Or is their write time too slow making a raid 0 pair of traditional HD's a better option? With ssd there is the obvious reduced power consumption and reliability from no moving parts.
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Would an ssd make a good photoshop scratch disk?
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tomscott1988
macrumors 6502a
The whole point of a scratch disc is for space, an ssd is for speed unless you want to spend £1000 on a 512gb drive. At the moment ssd are not really valid scratch discs unless you have loads of money to throw away. Plus raid 0 is the worst option as - if one drive dies you loose all data. Use an ssd for you boot drive to launch programs and os. Use a normal or raptor drive as you can get a 2tb drive for £130 and cheaper now and buy another and use it as a back up.
SSD's also degrade and slow down due to moving files around etc, so as a scratch disc moving items saving, re-saving an ssd really isnt a good option at the moment. Until they become as cheap per gb as normal hdd's they are a massive indulgence which arnt really valid for 99.9% of users.
If you are using it as a photoshop scratch disc, not just as a storage scratch disc, i suppose you could use an ssd, but again depending on your budget. Buy more ram lol!
Clearly using an SSD of an standard HD is a faster option, but just as a boot drive not actaul for sratch. I do disagree however with what he said about raid 0. Get two 2tb drives and use them together for 4tb raid 0 externaly and have another dirve inside running some kinda mirrioring dive or time capsule. This is what i do and onyl had my drive fail once
tomscott1988
macrumors 6502a
Raid 0 was for photoshop scratch disk only where the I/O speed is of benefit in photoshop tasks. ie I wasn't suggesting it to hold any important files.
I'm thinking SSD for boot and apps. 2TB HD for files and one 2TB external for time machine, then a raid 0 pair for scratch not sure on size
I'm thinking SSD for boot and apps. 2TB HD for files and one 2TB external for time machine, then a raid 0 pair for scratch not sure on size
YES SSD fro PS scratch help as long as they are IMHO a Sandforce based SSD like the OWC or the OCZ Vertex 2
will it kill the SSD in shorter time ? hard to say on paper yes in reality nobody that I know has killed one yet but we just dont have enough time on them to tell ?
yet some have been using SSD for a while as scratch or other intensive uses and seem to be OK
as I say if a SSD is so fragile it cant be used for its purpose then whats the point ?
I am using them and happy so far 🙂
if you are not willing to maybe short the life of the SSD and dont care about performance as much then go the short stroked raid 0 method
here is another view that says use SSD for performance
http://macperformanceguide.com/OptimizingPhotoshop-SSD.html
will it kill the SSD in shorter time ? hard to say on paper yes in reality nobody that I know has killed one yet but we just dont have enough time on them to tell ?
yet some have been using SSD for a while as scratch or other intensive uses and seem to be OK
as I say if a SSD is so fragile it cant be used for its purpose then whats the point ?
I am using them and happy so far 🙂
if you are not willing to maybe short the life of the SSD and dont care about performance as much then go the short stroked raid 0 method
here is another view that says use SSD for performance
http://macperformanceguide.com/OptimizingPhotoshop-SSD.html
VirtualRain
macrumors 603
+1 Honumaui - good summary!
SSD is best for performance, and therefore best for all storage tasks where performance is relevant.
There are always trade-offs (cost and longevity in this case) so each individual will have to decide if the trade-offs are worth it for them.
SSD is best for performance, and therefore best for all storage tasks where performance is relevant.
There are always trade-offs (cost and longevity in this case) so each individual will have to decide if the trade-offs are worth it for them.
Ice Dragon
macrumors 6502a
I think he uses the RE version and the 200 size ?
the scratch is enough for your needs so you can check the scratch size in the lower left of your PS document that would be needed ?
me I run a 100 RE now single SSD but ordered two of the 40 gig for $99 in raid 0 ? should be here this week
my tests when running the scratch on raid 0 of the 100 gig RE VS a single was really very little difference ? using LR I think for the cache was .02 seconds ?
I did not test HUGE PS files but up to about 500 megs which is what some of ours are ? and using a stop watch timing of writing and opening could not tell
but I will test more later as that method is not the best 🙂 but gave me a idea of configurations etc..
I did fill the sratch with a 5 gig image ? but this is also why in real world I have my raid as my second scratch so it can carry over if need be 🙂
my thought is 80 or so gigs should be good for most people but 200 or so is better 🙂 but out of price for most and better to spend that coin somewhere else cause the return would not be recovered 🙂
the scratch is enough for your needs so you can check the scratch size in the lower left of your PS document that would be needed ?
me I run a 100 RE now single SSD but ordered two of the 40 gig for $99 in raid 0 ? should be here this week
my tests when running the scratch on raid 0 of the 100 gig RE VS a single was really very little difference ? using LR I think for the cache was .02 seconds ?
I did not test HUGE PS files but up to about 500 megs which is what some of ours are ? and using a stop watch timing of writing and opening could not tell
but I will test more later as that method is not the best 🙂 but gave me a idea of configurations etc..
I did fill the sratch with a 5 gig image ? but this is also why in real world I have my raid as my second scratch so it can carry over if need be 🙂
my thought is 80 or so gigs should be good for most people but 200 or so is better 🙂 but out of price for most and better to spend that coin somewhere else cause the return would not be recovered 🙂