Solid state drives

I keep my catalog (along with Windows and Program Files) on the SSD. Images are stored on a larger hard drive, apart from the images I'm currently working on. They live on the SSD for processing then get moved, from within Lightroom, to the HDD when I've finished with them.
 
I have a 64GB Crucial RealSSD C300 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s as my OS drive and of all the upgrades I've performed to my PCs over the years, the SSD gave the most obvious, massive speed boost whilst just generally using the PC.

Of course upgrading to a quad-core helped with encoding videos, but the SSD just makes using Windows & programmes so snappy.

Windows loads in a few seconds, as do all my applications. Switching users happens in a flash. Shutting down is rapid too.

They're still expensive and you will probably still have to store media on separate, traditional HDDs, but I can highly recommend an SDD as an OS drive. I wish I could afford another, larger one for my laptop.
 
Last edited:
And the difference between those two is even greater when you compare the important numbers. Manufacturers like to quote their speeds for reading/writing large sequential blocks of data, because those are the biggest numbers. But the real gain from an SSD is probably the hundreds of small files, like DLLs, that you need to access when using Windows.

Here's a comparison of various benchmarks for those two drives. Look near the bottom, where you can see that the Cruciial drive is 3 to 4 times faster than the WD at those important 4kB reads.
 
just ordered:

Icy Box IB-318StUS2-B eSATA/USB
Samsung HD103SJ 1TB Spinpoint F3 7200rpm 32MB OEM

to move the LR stuff onto.. hopefully shouldnt cause any noticable slowdown..
 
neil_g said:
just ordered:

Icy Box IB-318StUS2-B eSATA/USB
Samsung HD103SJ 1TB Spinpoint F3 7200rpm 32MB OEM

to move the LR stuff onto.. hopefully shouldnt cause any noticable slowdown..
Click to expand...

It should be OK if you're using eSATA. If it's USB - urgh.
 
I recently put a OCZ vertex 2 SSD in my MacBook Pro...

Boot times have gone from around 30 seconds to sub 15. Apps open instantaneously too.
 
SSD's give some decent performance gain, but the cost is prohibitive at times.

I'm lucky that I have 4 x 15k rpm 300Gb scsi drives, plus a couple of 1Gb sata's (big tower). The OS and minimal apps are on one, lightroom cache on another (plus some backup stuff), raw files on one and final images on the last. The two sata drives are internal backup drives, plus I have a 1tb and 2tb external usb drives for backups. (My nas box died recently :'( )
 
godaz said:
I recently put a OCZ vertex 2 SSD in my MacBook Pro...

Boot times have gone from around 30 seconds to sub 15. Apps open instantaneously too.
Click to expand...
With the hybrid, my boot time is 25 seconds, Apps are pretty much instantaneous, Photoshop ready for use in six seconds.
 
Ive got a Hitachi 60gb on my laptop running win7 uiltimate, boot time to a useable desktop is 11-12 seconds, firefox opens instantly, photoshop elements 2 seconds, its blistering quick

Desktop uses a Kingston v100+ 128gb, boots in approx 24 seconds as opposed to 70 sec
 
godaz said:
I recently put a OCZ vertex 2 SSD in my MacBook Pro...

Boot times have gone from around 30 seconds to sub 15. Apps open instantaneously too.
Click to expand...

How did you do that? is it replace hitachi hard drive with the OCZ using same ribbon connector ? :thumbs:

or, as I will presume, its a lot more difficult :bonk:
 
I recently upgraded with 4gb more of ram and a Mushkin Callisto 60gb SSD. Boot-up time is dramatically reduced, and my main progs open quicker. I just have Windows 7, Firefox, Photoshop and Lightroom on the SSD I think.. everything else is on my other drive.

One headache caused by the small capacity of the SSD is what to do with my User folders... My Pictures, My Music, etc., as you can't just drag them to another drive or partition. Microsoft need to implement this ability somehow! I got over the problem by using a free script called PositionDefaultFolderSevenModular.

How do you guys handle this problem? Do you simply not use the User folders?
 
Sloper said:
One headache caused by the small capacity of the SSD is what to do with my User folders... My Pictures, My Music, etc., as you can't just drag them to another drive or partition. Microsoft need to implement this ability somehow! I got over the problem by using a free script called PositionDefaultFolderSevenModular.

How do you guys handle this problem? Do you simply not use the User folders?
Click to expand...

http://serverfault.com/questions/81...e-c-users-to-d-users-under-vista-w7/8211#8211

:)
 
My Vaio notebook has 120gb SSD it starts up pretty fast and it is quiet in operation, I didn't buy this one because of the SSD but I liked the fact it had 3G built in and I travel a lot.
 
