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mSata vs SSD vs other SSD options
- Thread starter jameskirsop
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Sure but large and fast CF cards are expensive, while SD to IDE adapters are too slow (they max out at 25MB/s IIRC).
Better get a real SSD.
Better get a real SSD.
Do you think, this has a big impact on a system running os8/9?
Last weekend I've installed os8.6 onto a microSD sitting in a microSD-To-CF-Card-adapter sitting in a PCMCIA-CF-Card-Adapter in order to boot a Wallstreet through the PCMCIA-Card and I didn't feel any lack of speed, though I know, writing speed might be ways behind an mSATA.
A RasPi also usually uses an SD-Card as it's booting drive ...
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I'd turn off Virtual Memory to reduce writes to the card (if you have enough RAM). Apart from that, normal use - that is, not continously writing to the card - should be fine.
I doubt you'll be hammering OS 8.6 - it's not exactly a daily driver OS - so it's probably not worth worrying about in practice. Given this is probably just a bit of fun, you won't lose any important files if the SD card were to get corrupted.
When you say it didn't lack speed, are you comparing it with a Wallstreet running a 4200rpm hard drive, or an SSD?
When you say it didn't lack speed, are you comparing it with a Wallstreet running a 4200rpm hard drive, or an SSD?
Consider as well the ATA standard your system’s bus is running.
The ATA bus standard for, say, a Rev. C iBook clamshell from late 2000 is based on ATA-4 (which was more or less state of the art at the time) — at a theoretical 33MB/s up/down limit. In real-world benchmark testing, I’ve seen it reach about 27MB/s averages with an SSD put in there — far faster than even the 7200rpm spinning rust it replaced, especially so with random reads/writes.
If you’re trying to run solid-state on, say, a Wallstreet PowerBook G3, the bus limit is based on ATA-2 standards, which allows for anywhere between 11.1 to 16.7 MB/s theoretical throughput. You would need to run some diagnostic tests with Xbench to find out for certain what your particular laptop can reach.
In short, you’ll need to evaluate the limits of SD and CF throughputs against the limits of the ATA bus in which it will be used. If you’re using a high-speed SD card with 25MB/s throughput in an older ATA-2 bus, you will probably not notice much of a difference between it and an SSD. You will, however, notice a nice improvement over spinning rust.
RPi also boots from USB hard drive and that is recommended if using as a computer rather than a single task project, which mainly reads from rather than writes to disk. Total I/O will determine whether you need to consider mSATA rather than SD/CF for your old Macs as above. Tiger and Leopard are especially hard on disks with all the indexing from Spotlight.
The main advantage of solid state storage is in latency and random small reads / writes; max throughput is more of a side benefit. It’s a bit like having a powerful engine in a car; the acceleration can be used all the time, whereas a 200mph top speed is largely academic.
One thing to watch out for is the card may be running in PIO mode (CFs do in PCMCIA slots), resulting in low write speeds and very high CPU usage.
I've got an SSD in my G3 now, and it works well, EXCEPT for when it goes to sleep it doesn't seem to wake up correctly. I have to hard reboot the iMac for it to start functioning again.
Is there something I need to do to get it waking from sleep?
This is the IDE to SATA adapter I got: https://www.startech.com/en-au/hdd/ide2sat2
Is there something I need to do to get it waking from sleep?
This is the IDE to SATA adapter I got: https://www.startech.com/en-au/hdd/ide2sat2
There was a time…in my early 20s where the high end of the speedometer on my car was a challenge, rather than merely academic. Let's say that my 1985 Accord had a speedometer that topped out at 140mph.
I got within 20mph of that.
But I do get your point.
I've had that same issue with a new SSD I put in my Mac Pro. I read somewhere (not on this site) that you can manually put the Mac to sleep and expect it to wake up normally - rather than having it sleep automatically.
I haven't tried that yet, but I'm passing it along in case you want to try it. If it does work, then it means you can sleep the Mac. Doing it manually like that would be an annoyance, but at least it would work.
You needed a DeLorean DMC-12 back then - the speedometer tops out at 85 mph (and then the time machine kicks into operation).
You needed a DeLorean DMC-12 back then - the speedometer tops out at 85 mph (and then the time machine kicks into operation).
It kicks in at 88 mph, no?
