2013/04/20 12:46:15
DW_Mike
I've been looking at SSD's for my new build and am interested in what my fellow Sonarites are using.

What brand do you have or recommend?
What size (GB) do you use and what do you have installed on it?
Is it better to RAID two lower GB SSD's or use one larger?

I'm thinking that my OS, Sonar and all my other programs like Melodyne and all my VST's should go on my SSD drive.
Or should I just use it for Windows and Sonar and put all the VST's and such on the 7200RPM HD's? 

Mike

2013/04/20 18:05:08
DW_Mike
What about mSATA SSD's.
Good idea or bad idea?
Is it just a matter of preference?
My mobo has an mSATA port so that is an option for me.

Mike
2013/04/20 18:15:19
Anubis
You can't go wrong with the Samsung 840 series. Very reliable. Tiger Direct has the 500GB one at $369.
2013/04/20 20:14:46
fireberd
I have a 256 GB Intel SSD for my Win 7  (DAW) installation.  One of our two forum DAW builders (don't remember if it was Jim or Scott) recommended Intel for reliability.    I also have an OCZ Vertex 4 for Win 8 (dual boot), which is not on the DAW builders buy list.

I don't use RAID, I do regular full SSD drive backups with Macrium to either one of two conventional hard drives.
2013/04/20 21:51:20
Paul P
I use an Intel 520 series 120GB ssd for my os and programs (and most of my samples).

I'm sure other manufacturers are good, but I think Intel has about the best reputation.





2013/04/20 21:57:13
Paul P
fireberd, you mention Macrium. This is the first I've heard of this product.

Could you give us your impression of it ? Are you using the full version ?





2013/04/20 23:37:15
DW_Mike
I've read loads of good things on the Samsung 840 Pro series and OCZ Vertex 4.
Pretty much neck and neck there.
If I go with mSATA it seems that the Intel SSD 525 would be the way to go but they go for $290 for 240GB http://www.storagereview.com/intel_ssd_525_msata_review 

I watched a Newegg video about my board - Gigabyte GA-Z77x-UD5 - and if I use an mSATA drive it'll somewhat boost or help my spinning HD's. Something to do with caching I believe.

I donno....I've been reading and watching loads of videos and reviews over the last week on so many products.... I'm fried  


Thanks for the input guys.
@ Fireberd, I have a question about the CPU cooler but I've had enough for one day.
I'll PM you tomorrow.


Night all.
Mike

   
2013/04/21 05:51:46
jeffb63
I have a Samsung 840 Pro as the second drive in my laptop (see sig.) which I use for sample streaming. All good so far.
2013/04/21 06:54:42
fireberd
Paul, Macrium is a drive backup program.  I had been using Acronis True Image for a long time, but Acronis let me down twice trying to restore hard drives.  Acronis didn't get a third chance.  I moved to Macrium (purchased full 4 PC version) and it does backups faster than Acronis and the Macrium procedure to create the WinPE bootable rescue disc is a breeze as it has a built in utility that automates much of the procedure.  Acronis requires buying the extra Plus Pack to get the WinPE disc creation and even then much of it is a "manual" operation. 

Acronis' regular "rescue disc" uses Linux, and I had problems with the Linux version on two newer PC's (both Z77 motherboards).  On one it would boot up but I could not select a "target" drive (the drive to restore the back up to).  On the other one it boots up but there is no mouse or keyboard control so I couldn't get any further.  Both of those systems will boot a Linux distro and run without problems.  I went to the WinPE versions, which does support both keyboard and mouse (and also UEFI BIOS).  The WinPE supports all the hardware on the PC's.

One thing I noticed with the Macrium bootable rescue disc is that part of the procedure when it creates the disc is that it profiles the hardware in the PC.  Because of that I made separate bootable rescue discs for each of the PC's I have.  I haven't tried the rescue discs on other PC's (need to do that some time) to see if the specific hardware profiling makes a difference.

After uninstalling Acronis, I found I had a problem attaching external USB connected hard drives and flash drives.  As it turned out, during the Acronis uninstall it left several Acronis programs and many fragments in the registry, which caused my problems.  I tried manually editing the registry to get rid of left over Acronis but there were still many traces in software and registry left over.  I finally found an Acronis utility that "cleaned" any left over Acronis.   I used to recommend Acronis to my clients - no more.
2013/04/21 09:13:20
Paul P
Thanks fireberd for taking the time for this.

I hadn't yet gotten around to buying imaging software for my new system.
I've used Acronis in the past but I've been wanting something with fewer complaints from users.



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