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Seagate Enterprise HDD vs. Seagate SSHD?

shmerls

shmerls

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 9, 2009
42
0
white plains
I need a new main HD for my Mac Pro and was going to buy a Seagate Enterprise NAS HDD 3 or 4TB drive. I'm not doing RAID, but was thinking this drive because of how solid it's built and the 5 year warranty. I leave my computer on 24/7 so the Enterprise is appealing. But someone recommended I consider the Seagate SSHD 4TB instead. Also has 5 year warranty and is much faster and obviously runs smooth.

Does anyone have any feedback and experience with SSHD vs Enterprise HDD?
 
Unless you are already booting from an SSD, I'd encourage you to consider getting something like a 240 or 500GB Samsung 850 and giving it a whirl. Your life might just change in a very good way. Then get whatever spinner for big data and another spinner for backup.
 
DPUser said:
Unless you are already booting from an SSD, I'd encourage you to consider getting something like a 240 or 500GB Samsung 850 and giving it a whirl. Your life might just change in a very good way. Then get whatever spinner for big data and another spinner for backup.
Click to expand...

Hi DPUSER. I've always used Seagate's Baracuda drives with all content and start up on the drive. Are you saying to consider having a startup drive and then a content drive?
 
shmerls said:
Hi DPUSER. I've always used Seagate's Baracuda drives with all content and start up on the drive. Are you saying to consider having a startup drive and then a content drive?
Click to expand...

Although I'm not DPUSER, I can confirm what he's saying. Use an SSD for your system software and applications, and store your data on spin drives.

Think about it, a spin drive is a mechanical device and the more it works, the more it wears. If it is your system drive, then it is always working and wearing out. An SSD doesn't have that problem, and while there are questions about how long a useful life they have, there is no doubt that is it longer than a spin drive.

There are lots of places where you can find how to put your SSD in either a PCIe slot (Apricon is one of the various manufacturers of cards that work in Mac Pros), or the second drive bay, though PCIe is the best since it directly accesses the bus. You will find your computer boots considerably faster and apps load faster too.
 
Depending on your data set, putting all data on a spinner is brain damaged. If you're dealing in video, the video files are larger and require more throughput than your OS does.

SSD for hot data (be it the operating system, or "current" work), spinner for completed projects/archive.

I reboot my machine once or twice a month, i really don't care how long it takes. How long it takes to read/write video files? I do care.
 
Having your OS and Applications plus main data on an SSD makes a huge difference.

I have had all Seagates in my Mac Pro and have replaced them all. They all failed. Seagate replaced them, but it was a hassle. I now use WD NAS drives. Slower, but it's mainly for infrequently accessed data or files like my iTunes library, where the speed is not an issue.

I compared SSHD vs Barracuda and although there were differences in bench marks, I could not tell in real use.

My current setup is 3x4TB WD Red drives, 1 6TB WD Black for my full system - Yosemite and a bunch of repos, and then an add-on sled/bracket with 4 SSDs - mainly Crucial at various sizes - 1TB (El Cap,) 960MB (Windows 10,) 512MB (Lion & Windows 7,) 512MB (various VM machines.) The SSDs are controlled by two Caldigit FASTA 6GU-3 Pro cards.

I use crucial because I have not had any failures in about 12-15 drives I have used including my kids laptops.

I use an external 8TB USB 3 drive for CarbonCopy of the main system drives, and a dock to reuse the Seagates from warranty for backup and storage. Those are mainly SSHD - but it does not matter. I do not trust to run them 24/7.
 
I run all SSDs in my recording studio except for backup drives, which are all spinners. That means SSD boot/app drive, SSD working project drive, and SSD virtual instrument data drives.

Imagining the OP may have never used an SSD, getting one's feet wet with an SSD for OS and Apps is a brilliant introduction to these drives. Once SSD boot is experienced, the move to SSD for often-accessed data is sure to follow.
 
Agreed. SSD is one of the best performance upgrades you can make. I also believe, they are more reliable based on my experience - as long as you stick with the right brands.
 
^^^^

https://forums.macrumors.com/search/2145960/?q=fusion&o=date

Lou
[doublepost=1464895729][/doublepost]
shmerls said:
I need a new main HD for my Mac Pro and was going to buy a Seagate Enterprise NAS HDD 3 or 4TB drive. I'm not doing RAID, but was thinking this drive because of how solid it's built and the 5 year warranty. I leave my computer on 24/7 so the Enterprise is appealing. But someone recommended I consider the Seagate SSHD 4TB instead. Also has 5 year warranty and is much faster and obviously runs smooth.

Does anyone have any feedback and experience with SSHD vs Enterprise HDD?
Click to expand...

I have no experience with Enterprise drives, but I do have 2 spinners amongst my 7 drives (5 are SSDs). My spinners are a WD Black and a Seagate SSHD. The SSHD is faster than the HDD.

WD Black HDD
549186-ec18c659d1453c425ae4b9a8c8f84779.jpg



Seagate SSHD
549187-1216003f35e11c5b10e78d438e1e9bd5.jpg



Lou
 

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toke lahti said:
Guys, ever heard about Fusion Drive?
Suddenly thinking about what you are storing where ends...
Click to expand...
I use home-brew fusion on my non-studio laptop and it works fine, but in the studio, I want to know EXACTLY where everything is being stored.

A fusion drive setup could be just what the Dr. ordered for our OP.
 
toke lahti said:
Guys, ever heard about Fusion Drive?
Suddenly thinking about what you are storing where ends...
Click to expand...
I have. I built a large one - 1TB SSD with 4TB SSHD. It worked for 4-5 month then suddenly corrupted. I had a backup, of course. But it did it again 4 months later. I now run a 1TB system drive with the main apps and data and have the rest on other drives, some of it symbolically linked. No problems. I suspect, Apple does not test configurations outside what they ship.
 
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