SSD dilemma

[cmdrdredd]

I alluded to this in another thread but didn't want to derail/hijack that one so I started a new post.


I have a 128GB Crucial M4 coming tomorrow. Going to install Win7 and my programs on it (photoshop etc). I also have a 300GB Velociraptor and a 1TB storage/backup drive.

I was thinking of getting a 2nd of the above drives since the prices are cheap (about $110 and free ship). However I don't know what way to use it. I could throw it into my PS3 but I have a 250GB drive there now and honestly it's probably a waste. I don't have a laptop to put it in. So I thought...maybe a games only SSD. If I do that what do I do with the velociraptor? It would not be large enough to store all my anime and things but would be decently fast but not as fast as an SSD for loading up with games and programs. It doesn't have much value for resale either at this point.

Anyone have any ideas as to what usage this drive setup should be?

Originally I was thinking of using my SSD for OS and main programs and the velociraptor for games installs(with the main ones I am playing being loaded up on the SSD and then transferred back over to the 300GB drive for storage) as well as my documents, music etc. (I have a pretty big iTunes library). The 1TB HDD is my backup drive where I store my anime and movies. Should I just stick with this plan or what? I understand SSD drives allow games to load more quickly (some have a bigger difference than others). Which is why I thought maybe get a second but I don't really want to have any wasted drives if possible. I hate having unused hardware laying around.

Thanks for any ideas you guys may have.

 

[fuzzymath10]

At one point I had two SSDs (2 X25-M G1 80GB) and for awhile I put them in RAID0; still reliable, fast (about 500 read, 125 write), and having 160GB all in one partition means you can stop worrying about all the finicky space saving techniques. Once I repurposed them into an HTPC and my parents (who were extremely pleased with the result), I replaced it with a single 160GB X25-M G2.

Why don't you RAID0 them and have a nice 256GB disk? You'd have to reformat, but it would be worth it just to have as much SSD space consolidated and at your disposal. If you get rid of your velociraptor, you also save noise/moving parts; I keep all my storage (also including tons of anime haha) in a larger case in my living room, and my main desktop has just 3 80mm fans and a 120mm fan as moving parts (*including* the PSU and video card).

 

[kbp]

+ ^
I would
RaidO them. Put games you use the most, all software, and throw other things on the WD including any or all back-up's.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I will not raid 0 and lose trim. Besides that the benefit is very small with ssd.

Maybe that's weird to say but I have had issues with raid 0 options before.

 

[palladium]

Sell it?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Sell it?

It's not worth much anymore. It's small, and not as fast as SSD so it's kind of in the middle.

 

[fuzzymath10]

I guess if you don't need more than 128GB of SSD space, you could just hold off buying it and save yourself some cash? $110 today, might be $90 tomorrow anyway. When we said RAID0 I think we were alluding to 2xSSD (in case we were confused about considering mixing a VR+SSD which I agree is a dumb idea).

You could always use the VR for "tier 2" stuff; programs that you hardly use but are nice to have. You could also use it for downloading, which allows your bulk drive (e.g. green >1TB drives) to spin down most of the time, and then when you've gone awhile downloading, move the watched shows from the VR to the bulk drives since you may not need to watch them soon again.

My living room PC has multiple hard drives and only two drives are usually on; a drive where stuff is downloaded/uploaded, and the boot SSD. Once in awhile, I sort the downloaded files and put them on the other drives.

 

[bryanW1995]

I will not raid 0 and lose trim. Besides that the benefit is very small with ssd.

Maybe that's weird to say but I have had issues with raid 0 options before.

GC is good enough on modern ssd's that TRIM typically isn't necessary. Additionally, intel has been working on RAID 0 TRIM drivers for a while, so it's reasonable to expect that sometime before the end of the year we will be able to run TRIM on Raid-ed ssd's. My own subjective user experience with a single drive in SRT that can't run TRIM is that the dropoff is marginal at worst.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I guess if you don't need more than 128GB of SSD space, you could just hold off buying it and save yourself some cash? $110 today, might be $90 tomorrow anyway. When we said RAID0 I think we were alluding to 2xSSD (in case we were confused about considering mixing a VR+SSD which I agree is a dumb idea).

You could always use the VR for "tier 2" stuff; programs that you hardly use but are nice to have. You could also use it for downloading, which allows your bulk drive (e.g. green >1TB drives) to spin down most of the time, and then when you've gone awhile downloading, move the watched shows from the VR to the bulk drives since you may not need to watch them soon again.

My living room PC has multiple hard drives and only two drives are usually on; a drive where stuff is downloaded/uploaded, and the boot SSD. Once in awhile, I sort the downloaded files and put them on the other drives.

This is what I was thinking. I also know everyone was referring to RAID0 on 2x M4s but I think I'll spread it out. Like you said I can have a big storage drive for my mostly unused stuff. The VR for my somewhat used stuff and then I could dump out my 2x 250GB WD drives I've had for 7 years or so. Then I have my SSD1 for OS/programs and SSD2 for game installs. Not a bad idea.

I think my documents and all that would fit on one of the SSDs easily as well since I doubt I'll have every single game installed at once.

 

[bryanW1995]

I'm not worried about speed at all, I'm just planning to RAID my 2x256 just because of the convenience factor.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I'm not worried about speed at all, I'm just planning to RAID my 2x256 just because of the convenience factor.

Yeah but I was worried about losing TRIM. Seems like not much issue. Still, I kind of want to get started tonight installing windows and getting some of my stuff moved around between HDDs. I think I have a good plan worked out.

 

[bryanW1995]

Are you still using that ip35 pro? I loved mine so much that I also bought 2 ip 35 e's. The pro bit the bullet a few months ago but the 2 e's are still going strong... RIP abit.