Mac Pro 5,1 (mid 2010) - SSD Upgrade?

[h9826790]

Some interesting ideas, thanks for taking the time. Is there a penalty for having multiple operations accessing a single SSD at the same time, vs having multiple (smaller) SSDs?



That's the specific thing I'm trying to avoid - I don't want to do any manual management of files and space, which is what I was hoping Fusion Drives would do - keep active files, ie anything new, opened or saved, in the ssd portion, while keeping my volumes simple.

I suppose I can start with a 240gb ssd for OS and apps, leave my user directory on the spinner, and see how that goes.

That's easy, I will still keep the same strategy, a single SSD. 500GB size should be good enough for you.

Always import photos to the SSD, and use CCC automatically copy all photos to the photos HDD on regular basis (e.g. everyday).

So, HDD 1 is a clone, if a photo is removed from the SSD, the same photo will be automatically remove on the next clone.

And HDD 2 is NOT a clone, but keep all photos until full. Then automatically remove the oldest photos when space required for the new photos.

Yes, multi smaller SSDs operation in parallel should provide better performance. However, I can't see why it will become a huge bottleneck in your case. The SSD latency is so low, and normal users rarely require > 3 operations at the same time. Especially the overall file size you are dealing with is not that large. Yes, coping 30GB photos still take some time. However, by considering everything now on the same SSD, no need to copy it from one SSD / FD to another. It actually save time.

Since you sleep your machine at night, that will Very good to use CCC. Let CCC wake up the machine at mid night. Do all the clones and copies. Then sleep the machine again. So, every morning. Your Mac is ready to work. All you need to do is just import photos to the SSD and do your work on it. No need to take care the HDDs.

Also, on every morning, you are safe to delete all the old stuff on the SSD, they are all backups onto the backup boot drive + photos drive (daily backup, photos only) + time machine (hourly backup).

 

[iRabbit]

SSD is very good for loading multiple SMALL files. Which means extremely suitable for photos work.

You should get a SSD and put your current project's photos onto it. Not just OS and Apps. Assuming you only boot once a day (or even wake the computer up from sleep), and the apps only need to be load once a day. The time saving is almost nothing for the entire workflow. However, by using SSD, the computer may save you few seconds on every single photo, which can be a lot in total. You can clearly feel the difference because all thumbnails will be loaded much much faster. If you leave the photos in a HDD, you won't be able to utilise the low latency of the SSD. Which totally defeat the purpose of upgrading to SSD.

Anyway, really no need to go for any extreme high speed SSD. Those are for dealing with LARGE files like videos. Buying those expensive SSD is just wasting your money. And OWC is one of the well known overpriced brand.

Get your self a 850Evo, or any cheap SATA SSD, plug that into the empty optical bay, then you are good to go. Those relative expensive SATA III card do able to improve the SSD's sequential read / write performance, however, again, that's for LARGE files, not for multiple SMALL files. The cost is high, extra performance gain is low, therefore not recommended.

If you only put the OS and apps on SSD, then you don't really need a SSD. SSHD can do the job well, with much lower cost, and larger capacity.

So it makes more sense to replace the storage drives as opposed to the boot drive where my apps reside?

I probably reboot my machine once a month (if that). Photoshop is perpetually running unless I have a hiccup, then I just restart the app. I almost never reboot the machine.

Currently I have four drives... My boot drive is 500GB. Then I have a 1TB drive and 2 2TB drives. The 2TB drives are where the majority of my photos reside. Yes, I have a LOT of photos. Both drives are working drives, as I work on projects from either each day. I drive is specific to my two biggest clients.

So if I'm better of updating the storage/photo drives, it's going to cost me a bit. That's okay... just want to start the best way possible...

 

[h9826790]

So it makes more sense to replace the storage drives as opposed to the boot drive where my apps reside?

I probably reboot my machine once a month (if that). Photoshop is perpetually running unless I have a hiccup, then I just restart the app. I almost never reboot the machine.

Currently I have four drives... My boot drive is 500GB. Then I have a 1TB drive and 2 2TB drives. The 2TB drives are where the majority of my photos reside. Yes, I have a LOT of photos. Both drives are working drives, as I work on projects from either each day. I drive is specific to my two biggest clients.

So if I'm better of updating the storage/photo drives, it's going to cost me a bit. That's okay... just want to start the best way possible...

By considering you have 48GB of RAM, rarely use SWAP, and boot may be only once a month. Obviously boot time / apps loading time is not your biggest concern. Also, once your computer is booted / apps are loaded, the relevant data are already in the RAM, no need to access HDD (boot drive). So, upgrade boot drive to SSD won't benefit much in your case.

Yes, in your particular case, upgrade the working drive to SSD is much more important. By considering there is total 3TB, and you don't want to manually copy the working project to an extra working SSD. Yes, that will cost you quite a bit. But sure you should able to feel the huge difference.

There is no cheap + simple + fast solution, you can choose 2, but not all 3.

Your current solution (HDD) is cheap and simple, but not fast.

All SSD is simple and fast, but not cheap.

An extra working SSD with manual file management is cheap and fast, but not simple.

So, you have to make the decision.

