SSD - Win or Mac

[B-rad]

Alright guys, what are your opinions/experiences (preferably experiences) with SSDs between Win and Mac?

I just ordered an OCZ Vertex 2 120GB from NewEgg and am contemplating which OS to give it to. Yeah I thought about dual-booting from it but I mostly stick to OSX now.

I read an article/benchmark on SSD performance in OSX specifically regarding TRIM support and long-term speed and surprisingly enough, OSX somehow managed to maintain its high read/write speeds after Terabytes of rewriting, indicating some type of TRIM enabled. It could also be that OSX just doesn't need it.

Though I have done a little research, I want some input (opinions and hard facts).

 

[Maroder]

Hi B-rad,

good choice on the SSD. As the Sandforce controller in the Vertex 2 uses a very good internal garbage collection (similar to an internal trim), trim support by the OS isn't really required. Trim IMHO really has got needless with the newer Sandforce controllers as the performance gained through this feature is negligible.

Quite interesting read on this matter: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1048536

I'm using the same Vertex 2 in my build and I wouldn't want to miss it. Booting to the desktop in 2 seconds and starting the complete CS5-Suite at once (Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator, Indesign) in 3 seconds is just to good

As for which OS to choose: Just ask yourself which OS you use more frequently and put this OS on the SSD. You will love it.

Cheers,
Maroder

 

[B-rad]

Okay well I definitely use OSX more, probably 95% of the time.

I was thinking about splitting it down the middle for Win7 and OSX partitions but I don't think <60GB each is enough. The only reason I want it for Win7 is because I sometimes play games and audio production on it with Propellerhead Reason+Record since my OSX doesn't support my sound card.

Keeping the SSD for OSX would simplify my entire setup a lot since I would have had two hard drives for each operating system since the SSD is so small.

I think I will just do this:
750gb - data
250gb - Win7
120gb - OSX
500gb - backup

 

[teq]

I own two different i5 desktop PCs, each with a Patriot Torq 128GB SSD. One of them is running Windows 7, the other is running 10.6.5.

IMHO, the Windows 7 machine benefits more from the SSD. Especially booting up the machine is much faster than with a standard HD (less than 20 seconds).

Just my 5 cents.

Cheers,
teq

 

[B-rad]

I used OSX only. Boot time didn't see a huge increase, no big deal as I rarely sit and wait for it to boot anyway. Huge speed increase in opening apps.

I opened Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and Flash CS5 at the same time and all opened up within 3-4 seconds. It took over 30 seconds on a standard 7200rpm Seagate.

OSX installation took 9 minutes.

 

[Burninator]

I used OSX only. Boot time didn't see a huge increase, no big deal as I rarely sit and wait for it to boot anyway. Huge speed increase in opening apps.

I opened Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and Flash CS5 at the same time and all opened up within 3-4 seconds. It took over 30 seconds on a standard 7200rpm Seagate.

OSX installation took 9 minutes.

Ugh stop making me jealous as I wait for SSD prices to come down =P

 

[B-rad]

Ugh stop making me jealous as I wait for SSD prices to come down =P

Hahaha . I got it for what I deemed a reasonable price: $190 after rebate from Newegg with the Black Friday sales going on. I just looked at pricing now...$252!!! I love buying the right item at the right time.

 

[tonymacx86]

Ugh stop making me jealous as I wait for SSD prices to come down =P

Hahaha . I got it for what I deemed a reasonable price: $190 after rebate from Newegg with the Black Friday sales going on. I just looked at pricing now...$252!!! I love buying the right item at the right time.

Nice one- yeah- I'm in the same boat- waiting for SSD prices to come down, but almost there. Possibly Xmas gift to self... I'd go for a Sandforce SSD for sure.