Single SSD vs. SSD w/320GB 5400rpm optibay (Performance concern?)

[sn0warmy]

I hope the title wasn't to confusing. I wasn't sure the best way to word this.

I bought an i5 15" MBP last week and instantly through my 80GB SSD into it. I've been doing my best to keep a lot of unnecessary data off the SSD but I'm still running out of space. I'm thinking about throwing the stock 5400rpm 320GB drive into an Optibay tray and using that to hold the data.

I use Photoshop and Illustrator quite a bit and I would like to use the 5400rpm drive as the scratch disk as well.

However, I'm not to familiar with read/write processes and I'm wondering if I will see a speed decrease if I use the 5400rpm drive to house the data while leaving the SSD open for the OS and all applications.

Should I expect a noticeable decrease in battery life with both hard drives installed as well?

 

[Hellhammer]

You are wasting the SSD if it's too full so it's very good idea to replace the SuperDrive with a hard drive in order to get rid of the space issue. SSD isn't really useful for storing data as you won't notice much difference when using the data. It may be few secs faster when opening huge Photoshop file but that's all. Keep SSD OS and apps only, that's the best way

 

[Hexero]

Another cheap alternative is to buy a 80GB SSD, + a external harddrive at 1TB, and store all your games, vids, porn, projects, etc there.

 

[sn0warmy]

Another cheap alternative is to buy a 80GB SSD, + a external harddrive at 1TB, and store all your games, vids, porn, projects, etc there.

Well I currently have my stock 320gb drive in an external enclosure and have everything backed up on it. I don't like the thought of having to constantly plug my laptop into an external drive in order to access all my files.

 

[rversteegh]

Hi there,

New to posting so hopefully I don't do anything wrong. Not entirely sure if this is the right thread but my idea seems similar.

I have a previous gen 13" MBP, 2.53ghz with 4gb ram. Currently it has its stock 250gb hard drive because at the time I was buying an i5 iMac too and decided it would be better to spend money on the MBP later. I like the size but not its lack of capacity and so I have a couple of questions relating to it.

The idea: MCE Optibay to house a 750gb 7200rpm HD and an SSD for OS and key/most used apps in the standard slot.

The questions:
What is the best SSD to use for this, looking in the 120gb and up range probably?
Is there anyway to turn off the 750gb drive to save battery and prevent heat?
And most importantly, is this even a good idea?

Thanks heaps

 

[rnelan7]

You could also consider some sort of NAS setup so you can access your files that way. It will save you battery power, heat and be bigger in size.

 

[rversteegh]

You could also consider some sort of NAS setup so you can access your files that way. It will save you battery power, heat and be bigger in size.

The only problem with that for my needs is that it's not portable, that would be similar to the set up I have where presently I get most files off my iDisk or my iMac. However I need storage like this because I'm at university and when I go home for the holidays It's nice to be able to take some movies or music home without having to take cd's and dvd's and a 27" iMac isn't that portable

 

[Goride]

The only problem with that for my needs is that it's not portable, that would be similar to the set up I have where presently I get most files off my iDisk or my iMac. However I need storage like this because I'm at university and when I go home for the holidays It's nice to be able to take some movies or music home without having to take cd's and dvd's and a 27" iMac isn't that portable

That is what is good about a NAS though. Most of the decent brands allow you to access all your data as long as you have an internet connection to your laptop, via FTP or other protocols.

You are right, you would not be able to access it when you are without an internet connection, like on an airplane. However, if your concern is to get them when you go home, you need only download it off your NAS. Since it is a direct connection, it should be pretty fast as long as you both have a good broadband connection.

 

[rversteegh]

That is what is good about a NAS though. Most of the decent brands allow you to access all your data as long as you have an internet connection to your laptop, via FTP or other protocols.

You are right, you would not be able to access it when you are without an internet connection, like on an airplane. However, if your concern is to get them when you go home, you need only download it off your NAS. Since it is a direct connection, it should be pretty fast as long as you both have a good broadband connection.