 

[iRabbit]

Or be patient and safe some money
What do you think is the cheapEST solution, but still reliable? I don't expect it to be bargain prices, just don't want to pay a premium if it isn't necessary...

 

[whartung]

Some interesting ideas, thanks for taking the time. Is there a penalty for having multiple operations accessing a single SSD at the same time, vs having multiple (smaller) SSDs?



That's the specific thing I'm trying to avoid - I don't want to do any manual management of files and space, which is what I was hoping Fusion Drives would do - keep active files, ie anything new, opened or saved, in the ssd portion, while keeping my volumes simple.

I suppose I can start with a 240gb ssd for OS and apps, leave my user directory on the spinner, and see how that goes.

I've got an SSD for my boot drive and 2 x 1TB spinning disks in RAID 0 as my storage array. Lightroom is aware of both drives. I import and work on photos from my SSD, and I just drag and drop the photos within Lightroom to the HDDs when I'm done working on them. This might literally be "manual" but it certainly isn't laborious. I don't even see how an automatic process could be much easier, particularly considering the drawbacks of Fusion Drives - 5gb buffer means that if you ever are working with files or groups of files that are collectively larger than that buffer, your computer slows to the HDD speed, which sucks.

 

[hartleymartin]

I have an SSD for the boot drive and 2x 2TB HDDs in RAID-1 for my personal files, as well as an external backup unit. I've put SSDs in almost all of my family's computers and the speed increase is phenominal.

 

[arpieb]

I'm currently attempting to add a Samsung Evo 850 1TB to my MacPro 5,1, Mid-2010 (same as the OP) running macOS 10.12.6... However I'm not having any luck with Disk Utility recognizing it in any of the internal drive bays (using a NewerTech adapter from OWC). I've noticed several replies in this thread saying they have similar SSDs installed in their second optical bay. Is that by choice or is there some gotcha with the SSD being in one of the four internal bays?

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I was seeing a common theme and wondering if there was a technical reason for it...

Thanks!
-R

 

[h9826790]

I'm currently attempting to add a Samsung Evo 850 1TB to my MacPro 5,1, Mid-2010 (same as the OP) running macOS 10.12.6... However I'm not having any luck with Disk Utility recognizing it in any of the internal drive bays (using a NewerTech adapter from OWC). I've noticed several replies in this thread saying they have similar SSDs installed in their second optical bay. Is that by choice or is there some gotcha with the SSD being in one of the four internal bays?

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I was seeing a common theme and wondering if there was a technical reason for it...

Thanks!
-R

Try connect the SSD via the optical bay, it's 100% safe, no adaptor or any screw required. Just connect and boot. There is no moving parts insider the SSD, it won't cause any vibration or damage.

If the SSD is OK, then the adaptor is faulty. If still no sign of the SSD, then the SSD is faulty.

 

[carpsafari]

using a NewerTech adapter from OWC)

I'm sure it's the crappy adapter, get rid off it!
It often is a source of trouble and I regularly have to remove them.

 

[JeffPerrin]

I've noticed several replies in this thread saying they have similar SSDs installed in their second optical bay. Is that by choice or is there some gotcha with the SSD being in one of the four internal bays?

Internal bay is fine. Try re-seating the drive connection? If that doesn't work, maybe use a dock or another computer to confirm the SSD is not at fault. I have the same set-up working fine, albeit with 12.11 and a mid-2012 model MP.

 

[mattspace]

I'm also using an evo 850 in the optical bay, and was wondering if anyone else runs into a problem of not being able to bless a startup disk in the system prefs when booting from an optical bay ssd?

can boot off any of my drives if holding down option to start, and can even choose the evo in system prefs when running off a spinner. I've encountered one post somewhere with someone suggesting that the SATA in the optical bay on the 4,1 has some weird bug.

 

[h9826790]

I'm also using an evo 850 in the optical bay, and was wondering if anyone else runs into a problem of not being able to bless a startup disk in the system prefs when booting from an optical bay ssd?

can boot off any of my drives if holding down option to start, and can even choose the evo in system prefs when running off a spinner. I've encountered one post somewhere with someone suggesting that the SATA in the optical bay on the 4,1 has some weird bug.

I can boot from there without an issue. Anyway, if you can't select that as boot drive from system preference, try a PRAM reset.

 

[mattspace]

I can boot from there without an issue. Anyway, if you can't select that as boot drive from system preference, try a PRAM reset.

The problem seems to survive a PRAM reset. I can select any drive when booting off the ssd, but then a warning dialogue slides our of the titlebar, warning that the bless tool couldn't alter the startup drive. Just curious if it's likely to be a problem that would survive a reinstall.

 

[MacOS 8.6]

I have installed a SATA III PCI card. My SSD drive is in my optical bay. However, I can find no way to route the SSD cable from the optical bay to the PCI card. Do I need to drill a hole?

 

[h9826790]

I have installed a SATA III PCI card. My SSD drive is in my optical bay. However, I can find no way to route the SSD cable from the optical bay to the PCI card. Do I need to drill a hole?

View attachment 754987

Check the Pixlas mod thread. There are lots of cable management examples.