SSD

Phil V

Phil V

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Hi I've built a few PC's in my time, but my current workstation was bought and is approaching the end of it's life. So it's time to get ready for Windows 10 with a new build.

I'm fine generally with the specs, but troubled by the thought of an SSD.

I definitely want / need one, but what will I keep on it? Clearly the Operating system, but all my program files? How big do I really need it to be? Just for PS, LR and Office use.

Thanks in advance.
 
Hi Phil,

All I have is a 256SSD which I keep all my programs and operating system on, I then use a 1TB hard drive for all my storage of files, documents, pictures etc.
 
Thanks @Keith W My current C drive is 450Gb and is close to full. I don't keep any files on it (though the Mrs does) so that's why I was concerned.

In my basket currently is a 240Gb SSD. I don't want to under-do it nor do I want to be doubling the cost of the drive for no gain.
 
Hi Phil,

I have had a 256gb installed for two years with the os and all programs installed and still have 80gb free. I'm sure I could increase this easily if necessary with some tidying up. All files go on a 2tb hdd and are backed up straight away onto a 2nd internal 2tb hdd.
 
Phil V said:
Hi I've built a few PC's in my time, but my current workstation was bought and is approaching the end of it's life. So it's time to get ready for Windows 10 with a new build.

I'm fine generally with the specs, but troubled by the thought of an SSD.

I definitely want / need one, but what will I keep on it? Clearly the Operating system, but all my program files? How big do I really need it to be? Just for PS, LR and Office use.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
I don't run many programs, so I have a 128gb SDD for OS X Yosemite/programs (75gb left) and 1gb HDD for files etc and works a treat. I should think you'd be fine with a 256gb SSD.
 
If you only put your C: onto it a 256gb will get you a fair way - & having a 1 or 2Tb external drive for storage means you will be fine for a fair while. It also means you don't fill up your PC with crap.
 
I currently have about 6.5 TB of storage available, and only the C drive is troubling me.
 
Your probably aware of this but the speed of the ssd drives can vary considerably, cheap ones can be between 200-300 mbs whilst a decent drive will have both read and write speeds around 500mbs.
 
I use a 256gb HDD in my pc along with a 1TB HDD which I use for the PS and LR scratch drive and then have a 8TB NAS attached for storage. NAS not the quickest but is save having to worry about running out of storage
 
MartinCornwall said:
Your probably aware of this but the speed of the ssd drives can vary considerably, cheap ones can be between 200-300 mbs whilst a decent drive will have both read and write speeds around 500mbs.
Click to expand...
Actually I wasn't ...

Runs off to check the specs of the drive.
 
I've got a 256gig C: SSD with windows 8.1, lightroom, photoshop elements, office 2007 and about 20 other programs - used space 90gig..

As I understand it Windows tends to hog more and more space (now there's a surprise) as time goes by. So if you start to get full
all it needs is a clean down.

I did think 128 would be enough but eventually went with 256 just in case.
 
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On its way is a case mobo 8 gig of ram (already have 8 to match) i5 processor, windows 8.1 and SSD, I'll add the other HDDs and I'm golden. Roll on Windows 10.
 
Apologies if you know this already but don't connect the HDDs until Windows is installed on the SSD. The installer will assign the first drive letters to the formatted drives then tack the SSD on the end so you don't get C as your boot drive. This isn't worth the effort of fixing afterwards (I've tried) so it's easier just to avoid the problem.
 
Snapsh0t said:
Apologies if you know this already but don't connect the HDDs until Windows is installed on the SSD. The installer will assign the first drive letters to the formatted drives then tack the SSD on the end so you don't get C as your boot drive. This isn't worth the effort of fixing afterwards (I've tried) so it's easier just to avoid the problem.
Click to expand...
By accident really, I need the old PC up and running whilst the new one builds, then the transfer of data from the c drive, then install the rest of the HDDs.
 
ive a 128gig SSD for my c: drive which just has Windows on it
then a 512gig SSD as my "photos" drive. It has lightroom, photoshop and my photos on it.
then a regular 750gig hard drive for everything else
Then I use a 3TB WD usb3.0 external drive for backups.

All seems to work well enough. It might be more efficient to keep lightroom / photoshop and the photos on separate drives but it all seems to work well for me.

The ssd's are both Crucial MX100 drives. Ive heard horror stories about when SSD's fail on you so i keep weekly backups going.
 
theurbanclown said:
I'd buy a 256gb SSD for programs, Lightroom catalog etc then another 256gb or 128gb drive to store the photos you're currently editing.

Or just get a 512gb drive.
Click to expand...
Interesting. If the LR catalogue is on the C drive will it speed up the workflow even if the images are on a HDD? If I do need space for current editing it'll be the next thing to buy. But I was saving for a 135 f2 before the PC started playing silly arses.
 
