of 190GB, I still hear the spinning drive start up which slows it down.

Bear · Sep 17, 2013

icemantx said:
Yes, the 2TB Seagate is 7200 RPM. Only thing about the new iMacs is the price and spending $2,000-2500 is not in the budget right now. This is why I was looking into the best I could do until I save up enough cash for a new iMac. I completely started over with iPhoto last night and re-imported photos and even with iPhoto being 135GB now instead of 190GB, I still hear the spinning drive start up which slows it down.

I would suggest living with it and wait until you can afford a new iMac and put the money you would've spent on the SSD aside for the new iMac. Also, when you buy, you can check the Apple refurbished iMacs to see if they have a configuration you want. The one I'd buy today is $200 less refurbished and comes with a faster processor than I would've bought, so it's a savings of about $400 over a new iMac of that configuration. (But to me it's still only a $200 savings.)

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