solid, supported, fast boot drive for cMP

[MadBlue]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for the right boot-drive für my cMP 4.1=>5.1.
I read much about the firmware hack to run the nvme drives. But I think that's not solid enough for my daily driver. I want to be able, to do software updated without any hassles.

I know I can use a 2.5 to 3.5 Tray (actually I'm doing this at the moment) but it's limiting me to SATA2.

There are PCIe to SATA3 Adapters around. Do they work out of the Box? Is it possible/recommendable to do a RAID0 with two SATA3 SSDs? (TRIM etc.)

And the think I'm most interested in at the moment: Whats about non nvme m.2 drives? Can I use a AHCI or SATA3 m.2 drive in a PCIe to m.2 adapter in a cMP and use it as a boot drive?

Thanks a lot for any suggestions!

Sören

 

[MarkC426]

Do you really turn off your mac every day?
Personally mine just sleeps, between uses.
A standard ssd on the internal sata is ‘more than’ fast enough for daily booting/use.
There are other threads around regarding pci-e/m2 drives, which discuss the non advantages for your boot drive (i.e. no benefit that is noticeable).

A samsung evo/pro is a common choice....

 

[MadBlue]

Hi Mark,

thanks for your suggestions.

Maybe "boot drive" is the wring term to define my setup idea.
I like to have a two stage storage setup. A very fast storage with around 500GB for my active projects etc. including the OS. (So I'm calling my boot drive...) And a second stage with a big, spinning rust. In fact there is a third stage for Backups etc. but that's external so it doesn't matter.

I don't like the idea of installing my OS on the HDD, beside my archive.
1. I want the hdd to sleep most of the time. (noise...)
2. A OS on a hdd feels very, very outdated in everyday use to me.

 

[kohlson]

I connected my SATA-III boot drive to both a SATA-II port and through an Accelsior PCIe adapter. Essentially no change in boot times.

I used to have an APS UPS with a "power meter" and even a sleeping cMP uses a fair bit of power.

 

[MadBlue]

Hi,
boot times are not important to me. But overall system behavior.

 

[MarkC426]

If you want a very fast storage for projects, then a pci-e card with ssd is the way forward, this will give you sata 3 speed (the drive bays are sata 2).
I have an ssd in drive bay for os and an ssd on a sonnet tempo card for rendering to.