Sadly living in New Zealand a good broadband connection is one which can frequently break 250kb/s but I certainly see your point about nas storage now thanks

 

[bzshutter]

I hope the title wasn't to confusing. I wasn't sure the best way to word this.

I bought an i5 15" MBP last week and instantly through my 80GB SSD into it. I've been doing my best to keep a lot of unnecessary data off the SSD but I'm still running out of space. I'm thinking about throwing the stock 5400rpm 320GB drive into an Optibay tray and using that to hold the data.

I use Photoshop and Illustrator quite a bit and I would like to use the 5400rpm drive as the scratch disk as well.

However, I'm not to familiar with read/write processes and I'm wondering if I will see a speed decrease if I use the 5400rpm drive to house the data while leaving the SSD open for the OS and all applications.

Should I expect a noticeable decrease in battery life with both hard drives installed as well?

I just finished this exact setup. I've got a OWC Extreme pro 120 gb SSD + original 500GB HD in a MCE optibay adaptor. This is working out great so far. I highly recommend the OWC SSD. My mbp now boots in about 20 secs and I still have plenty of space to store photo/music/video. I considered just getting a big SSD but the cost/performance ratio of the bigger SSD's are just not worth it right now. So IMHO, a fast SSD for boot and a big HD for data is your best bet right now.

 

[johnnymg]

snip..........
However, I'm not to familiar with read/write processes and I'm wondering if I will see a speed decrease if I use the 5400rpm drive to house the data while leaving the SSD open for the OS and all applications.

Should I expect a noticeable decrease in battery life with both hard drives installed as well?

No you shouldn't expect much change in battery life............. see my sig. My dual drive MBP doesn't seem to chew through the battery.

cheers
JohnG

 

[rversteegh]

I just finished this exact setup. I've got a OWC Extreme pro 120 gb SSD + original 500GB HD in a MCE optibay adaptor. This is working out great so far. I highly recommend the OWC SSD. My mbp now boots in about 20 secs and I still have plenty of space to store photo/music/video. I considered just getting a big SSD but the cost/performance ratio of the bigger SSD's are just not worth it right now. So IMHO, a fast SSD for boot and a big HD for data is your best bet right now.

Is there much benefit in the OWC SSD you used over an Intel X25-M G2 80gb other than the extra capacity? As I'm looking at the same project, but I don't think I can source OWC very easily in New Zealand (although we get OCZ which I've heard are similar?).

 

[bzshutter]

Other than more space, there's a big difference in the controller and features. The OWC uses the new sandforce controller which is supposedly superior to Intel's current G2 controller. The OWC does automatic wear leveling for writes, which is important as OSX does not support TRIM currently. It's also a lot faster than the Intel. It does not loose performance over time. You can see some in depth comparisons here:
http://macperformanceguide.com/SSD-RealWorld-SevereDuty2.html

Is there much benefit in the OWC SSD you used over an Intel X25-M G2 80gb other than the extra capacity? As I'm looking at the same project, but I don't think I can source OWC very easily in New Zealand (although we get OCZ which I've heard are similar?).

 

[sn0warmy]

No you shouldn't expect much change in battery life............. see my sig. My dual drive MBP doesn't seem to chew through the battery.

cheers
JohnG

Thanks for the input. I'll definitely give it a shot. But now I'm wondering if I should upgrade to a 7200rpm drive over the 5400rpm drive, to use for the data storage. I don't want to experience a performance decrease after upgrading to the SSD as the boot drive.

 

[bzshutter]

The OWC SSD idles at .5W, only 2.5W at full load. That's a lot less than some other SSD's out there. So it shouldn't affect battery life much.

Thanks for the input. I'll definitely give it a shot. But now I'm wondering if I should upgrade to a 7200rpm drive over the 5400rpm drive, to use for the data storage. I don't want to experience a performance decrease after upgrading to the SSD as the boot drive.