SSD as Boot Drive

[macfrik]

Ok. I read all the posts here in MacRumors regarding SSD as boot drive on a Mac Pro. I ordered the 80GB Intel SSD Gen 2. I'm planning to install it to my Mac Pro as a boot drive and use my 1TB WD 7200 RPM as media storage. Do I have to do like RAID or anything to 2 of my disks or I just simply do a fresh install on the SSD and copy all my media files to the 1TB HDD? That simple?

Thank you. Cheers!

 

[J the Ninja]

No, you just install OS X from your restore DVD, then copy your media from a backup on to the 1TB disk. You may want to look into moving your home folder onto the 1TB HDD as well. Oh, and in case you didn't know, your Mac Pro doesn't have a place to mount a 2.5" drive, so you will need some sort of mounting bracket for the SSD. Which Mac Pro do you have and where were you planning to install it? (HDD sled, optical drive bay, gaffed to a fan cage*, etc)




*That one isn't recommended

 

[macfrik]

Thanks for your reply. I have the March '09 2.66Ghz Quad Mac Pro

I'm planning to install it to my HDD bay. Yeah I need brackets to connect the SSD to the Mac Pro. I think its included on the X25M package right?

Oh so it's that simple. Just plug the SSD in, and copy all the media to my 1TB then? Do you recommend using RAID (SSD +1TB HDD) on the MP? I didn't realize it was that simple.

Thanks again.

 

[gugucom]

Yes, it is not difficult at all in the 2009 MP. The SSD can be directly connected to the SATA header "B" in the optical bay. All you need is a fixture to make it stay in place.

You can simply install OS X and migrate all the apps you need from the HDD. 80 GB looks small though. You will need to be meticulous in your housekeeping. The SSDs do not like to get filled up. Better leave 20% unused all the time for the controller to do his internal wear leveling.

 

[Transporteur]

Thanks for your reply. I have the March '09 2.66Ghz Quad Mac Pro

I'm planning to install it to my HDD bay. Yeah I need brackets to connect the SSD to the Mac Pro. I think its included on the X25M package right?

There are no mounting brackets included in the X25 package.
If you want to place it in one of the HDD bays, this would be a reasonable adapter.
I have one myself and can recommend them.

-> Icy Dock SSD carrier

Do you recommend using RAID (SSD +1TB HDD) on the MP?

You can't do a Raid from a SSD and a 1TB HDD drive (theoretically it would be possible, but that's absolute nonsense).

Please read the Wikipedia arcticle about Raid if you're not so familiar with it. The basics are very well described. -> Wiki Raid

 

[scottness]

The SSDs do not like to get filled up. Better leave 20% unused all the time for the controller to do his internal wear leveling.

That's the first time I've heard that. Why is that?

No wonder my stuff seemed to work better when I moved just about everything off my MBA.

 

[giffut]

The ...

... SSD management doesn´t need that much free space to have best managment. In general you shouldn´t fill up any drive. I think 5% is quite enough for spare. But there is much work done on firmware level at the moment, to optimize performance. All manufactures are busy doing so. This is also related to some incompatibilites in managment practices between SSD and the SATA interface.

I would stick with Intel X series, if you want the best of the bunch, for now at least.

 

[gugucom]

That's the first time I've heard that. Why is that?

No wonder my stuff seemed to work better when I moved just about everything off my MBA.

Statistically you are likely to write very small blocks like 4 K of data to your drive. If the drive has been filled once it needs to erase cells that used to have information in them. This erase write cycle is only possible to cells of 512 K size. This is why it takes longer to write once the drive has been written the first time.

To alleviate the erase/write effect the controller in the drive is programmed to optimize the erasing ahead of a write requirement. In order to do this while still minimizing the number of write/erase cycles you have to leave some empty space on the drive. Intel drives actually are bigger than their nominal space to give the controller an extra reserve. Nevertheless it is not a good idea to fll up a solid state drive.