How do you use your SSD?

[gaijin]

Can't do a search for SSD (too short?) so no idea how many other threads exist about SSDs...

Anyway, as I'm planning to build a new PC I thought it might be a good idea to get myself a SSD (solid-state drive). They're expensive. They've got a limited lifetime. They're fast.

Who amongst the members of this illustrious site use SSDs? How do you use them? Any advice? Any reason not to use them, other than that they're expensive and have a limited lifetime?

Oh, I should add that if I do get one, it'd be to coax some more speed out of Photoshop and Lightroom (and Windows).

Thanks!

[Colin Southern]

Hi Allen,

I use a OCZ RevoDrive x2 (25GB) for a system and working drive on my main PC, and a RAID 1 (Mirror pair) for data storage (once I've finished working the set on the SSD).

I think people stress about the "limited life" thing a bit -- HDDs are limited like too; perhaps the "trick" is to not use them more than needed? Dunno - I don't worry about it.

They certainly are insanely fast though.

[herbert]

Hi Allen,

I use an SSD for my main operating system drive. I have all my photos stored in regular disks.

The SSD is very fast for read speeds. The new ones boast fast write speeds too. This makes a big difference to how fast the computer turns on, loads programs and just how snappy it feels during use. They are just a bit too expensive for all your drive space but as Colin suggests you can use a bit of space as a working drive and then move the stuff off to another disk when you are not using it any more for long term storage.

As for the failure rate I believe the mean time between failures (MTBF) is now about the same as for a spinning disk. It used to be bad but the technology is much more mature now. I wouldn't worry about it. However I do keep my essentials on multiple disks so if anyone fails then I have a backup.

I recommend you stick to the main manufacturers. OCZ, Crucial and Corsair have been around for a while and should be good.

Alex

[Squidgy]

Hi Allen, Dont worry about the life span of SSD I have been using them for a good while now without any problem. I have a 64GB as a main drive and use 2 x 500GB HDD's for storage. I copy the contents of my CF card to both HDD's and then copy the folder I want to work on onto the SSD for speed. I then save my edits to a sub folder of the original files on the HDD's and once completed delete the folder from the SSD ready for the next lot. The two HDD's are periodically backed up to a couple of external 1TB HDD's. Just a word of caution, dont defrag an SSD.

[Colin Southern]

As for the failure rate I believe the mean time between failures (MTBF) is now about the same as for a spinning disk.

What makes me smile is the 2 MILLION hour MTBF of the Revodrive (that's 228 years!) - and yet it only comes with a 3 year warranty ... Hmmm

[Photon Hacker]

Can't do a search for SSD (too short?) so no idea how many other threads exist about SSDs...

Anyway, as I'm planning to build a new PC I thought it might be a good idea to get myself a SSD (solid-state drive). They're expensive. They've got a limited lifetime. They're fast.

Who amongst the members of this illustrious site use SSDs? How do you use them? Any advice? Any reason not to use them, other than that they're expensive and have a limited lifetime?

Oh, I should add that if I do get one, it'd be to coax some more speed out of Photoshop and Lightroom (and Windows).

Thanks!

There isn't much more we can tell you about them. You already know its benefits and limitations.

Currently I don't use solid state drives. I use GNU/Linux. When I need the utmost speed I mount a tmpfs filesystem. Otherwise normal caching in otherwise unused RAM space does its work. Also, you can change Linux (kernel) settings to allow more aggressive caching too. Use its documentation and your favorite search engine for more information.

If your current setup includes a hard disk for storage of important information I'd suggest to get a similar one to set up at least RAID-1 before buying a SSD.

Regards.