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758 GB Flash or 3 TB Fusion?

raziel101

raziel101

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 20, 2010
186
182
Vancouver, Canada
I'm ready to upgrade my 6 year old MacBook Pro to an iMac.

My issue is that my iTunes library has just hit 2 TB and will continue to grow as I rip all my BR discs.

I've been looking at getting the 3 TB Fusion drive so that it can hold my current iTunes library. When it's about to hit the 3 TB mark, I plan to get an external thunderbolt drive to connect to my iMac. My only concern is performance with the Fusion Drive. Will this growing iTunes library greatly impact performance while it's stored on the Fusion Drive? Or would it be best to get the 768 GB Flash drive as well as a 3 TB Thunderbolt drive (my existing external drive that my library is is connected via Firewire and about to reach it's limit) from the outset?
 
raziel101 said:
I'm ready to upgrade my 6 year old MacBook Pro to an iMac.

My issue is that my iTunes library has just hit 2 TB and will continue to grow as I rip all my BR discs.

I've been looking at getting the 3 TB Fusion drive so that it can hold my current iTunes library. When it's about to hit the 3 TB mark, I plan to get an external thunderbolt drive to connect to my iMac. My only concern is performance with the Fusion Drive. Will this growing iTunes library greatly impact performance while it's stored on the Fusion Drive? Or would it be best to get the 768 GB Flash drive as well as a 3 TB Thunderbolt drive (my existing external drive that my library is is connected via Firewire and about to reach it's limit) from the outset?
Click to expand...

Your iTunes media itself is relatively not performance sensitive... so keeping your iTunes library database on the Fusion drive or SSD is ideal... but keeping the actual media library on an external will be fine. If you do this... your 2TB of media has no chance of "polluting" the Fusion Drive... and your iTunes library file itself will probably remain resident on the SSD portion of your fusion.

Of course, the 768GB drive is better... but the question is if it is important for your usage. If you primarily use your computer for iTunes... then it is probably not worth it IMHO.

/Jim
 
raziel101 said:
I'm ready to upgrade my 6 year old MacBook Pro to an iMac.

My issue is that my iTunes library has just hit 2 TB and will continue to grow as I rip all my BR discs.

I've been looking at getting the 3 TB Fusion drive so that it can hold my current iTunes library. When it's about to hit the 3 TB mark, I plan to get an external thunderbolt drive to connect to my iMac. My only concern is performance with the Fusion Drive. Will this growing iTunes library greatly impact performance while it's stored on the Fusion Drive? Or would it be best to get the 768 GB Flash drive as well as a 3 TB Thunderbolt drive (my existing external drive that my library is is connected via Firewire and about to reach it's limit) from the outset?
Click to expand...

SSD of course. 2TB really? Stop torrenting!
 
ApplesAOranges said:
SSD of course. 2TB really? Stop torrenting!
Click to expand...

It is really getting silly isn't it? I am questioning if I really want to own any movies anymore (just delete the ones that I own)... and even music. Cheap subscriptions to "all the music/movies in the world" is the trend. Why do I need any media (other than personal pictures/movies) once that is fully built out.

/Jim
 
flynz4 said:
It is really getting silly isn't it? I am questioning if I really want to own any movies anymore (just delete the ones that I own)... and even music. Cheap subscriptions to "all the music/movies in the world" is the trend. Why do I need any media (other than personal pictures/movies) once that is fully built out.

/Jim
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion.

Not all countries have access to all the movies in the world. And there is also an issue with quality. Until then, I'll continue to rip my movies and get easy access to them all from my Apple TV :)
 
Last edited:
I suggest you get the 768 Flash, and a solid USB3 external case like the Guardian Maximus from OWC. I'm very happy with this kind of setup... my iTunes and Movies are on the external and getting R/W around 200...which is more than enough.
 
raziel101 said:
Thanks for the suggestion.

Not all countries have access to all the movies in the world. And there is also an issue with quality. Until then, I'll continue to rip my movies and get easy access to them all from my Apple TV :)
Click to expand...

In fairness... the infrastructure is not built out anywhere in the world yet (as far as I know). I am just looking forward and thinking about the current enthusiasts who build large collections (and the huge storage arrays that hold them) will become scarce over time. I think the economic value and convenience of streaming will win out.

