Turtlerock Forum

Not wanting to hijack the SSD/G5 thread was wondering if anyone else had done the SSD mac pro thing.
Considering this for the system drive. Is the PCIe slot the way to go or the SATA thing. Its all a little above my field of expertise.
I'm a native protooler on a mac pro 3,1. So if anyone has specifics to that machine / recommended brands and adaptors that would be awesome. And pitfalls to watch out for, like that model/brand/speed won't work in that machine.

Actually. If anyone has any traps on this stuff for any machines maybe pop them here also to help others not get caught out.


Thanks.

Hi Steve,

I've got a mac pro 3.1 running PT native.
I put an OCZ agility3 in it using an Icy Dock 2.5">3.5" adapter a few years ago and it's been fine ever since.
I know the 3.1 does not do Sata 3 but.

There are a ton of SSD's now.
It looks like the Samsungs are maybe the best, but I couldn't say for sure.

My system looks like:
SSD System : 60 GB (typically use about 15GB)
Audio Drive: 1TB WD Caviar black
Data, samples and instrument content: 1TB WD Caviar black
Backup: 1TB WD Caviar black

last time i did a typical google search getting ppl's opinions on SSD, the usual contenders for best HDs, weren't in the picture. for pc, the big boys are WD and seagate, everything else fails pretty hard...
i was surprised not to see these guys picked as the best for SSD, newer companies are providing this technology better, it seems... last time i did a search was late 2011 and knowing IT things could have changed.

3.1 is the last of the "hard" machines to put the SSD in the lower optical bay (which is where you want it, so that you still have 4 proper drive slots remaining)
all of my 3 machines have it in there... you need a weird adapter cable thing that you have to order from the states to do it, and its a bit of an install (you have to remove the fan, and pull a cable through)
but the system performance is nice (and it "frees up" a drive bay, in that your system drive is now not one of the 4 drive bays, so you get all those slots for audio/ video)
i use samsung SSD drives (250)

from 4.1 on the lower optical bay already had the cabling to put an SSD in there as an "easy/ standard" mod that didnt need to pull cables etc but just plug and play

also, one thought on your system
your backup drive shouldnt be in your computer... what if lightning strikes and the machine (and drives) get fried.
what if the computer gets stolen?
backup should be on an external.
in my opinion.

it's all good, I have two external backups too!
The internal drive is for immediate, or mid-session backups.
I do an external sync at any pertinent moment!

good man!!

nice to see someone backing up properly.

;-)

Awesome guys.
Exactly what I'm after.
Thank you.
G-Pig. Are those samsungs the 840 series? will those SATA3 work in the mac 3,1?

We have SSD's in 12 of our Mac Pro's.

They make a massive difference to the speed of the machines. Worth every cent.

Only caveat is when they fail, they fail hard. We've had one drive go down in two years, but when they go down, you have zero chance of recovery.

So - make sure you backup property, and you have nothing to worry about.

We get ours from macsales.com

Simon "Smash" Ashby

Just be aware if you are not already, most manufacturers quote their SSD life at around 5 years depending on how many writes per day/per GB. Probably the most concerning thing is if your SSD is idle ... unplug it an leave it on a shelf ... the data retention life can be as low as 3 months, many up around 6 months, by some miracle you may get years, so DO NOT use them for long term storage. This low date retention life applies to all Flash Media .... thumb drives, media cards etc.

Junction wrote:Just be aware if you are not already, most manufacturers quote their SSD life at around 5 years depending on how many writes per day/per GB. Probably the most concerning thing is if your SSD is idle ... unplug it an leave it on a shelf ... the data retention life can be as low as 3 months, many up around 6 months, by some miracle you may get years, so DO NOT use them for long term storage. This low date retention life applies to all Flash Media .... thumb drives, media cards etc.

woah.

Intel 500 series SSD's have the lowest failure rate of the lot I think. They aren't the fastest... Nor the cheapest.

Got an OCD SSD in my mackbook pro (paired with a 7200rpm drive for audio) running the system and it's been great. I do rigorous regular backups though because the fear of data loss keeps my very wary. Easy to install and the caddy system was great (also from OCD I think).

"enterprise" quality drives are worth the extra $s if they're available in the size you're after - usually they're taken from the first "nnn" produced so the tolerances are closer. Good to see someone mention the limited writes on SSDs and hard failure point.

OWC prices and service are good from my experience.

yes all very good points.

steve - the drives in mine are:

Samsung 250GB 2.5" 840 Series MZ-7TD250BW

I run two 128GB OCZ Agility drives, one as the system drive, the other has samples and my VST folders on it. I run a 1TB WD Black Caviar for audio/video/storage etc...

No dramas, very fast and smooth running Windows 7, Protools/Sonar/Reaper

Thanks Gareth
Looks good.
Trying to track down the adaptor you're talking about.
Anyone done the PCIe thing? Or as that just a more expensive way to to it the same thing for the system drive only?
I don't really need all 4 drive bays so maybe I'll pop it in there or is that where the SATA2/SATA3 thing will defeat me on the mac 3.1?

steve this is the bracket you want:

OWC Multi-Mount: 2.5 to 3.5 / 3.5 to 5.25 Hard Drive adapter
bracket set Mac Pro 06-08

the important bit there being the mac pro 06-08 (which is the manufacture year 2006 - 2008, a 3.1 build being "early 2008)

im sure there are other solutions. but this is one that i know works!

I got one of those OWC kits and used half of it on the last conversion I did - they are very good - there are actually 2 kits in the package - a 2.5 to 3.5 and an 3.5 to 5.25.

Success!
Thanks everyone for your help.