Phil V said:
Hi I've built a few PC's in my time, but my current workstation was bought and is approaching the end of it's life. So it's time to get ready for Windows 10 with a new build.

I'm fine generally with the specs, but troubled by the thought of an SSD.

I definitely want / need one, but what will I keep on it? Clearly the Operating system, but all my program files? How big do I really need it to be? Just for PS, LR and Office use.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Apart from the fact that the SSD works different from a HDD, they both have one common mission: They both store data, be they operating system, programs, user data such as your documents or photos, as much as we don't like it, even virus gets to take up some space on those.

Therefore you use your SSD how you like, no different from how you use your HDD. It is really up to you what you would like to save on it, what do you want to install on it.

It is often a good suggestion (but not a must-do-rule) that it would be helpful if you install your operating system and all application software, such as PS, LR, Office, etc., etc., on the SSD for faster access and loading, but use a HDD for all other user data such as your documents, photos, graphic designs, movies, music, due to large space and always being accessed all the time.
 
Major Eazy said:
Apart from the fact that the SSD works different from a HDD, they both have one common mission: They both store data, be they operating system, programs, user data such as your documents or photos, as much as we don't like it, even virus gets to take up some space on those.

Therefore you use your SSD how you like, no different from how you use your HDD. It is really up to you what you would like to save on it, what do you want to install on it.

It is often a good suggestion (but not a must-do-rule) that it would be helpful if you install your operating system and all application software, such as PS, LR, Office, etc., etc., on the SSD for faster access and loading, but use a HDD for all other user data such as your documents, photos, graphic designs, movies, music, due to large space and always being accessed all the time.
Click to expand...

Thanks... I'm well aware of 'the big picture' of what an SSD is, my question is about how I would use it to take the best advantage of it's speed.
I would have thought the fact I've been building PC's for the last 20 years was a clue? For most of that time I worked in IT, however, our requirements were a bit on the large side for me to have any experience of SSD's (network in excess of 100,000 users) I'm really after how I can take advantage of the speed for an editing PC.
 
Phil V said:
Thanks @Keith W My current C drive is 450Gb and is close to full. I don't keep any files on it (though the Mrs does) so that's why I was concerned.

In my basket currently is a 240Gb SSD. I don't want to under-do it nor do I want to be doubling the cost of the drive for no gain.
Click to expand...

Windows operating system is not one single file, but made up of many files, it is possible that it can have some temporary files that are left on the disk, which is of no use. It could also have a recycling bin that takes up some space. Then there's the application software like Photoshop, CorelDRAW, MS Office, iTunes, etc., etc., all of those will also have temporary files too. You could run a disk clean up to delete those junk files. Trouble is everyone's computers are different, therefore I can't tell you how much space you can get back when you've ran disk clean up. But sometimes some people who never used clean up options, when advised to use it, would often find to their surprise, they cleaned out hundreds of MBs, maybe even a few GBs worth of junk file, therefore freeing up more space then before.
 
zendog said:
As I understand it Windows tends to hog more and more space (now there's a surprise) as time goes by. So if you start to get full
all it needs is a clean down.
Click to expand...

Check the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder, it's where Windows stores the 'Windows Update' downloaded files and a big culprit for bloating your installation over time.
It's safe to delete them.

I put this in a batch file and run as adminstrator on a regular basis:

set targetdir=C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download
del /q %targetdir%\*
for /d %%x in (%targetdir%\*) do @rd /s /q ^"%%x^"
 
Phil V said:
Thanks... I'm well aware of 'the big picture' of what an SSD is, my question is about how I would use it to take the best advantage of it's speed.
I would have thought the fact I've been building PC's for the last 20 years was a clue? For most of that time I worked in IT, however, our requirements were a bit on the large side for me to have any experience of SSD's (network in excess of 100,000 users) I'm really after how I can take advantage of the speed for an editing PC.
Click to expand...

Well, think of it this way...

What would you like to see loaded quickly? Are you always in a hurry wanting Windows to load now, so you could start doing work right away? Then install Windows on the SSD.

Or do you not mind waiting a couple of minutes for Windows to load, but when you open and save any of your own work (be they docs or pics) you want them open and/or save faster, then put Windows on HDD, and only save your own user data in the SSD.

Just think of the SSD and HDD as no different from a microwave against that of a cooker, do you like to take advantage of the microwave cooking the food faster than the cooker?

For me, I want to load Windows and application software quickly, but I don't mind waiting few seconds for my files to open, so I'm planning on Windows and applications on SSD, user data on HDD.

What kind of editing do you do? If it's editing photos, surely it's RAM that's what helps with speedy editing, a SSD is more for speedy read/write therefore more suited for speedy load up and saving.

