better to run clips of external or laptop hdd?

[klany]

I have a 32Gb Verbatim expresscard SSD in my 2010 MBP and performance is night and day compared to running clips off from internal 7200 rpm HDD.

[eatyourwork]

@thomase I have no problems run OS and clips on same drive, so it really depends what HDD or SSD you have, what connection you use for your external drive, but for me internal runs much way faster than external.

I have OCZ vertex 3 on MacBookPro8,3 runs really fast with clips and OS on same internal drive, and i'm really happy about this.
Sadly have no experience with external thunderbolt, (it looks bit expensive for me) but SSD runs really fast, and video playback is really smooth even 1080p

P.S. if anyone is planning to buy SSD search mac forums first, there is a lot SSD that have problems with macs especially 2011 models, because of cables and SSD firmware, as I found OWC http://www.macsales.com/ has less problems with all macs.

[2bitpunk]

Hi thomase,

On my MBP (i7, 8GB, 240GB SSD) I use the internal SSD drive and everything is fine. When I first started using VDMX on a Blue and White Mac tower I had a raid card with 3 x 80Gb drives for the media bin and a drive for the OS but as the new machines are so much faster you can work with a single drive now. I still prefere a rack mounted Mac for live work but the convenience of a MBP is hard to beat.

For the people with some spare cash you can get a kit to replace the DVD drive on your MBP with a SSD which I guess would very efficient.

[thomase]

When using one of those ssd kits would you put your clips or your OS on the ssd?

In my case I doubt an ssd is still worth the hassle. I have a 2007 MBP, but I also have a rack mount hackintosh. I might upgrade that with an ssd.

[magneticpitch]

looks like the verbatims are europe-only. how long have you been using it? any issues? (thanks)

[mattleaf]

When using one of those ssd kits would you put your clips or your OS on the ssd?

I have the same question. I'd be happy to rip out the optical and throw in an SSD , would even splash out on a larger one.

Is it better to replace the old HDD with the SSD, use this as a OS Drive and for clips, then put your Old HDD where the optical was and use this for everything else (downloads, media, music, photos etc). That would make sense to me I guess.

[magneticpitch]

if you put your OS/apps on SSD, and clips on HD: if you just run a couple of video streams at once, maybe ok. i'm not positive but my guess would be: use the SSD for media if you have to make a choice.
but if you install an SSD, you'll probably find that your performance increases nicely (sometimes massively) with both apps and media on it. (as in: even if you keep an HD, you'll probably end up with apps/media on the SSD just because of better performance)
2 SSDs is the dream machine (though you should get the most powerful graphics card you can afford -- it's doing most of the calculation)
and once you have less than roughly 12% free space on a drive, you'll start to notice a hit to performance

[thomase]

So the SSD users think/ have any experience with old machines? I.e. my 2007 MBP? Is it still worth upgrading?

[magneticpitch]

@thomase

i would consider all your specs (graphics card/memory, CPU, RAM, HD)-- and find the price of an upgrading all of those to what you want (or are thinking of getting in a new machine). also consider that you will be able to sell your old machine for $ to help pay for the new one.

i just recently sold a 2006 or 2007 15" Core 2 duo. I upgraded to a top of the line 17" about 2 years ago (maximum specs down the line), and it was a gigantic upgrade in performance over my previous machine, and i'm quite happy with it.

somebody please correct me if i'm wrong, but for VDMX, the CPU speed isn't quite as important as the HD (or SSD!) and graphics card (and RAM). An SSD all by itself is a very significant upgrade. Try it. If you then want better specs, do a cost analysis of upgrade vs. new machine. Your 'old' machine with a new SSD will also be more valuable to sell.

of anything you can do with a computer, processing multiple streams of video is probably helped most by faster hard drives.

[Cornelius]

Upgrading to an SSD is amazing, but you should research your laptop first. I have a mid 2009 17" MacBook Pro and after buying a Intel 520 SSD I was sad to find out that their are compatibility issues with certain SSD's and MacBook Pro's, even on some of the newer models. Why? Because Apple's firmware updates have limited SSD support. You should download trim enabler, disable sms (sudden motion sensor) and a few other tweaks to get your SSD in long-term working condition. Back to the SSD issue, Google Negotiated Link Speed: 1.5Gigabit with your mac book pro model. I was lucky enough to have a friend who wanted to trade me his intel 320 series for my 520, the 320 runs at 3Gigabit, which it should, A.K.A. SATA II speeds, but the 520 would only run at SATA I speeds or the 1.5 because of "rare" intel and apple incompatibilities. OCZ and OWC seemed to fix this issue, but the "more reliable" intel drives and some of the other ones out there haven't. Also, If you go the data doubler route, i.e. pulling your CD drive out, such as I have, you will find that some MacbookPro's will only work at a SATA I connection. Some speculations are that the cable is a SATA I cable and with a simple upgrade you can get full speeds running, but just as a warning, don't go out buying two SSD's thinking magic is going to happen without doing the model specific reseach first. Other then than, my SSD changed everything completely and is more than worth the investment. VDMX opens in a few seconds and it connects to all the files on my external hard drive insanely faster. All in all, my setup takes a quarter of the time.

[magneticpitch]

very good points by Cornelius. (and thanks for the tip on disabling the SMS) i should say that i ordered my MacBook Pro (6,1) with SSD factory-installed.

If/when i upgrade it, i will definitely order from OWC (Other World Computing) - they are totally Mac-centric, their SSDs are highly rated (i have 2 in my Mac Pro), and they're good to deal with. http://eshop.macsales.com/

[klany]

looks like the verbatims are europe-only. how long have you been using it? any issues? (thanks)

..been using it about year and a half now. I get something like 110 MB/s read and 20 MB/s write speeds with that drive. The only downside is that when you are writing to disk it shuts airport connection off mystically.. Not a problem for me as I use it for VJ clips only.

[magneticpitch]

strange about the airport, but i shut it off anyway when i'm performing

i just want to verify - you have the 2010 MacBook Pro 6,1 ??

i was thinking today about replacing the "working/media" SSD in my Mac Pro, and taking that SSD and putting it in an eSATA enclosure to work with my MBPro's eSATA expresscard -probably a bit better performance, and more room for media (but quite a bit more money, too)

yeah, it's weird that i have to buy the Verbatim card from Europe, but i also just had to get the camera i wanted straight from Hong Kong

peace

[klany]

i just want to verify - you have the 2010 MacBook Pro 6,1 ??

Yep, same machine..

[listenpreis]

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/01/sea ... t-adapter/

... I suppose a 200$ (WTF?!?!) adapter will solve all our problems =) ... the adapter for 99$ won't have the extra TB port for the display. I am still not sure if I want a tb daisy chain though...

Funny that the USB3-SATA adapter cables are more or less for free (when buying a harddrive) ... this is either 99$+50$ (for the cable and no TB port for extra display) or 199$+50$ yay I pay more for the adapters than for the actual harddrive ... yeah right =)