/Jim
 
I legitimately own well over a TB of audio, because I'm a DJ and rip all the promo CDs I get in ALAC... which actually switched over to an internet system which allows me to download files as ALAC. If I started downloading the promo music videos too, my library would be ridiculous :eek:

Personally I'm dealing with the same debate, I think I'm going to roll with the 768, because SSDs are just so much better.
 
itsamacthing said:
I suggest you get the 768 Flash, and a solid USB3 external case like the Guardian Maximus from OWC. I'm very happy with this kind of setup... my iTunes and Movies are on the external and getting R/W around 200...which is more than enough.
Click to expand...

Currently, my external drive connected by firewire is pretty slow. I realize that the drive powers down when not in use, but when I actually have to access iTunes media, there is a significant delay before I can actually browse through my library. Do you experience this with this drive you mentioned?
 
flynz4 said:
It is really getting silly isn't it? I am questioning if I really want to own any movies anymore (just delete the ones that I own)... and even music. Cheap subscriptions to "all the music/movies in the world" is the trend. Why do I need any media (other than personal pictures/movies) once that is fully built out.

/Jim
Click to expand...

Yes, I can see your point and I have stopped buying a lot of media, specifically TV shows and Movies for just that reason. But, I also have/had over 300 or maybe more DVD's. Most were a gift from a big movie buff who passed awat, but still, that is a signifigant amount of money spent, why not transfer it to digital and let it live on for pennies a year?
 
marc11 said:
Yes, I can see your point and I have stopped buying a lot of media, specifically TV shows and Movies for just that reason. But, I also have/had over 300 or maybe more DVD's. Most were a gift from a big movie buff who passed awat, but still, that is a signifigant amount of money spent, why not transfer it to digital and let it live on for pennies a year?
Click to expand...

I am not in disagreement... especially for the short term. I also have all of my DVDs ripped (but not as many as you). It is just when I consider the longer term... I think this "media hoarding" will become a niche behavior.

I threw out all of my VCR tapes... because I knew I would never watch them again. Same with my old scratched up 33's & 45's. I just think the world is changing... and we will have all the media on the planet at our fingertips.

/Jim
 
flynz4 said:
I am not in disagreement... especially for the short term. I also have all of my DVDs ripped (but not as many as you). It is just when I consider the longer term... I think this "media hoarding" will become a niche behavior.

I threw out all of my VCR tapes... because I knew I would never watch them again. Same with my old scratched up 33's & 45's. I just think the world is changing... and we will have all the media on the planet at our fingertips.

/Jim
Click to expand...

Yes I do agree with you. The world has already changed at an alarming pace when it comes to medie, in fact, I am surprised stores like Best Buy still sell DVD/BRD at all.
 
marc11 said:
Yes I do agree with you. The world has already changed at an alarming pace when it comes to medie, in fact, I am surprised stores like Best Buy still sell DVD/BRD at all.
Click to expand...

I figure it will be about 10 to 15 years before DVD and Blu Rays are Obsolete .
 
mushroomtip said:
I figure it will be about 10 to 15 years before DVD and Blu Rays are Obsolete .
Click to expand...

I think less than that. I am betting within the next 5 years you will not be able to buy them at the most common stores you can today and only get them online. Just a guess of course.
 
mushroomtip said:
I figure it will be about 10 to 15 years before DVD and Blu Rays are Obsolete .
Click to expand...

Obsolete is an ambiguous term.

An analogy: I think "photo film" went obsolete in about 2001. Others say it is still not obsolete. We are both right... depending upon the context.

/Jim
 
ApplesAOranges said:
SSD of course. 2TB really? Stop torrenting!
Click to expand...

lol seriously..2 tb of free ****, im impressed! :)

----------

id go with the sad personally, ive had mine for two months and i dont regret the ridiculous price i spent on it whatsoever...I went to my brothers house the other day and was helping em out with some things on his imac with a regular hard drive and it seemed ancient to me. now that im use to my sad (have one in my macbook pro also) i think hdd suck now as far as im concerned..but if your not concerned with the speed at all then dont spend the money for sure...but i think once you get one you wont go back
 
raziel101 said:
Currently, my external drive connected by firewire is pretty slow. I realize that the drive powers down when not in use, but when I actually have to access iTunes media, there is a significant delay before I can actually browse through my library. Do you experience this with this drive you mentioned?
Click to expand...

Download and install Keep Drive Spinning; it's a little applet that reaches out to your drives at some frequency to ensure they never spin down. I had the same problem with my FW drives; the Energy Saver Preferences would not keep the drives powered up.
 
marc11 said:
Yes I do agree with you. The world has already changed at an alarming pace when it comes to medie, in fact, I am surprised stores like Best Buy still sell DVD/BRD at all.
Click to expand...

100% right! Things do change at an alarming pace!

Just a few years ago, it used to be spelled mediA.


:D
 
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