Computer Geek Advice

[hamz9561]

Looking for some advice from the other computer geeks on here. If you were planning to upgrade a single SSD to a RAID 0 array, would you use an identical drive or would you use a similar drive (different manufacturer same capacity)?

 

[WoodiE]

Ideally you would use two identical drives. Though two different drives will work.

 

[ninnon]

If I was thinking of buying two SSD's I'd definitely go identical. If you're looking for some good SSD's, the Samsung 850 Pro's are pretty nice. I believe @WoodiE is using them in the server for this forum if I'm not mistaken...

 

[hamz9561]

I'm using a single Evo 850 in my machine now and was contemplating getting a cheaper one for the RAID array locally, rather than drive an hour and a half or wait a week for another Evo.

 

[WoodiE]

Just curious, what's the RAID 0 SSD array going to be used for, server?

I'd still stick with a like drive. If you're doing it just for geek cred then really having matched drives matter about as much as running SSD drives in RAID 0 on a desktop in the first place.

 

[hamz9561]

They're going in my workstation which is used for video transcoding among other things, Woodie. I'll just make a road-trip to Frye's to pick up another Evo when I get back from New Mexico.

 

[olds97_lss]

You just shooting for a larger disk more cheaply or trying to help the throughput? I read something about the samsungs not having the life of some other drives due to the type of chip in them. Although, a quick search will find a lengthy torture test of the Samsung 840 (TLC chips) should last a normal user 60 years.
http://us.hardware.info/reviews/417...0-250gb-tlc-ssd-updated-with-final-conclusion

I've converted my entire dvd/blu-ray collection over the past couple of years, so I know the pain of a slow drive. Shortly after I started converting, I got an Intel 530 240G SSD, bumped the CPU from a i3 to an i7-860 and added a better passive CPU cooler. Took my conversion of Avatar from 6 hours to just over 2.5 hours. Bought a new computer about 6 months later with an i7-4770 (also maxed out the ram and got the current at the time intel 240 SSD, 535 I think) which converted the same movie at the same settings in 1.5 hours. Soooooo many hours wasted... The old 530 is now in my wifes laptop, the 535 is the OS drive in the media server and now have a Intel 730 in the main pc that does all my day to day and conversions.

I keep all my vids on an internal 6T drive in the old PC (now my media server) and a backup external 6T drive. Is nice being able to watch anything I own just by browsing the media pc from my dvd players or ps3. Used to use 3T drives, but ran out of space. For simplicity, I just got 6T single drives to store/view them from.

To be honest, I don't notice much difference between the 530, 535 and 730. While watching the drive R/W while converting, I'm not seeing a whole lot of leveraging of the drive speed. The CPU is what takes the hit.

 

[hamz9561]

It's not for a larger drive, but for faster access, @olds97_lss. It's also for that geek chest-thumping. lol

Blu-Rays are converted for me at about 2-4x speed, now.

 

[ninnon]

I'm using a single Evo 850 in my machine now and was contemplating getting a cheaper one for the RAID array locally, rather than drive an hour and a half or wait a week for another Evo.

I'd definitely get another of the same.

You just shooting for a larger disk more cheaply or trying to help the throughput? I read something about the samsungs not having the life of some other drives due to the type of chip in them. Although, a quick search will find a lengthy torture test of the Samsung 840 (TLC chips) should last a normal user 60 years.
http://us.hardware.info/reviews/417...0-250gb-tlc-ssd-updated-with-final-conclusion

I've converted my entire dvd/blu-ray collection over the past couple of years, so I know the pain of a slow drive. Shortly after I started converting, I got an Intel 530 240G SSD, bumped the CPU from a i3 to an i7-860 and added a better passive CPU cooler. Took my conversion of Avatar from 6 hours to just over 2.5 hours. Bought a new computer about 6 months later with an i7-4770 (also maxed out the ram and got the current at the time intel 240 SSD, 535 I think) which converted the same movie at the same settings in 1.5 hours. Soooooo many hours wasted... The old 530 is now in my wifes laptop, the 535 is the OS drive in the media server and now have a Intel 730 in the main pc that does all my day to day and conversions.

I keep all my vids on an internal 6T drive in the old PC (now my media server) and a backup external 6T drive. Is nice being able to watch anything I own just by browsing the media pc from my dvd players or ps3. Used to use 3T drives, but ran out of space. For simplicity, I just got 6T single drives to store/view them from.

To be honest, I don't notice much difference between the 530, 535 and 730. While watching the drive R/W while converting, I'm not seeing a whole lot of leveraging of the drive speed. The CPU is what takes the hit.

SSD's really have improved over the last few years, When I first started building my own rigs, a 120GB ssd was about £125- they're now about £60. Reliability really has improved too- they're pretty much just as reliable as hard drives now- if not more due to them not being mechanical...