4,1 PCIe storage & scratch (RAM) disks

[mattspace]

Hi Folks,

So I want to get my system, apps and scratch disk space off spinning disks and was wondering what people's opinions are of the best way to manage it.

I can fit my current system, apps and user directory on a 256GB Samsung XP941 with about 40GB to spare - though I'm not sure how PCIe storage handles being accessed by multiple processes at once, for instance simultaneous file I/O and scratch use.

It just occurred to me that I could try to use a RAM disk as scratch space for when I'm doing highly scratch intensive tasks. Anyone had experience with that?

 

[thefredelement]

Hi Folks,

So I want to get my system, apps and scratch disk space off spinning disks and was wondering what people's opinions are of the best way to manage it.

I can fit my current system, apps and user directory on a 256GB Samsung XP941 with about 40GB to spare - though I'm not sure how PCIe storage handles being accessed by multiple processes at once, for instance simultaneous file I/O and scratch use.

It just occurred to me that I could try to use a RAM disk as scratch space for when I'm doing highly scratch intensive tasks. Anyone had experience with that?

You can get two PCIe adapters, or a ton a of RAM, or all three.

I have two Samsung 256GB in a Raid 0 on a Sonnet Tempo Pro and 48GB of RAM in a 4,1 and that works for me. I have a 64GB SSD in a sled (on Sata2) that I keep telling myself I'll add to another PCIe card but the need hasn't presented itself as of yet.

Either way, put your main SSD on a PCI adapter for Sata3 speeds, it's a much faster experience.

 

[IowaLynn]

Hi Folks,

So I want to get my system, apps and scratch disk space off spinning disks and was wondering what people's opinions are of the best way to manage it.

I can fit my current system, apps and user directory on a 256GB Samsung XP941 with about 40GB to spare - though I'm not sure how PCIe storage handles being accessed by multiple processes at once, for instance simultaneous file I/O and scratch use.

It just occurred to me that I could try to use a RAM disk as scratch space for when I'm doing highly scratch intensive tasks. Anyone had experience with that?

Firstly I would leave only ~/Library on your XP941 and assume photoshop plugins will want to use 100GB of the boot drive, and my own 'rule of thumb' is to aim for 50% free on SSD and hdd.

I would first upgrade RAM to whatever you can afford, dual or single? 6x16GB or not.

Use XP941 for scratch or system, or both if you go for the $500 500GB or go to ebay and land an Apple unit (500, 768 or 1TB)

 

[mattspace]

I'm curious as to how putting ~/Library only on the SSD is done - with an alias in the user directory on the spinning disk? Does time machine automatically track through to that?

Would setting the SSD and the stock 7200rpm hitachi drive as a Fusion drive be a reasonable solution, or do you really see performance degrade if the SSD starts to fill up?