Hope it gave you some ideas?
 
I keep my os and apps on the SSD and long term stuff on platters. However when I'm unloading photos for a new project etc I'll get then initially on the SSD as well, that way it is super quick during the initial sorting/classification/metadata/editing as well. Once I'm done with the project I move it to the spinning disks for future access.
 
MartinCornwall said:
Your probably aware of this but the speed of the ssd drives can vary considerably, cheap ones can be between 200-300 mbs whilst a decent drive will have both read and write speeds around 500mbs.
Click to expand...
MBytes per second, not Mbits.

On my work machine I've got a RAID of SSDs and can easily read uncompressed 10bit 4k video at 50 fps in realtime (12 Gbps).

Be sure to optimise the OS for SSD use though.
 
How do you optimise an OS for SSD use?
 
dejongj said:
How do you optimise an OS for SSD use?
Click to expand...

Ensure it's using TRIM to manage the disk, prevent it page filing and defragging (which will use up precious write cycles) ...

Plenty of how to guides online.
 
st599 said:
Ensure it's using TRIM to manage the disk, prevent it page filing and defragging (which will use up precious write cycles) ...

Plenty of how to guides online.
Click to expand...
Didn't think that applicable any longer. In the early days yet, but modern controller do all that automatically. I've been running SSD for many many years in my machines and no need for that. Iirc it was the sandforce controllers that introduced this change.
 
256 SSD is what i have and all my data etc on another drive. Probably the best upgrade i ever went for.
 
240GB should be fine if you're not storing media on it. You shouldn't have to turn on TRIM if your OS is reasonably new. Certainly Windows 10 will take care of that. Defrag etc will automatically turn off also.

If possible do try and purchase a reasonably new 240GB SDD. They have improved a fair bit over the past few years with input/output operations. The sustained transfer speeds don't really matter that much once they hit the silly 500MB+ speeds (and 1000+ for PCIe) .Corsair BX100, Samsung 850 EVO, to name a couple.

Samsung SDD's have a nice piece of software bundled named Samsung Magician. It can take away a lot of the sodding around of checking the various optimizations. I've found it useful, especially for its RAM Caching feature, which can at times provide a benefit. I haven't seen any deterioration in the performance since enabling it.
 
st599 said:
Ensure it's using TRIM to manage the disk, prevent it page filing and defragging (which will use up precious write cycles) ...
Click to expand...

Any recent (i.e., post-Vista) version of Windows should do all that stuff automagically.
 
500gig SSD boot drive and the only installations i redirect to another drive might be....oh, no wait, it deals with everything i need. file storage resides on a couple of 3TB drives which I sync.
 
Well it's up and running, boots to Windows in a blink. Just sorting out the data to migrate and then I'll reconfigure my hard drives before installing them.

What I'm short of is my long Ethernet cable which is annoying as it's currently on the table too far from the router to connect to t'internet, and I had a clear out of my man drawer last summer so I haven't got a wireless lan card handy (threw 3)
 
Phil V said:
Well it's up and running, boots to Windows in a blink. Just sorting out the data to migrate and then I'll reconfigure my hard drives before installing them.

What I'm short of is my long Ethernet cable which is annoying as it's currently on the table too far from the router to connect to t'internet, and I had a clear out of my man drawer last summer so I haven't got a wireless lan card handy (threw 3)
Click to expand...

Bought a few BT Wireless USB adapters from PC World and so far i have been well impressed with them. Bought for family.
 
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I am soon going to be building a new PC.

I will have an SSD for the operating system, likely 256GB and a 2TB internal SATA drive for storage.

Then I will run backup software to ensure all my data on the 2TB drive is backed up.
 
In other news. Isn't it easy to forget how many different programs you have installed... :(
 
AshleyC said:
ive a 128gig SSD for my c: drive which just has Windows on it
then a 512gig SSD as my "photos" drive. It has lightroom, photoshop and my photos on it.
then a regular 750gig hard drive for everything else
Then I use a 3TB WD usb3.0 external drive for backups.

All seems to work well enough. It might be more efficient to keep lightroom / photoshop and the photos on separate drives but it all seems to work well for me.

The ssd's are both Crucial MX100 drives. Ive heard horror stories about when SSD's fail on you so i keep weekly backups going.
Click to expand...

That's pretty close to my setup.

C Drive - 120 gb SSD (samsung 840 pro) with windows and ALL software on it
E Drive - 240 gb SSD (Crucial m4?) With my onedrive folder, which contains all photos, LR catalogue, documents, other files, etc.

Server - 3TB with Image of the C drive, backup of e drive, plus all other media (music, TV, films)
2tb portable - backup of the server.
 
And I really ought to do some housekeeping sometimes insterad of just buying more drive space.
 
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