C’mon now it’s common knowledge that the speed of the Delorean will change in relation to the stable (or unstable) velocity of the earth’s rotation it’s driving on.
credit: Captain Scott, warp bubble stability theory 101.
GREAT SCOTT! I had a fantastic idea. I think a cube could make a wicked flux capacitor.
credit: Captain Scott, warp bubble stability theory 101.
GREAT SCOTT! I had a fantastic idea. I think a cube could make a wicked flux capacitor.
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All I really needed at the time was a TARDIS. If you understand that Ontario, California is a 45 minute drive from Cherry Valley, California and that I left 15 minutes before my shift at work started and was only five minutes late then you'll understand why I needed a TARDIS.
But the sup wasn't mad fortunately and I was never late again.
But the sup wasn't mad fortunately and I was never late again.
Aye dios! How long did your car last? That’s a hot place.All I really needed at the time was a TARDIS. If you understand that Ontario, California is a 45 minute drive from Cherry Valley, California and that I left 15 minutes before my shift at work started and was only five minutes late then you'll understand why I needed a TARDIS.
But the sup wasn't mad fortunately and I was never late again.
My dad bought it in 1989 and it became my car in 1996 when my parents bought a 1997 Accord. I had it until around 2003 or 2004 I think. At some point one of the radiator fans died and I didn't have the time to get it replaced (although I had the money at the time). It would have taken a week to come in and be installed.
As long as I watched the temp gauge things were fine. But the ONE time I was not paying attention it overheated on the way back to Phoenix (we moved here in 2000). That killed the head gasket and the result of that showed up a couple months later when it started burning coolant. It was such a great car though.
PS. The 1997 Accord my parents bought new is sitting in my driveway right now. Just replaced the battery last Sunday when it died. We got it in 2008 and it gets driven every day.
PPS. Redlands, California is 20 minutes from Cherry Valley, California. With the '85 Accord I made the drive in 10 minutes once. That's the closest I came to the max on the speedometer.
Yeah man my quick calc from your earlier post put your speed around 120 mph lol 😎
I like them for the size. They will fit in the space for a 2.5" drive (powerbook or mini) as well as a 3.5" drive. Sometimes it's nice to simply move a drive to a different machine, vs copying or reinstalling stuff. Also, they might fit something newer if you needed, although the M.2 shape seems more popular now.
Nowadays in many places, the m.2 SATA SSDs are less costly than the mSATA SSDs, and the availability is undoubtedly broader than at any time in the past.
Plus, the long (“2280”) form factor m.2 SSDs, which were until recently the longest available (and generally, are the cheapest* for a given GB/TB capacity), are still smaller than an mSATA and will also fit inside a 2.5" PATA bay (when used with a PATA/SATA adapter). In fact, because they’re so small, there are now dual m.2-to-2.5" SATA adapters out there which will run the two onboard (up to) 2280-length m.2s as hardware RAID 0, RAID 1, or JBOD mode. I use one of these inside an external FireWire enclosure to run my archival and DJing library.
* Note: There are now “22110” form factor m.2s (tho mostly for NVMe applications), which would be too long for a 2.5" traditional bay, but they do exist. Also, you may run across a 256GB or a 1TB m.2 available in both a 2280 and 2240 form factor (and sometimes even 2260), though the premium of cost will apply to the smaller form factor for the same storage capacity, making 2280s probably the cheapest option at this time.
Having os9.22 installed on CF/PCMCIA now I can notice some quirks #26 certainly related to that low writing speed, you've mentioned.
E.g. trying to extract big archive- or mount big image-files makes the Wallstreet come to an halt, while doing this with small archives/images is reasonable fast.
I hope, the CF-card runs more smoothly, when in the CF-to-IDE-adapter ...
Are there any nvme or PCI/sata cards that could be used to hook up msata or m.2 SSDs straight to a PCI slot in a power mac? My searches just turn up PCI-express adapters. If there's a good PCI card that does this then it would save a bunch of cables and adapter boards...
Probably not as such, no.
Your likely route here would be to find an old PCI-to-2.5" HDD SATA adapter (unless it comes included, you will probably need to connect the SATA data to an off-card SATA bus), and then find a currently-made 2.5" SATA-to-mSATA/m.2 adapter and use that for your m.2/mSATA interface.