Using Treesize, I just totted up the space used if all of these are installed on C drive: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit, Office 2007, CS5, LR3, CNX2 & numerous other small programmes. It comes to 72.1GB (approx).

Breakdown:
  • Program Files (x86) = 20.7
  • Program Files = 5.2
  • Program Data = 2.0
  • Windows = 19.9
  • Other = 1.0
  • Files = 14.1 (inc pagefile.sys & hyberfil.sys)
  • AppData = 5.5
  • Desktop = 1.6
  • Pictures (library) = 1.0
  • Downloads = 0.9
  • Public = 0.2
So a 90GB SSD should be fine for programmes and the OS - as long as all other data (documents, pics, music, etc) is saved to another drive.
 
Main reason why I am waiting for a quality 256GB one to come into under the 200£ mark. I have a 60GB in my MBP at the moment but I am struggling seriously. I have all my music on my iPhone so I don't mind about that but programmes and pictures are serious trouble.
 
I got 10 but that is with me constantly cleaning stuff. I guess I could even live with a 128 but I know I will bang my head on the storage wall soon enough.
 
Is there unusual anything to look out for when installing an SSD with the OS on it (Win 7)?
 
hmm judging by the replies here its gonna be worth me getting a 128gb SSD for installing the OS and games on my desktop?

i was thinking about getting a 128gb SSD for games/OS and a 1tb HD for files over summer?
 
Ozei said:
Is there unusual anything to look out for when installing an SSD with the OS on it (Win 7)?
Click to expand...

just make sure you run the windows experience rating after installing the SSD so windows sets certain options like disabling defrag etc. id also disable hibernate. but if you look on the OCZ forums there is a really handy guide of stuff to check/set.
 
thorton said:
hmm judging by the replies here its gonna be worth me getting a 128gb SSD for installing the OS and games on my desktop?

i was thinking about getting a 128gb SSD for games/OS and a 1tb HD for files over summer?
Click to expand...

i run a 60Gb SSD alongside a 1TB drive in my ITX desktop. SSD holds OS and programs (granted install 1 game at a time, but once i get bored i uninstall anyway). 1TB holds temporary files such as ISOs, high res exports from LR.

the rest of my data is stored on my 8TB NAS.
 
neil_g said:
just make sure you run the windows experience rating after installing the SSD so windows sets certain options like disabling defrag etc. id also disable hibernate. but if you look on the OCZ forums there is a really handy guide of stuff to check/set.
Click to expand...

Cheers Neil. Yes I saw the OCZ guide yesterday but thought it seemed a tad over-complicated. :thinking:

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...BC-for-OCZ-SSD&p=567552&viewfull=1#post567552

I'll definitely disable hibernate (it soaks up 6GB) but what about pagefile.sys (which soaks up 8GB)? I'm also confused about when/how to set AHCI.
 
first time i installed W7 on SSD i shrank the pagefile, when i rebuilt due to a new motherboard i left it as is. thats on an 8Gb system so i assume i have an 8Gb page (havent checked to be honest. either way i havent had issues.

AHCI should be enabled in the bios, running it in IDE etc mode will drastically decrease performance.
 
neil_g said:
first time i installed W7 on SSD i shrank the pagefile, when i rebuilt due to a new motherboard i left it as is. thats on an 8Gb system so i assume i have an 8Gb page (havent checked to be honest. either way i havent had issues.

AHCI should be enabled in the bios, running it in IDE etc mode will drastically decrease performance.
Click to expand...

it's alleged that TRIM won't work on IDE mode either
 
neil_g said:
.... AHCI should be enabled in the bios, running it in IDE etc mode will drastically decrease performance.
Click to expand...

Should I enable AHCI in bios before installing the SSD & loading Win 7?

If I enable it now (before swapping the IDE C drive to SSD) will I be able to reboot to the IDE C drive?
 
ive always set it before installing W7 on the SSD to be honest.

some drives might not like AHCI so might be a bit hit and miss... you could try changing it, if it doesnt boot you only have to go back into the bios and change it back.
 
neil_g said:
ive always set it before installing W7 on the SSD to be honest.

some drives might not like AHCI so might be a bit hit and miss... you could try changing it, if it doesnt boot you only have to go back into the bios and change it back.
Click to expand...

My bios is set to IDE but it seems the registry is already set for AHCI - i.e. the msahci value is on 0 not the default 3 (http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/content.php?286-Change-from-IDE-to-AHCI-after-Installation).

I'll try changing bios to AHCI and see if the IDE C: reboots (I just need to back up documents etc to a 3rd drive before swapping to the SSD).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top