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Level 1

31 points

SSD degradation from extHDD data exchange?

I am looking into getting an SSD and am constantly reminded that now warranties are typically capped on data allowance averages e.g. 40GB per day. With the new SSD I am to get a whole new computer and that means access to advanced interfaces that I've not had before. I have a number of HDDs with FW800 and eSATA (okay, a Mac Mini doesn't have that) which I plan to transfer the data from to new HDDs via the likes of Thunderbolt.

My concern is that exchanging one HDD of 500GB to another will impact on the SSD in the main computer? I have been told that under Windows this does not occur, that the only data affected are the external HDDs themselves.

MacBook (13-inch Late 2007), Mac OS X (10.7.3), 4GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Posted on May 30, 2013 11:25 AM

33 replies

Hamper Author

Level 1

31 points

Jun 5, 2013 7:25 PM in response to FatMac-MacPro

For me I need 1TB of space, already only gettin 960 of a 1025GB drive is a hit enough, I use Aperture a lot, the external transfers are just something that will be every now and then, or, when I need iTunes, I'll see how that develops.

I would rather only give away as little space as possible, as you can imagine, Aperture just chews up space and 1TB isn't very much these days, outside of the SSD world and I'm not prepared to do a RAID 0 on this, no way, I don't trust that.

I'm going to see if I can get away with 20%, there is someone I know who is a whiz with SSD, he generally laments the larger size drives as they seek these feats with smaller transistors and that causes more problems, sort of the opposite of processors. Anyway, I'll see what he says. That reviewer didn't get back to me either.

I wasn't privvy to that thread where you discussed sleep images, I think you're saying that the more RAM one has the more that space is mirrored onto the HDD/SSD when snoozing, while I thought it all stayed on the RAM. I wonder just how bad that really is, I mean, is it really? I'd probably really need more than 1TB of space in the next two years so I'd ugrade from the SSD before then, especially as the prices are coming down, I don't mind the fast boot times and a shut down is similar to sleep state, but it's a hasstle to have to wait and all that, you know.

Jun 5, 2013 7:48 PM in response to Hamper

Hamper wrote:

For me I need 1TB of space, already only gettin 960 of a 1025GB drive is a hit enough, I use Aperture a lot, the external transfers are just something that will be every now and then, or, when I need iTunes, I'll see how that develops...

Been there, done that. I'm used to 3TB drives with 1TB partitions and going to an OWC 960 was a snug fit once I used 25% over-provisioning. But trying to transfer all that to the rMBP with the 512 GB SSD was simply impossible so I had to start removing what I thought was essential stuff, got it down to 220 GB and find I don't miss it. Any time there's something I do need, I just connect an external backup and get it from there.

...I wasn't privvy to that thread where you discussed sleep images, I think you're saying that the more RAM one has the more that space is mirrored onto the HDD/SSD when snoozing, while I thought it all stayed on the RAM. I wonder just how bad that really is, I mean, is it really? I'd probably really need more than 1TB of space in the next two years so I'd ugrade from the SSD before then, especially as the prices are coming down, I don't mind the fast boot times and a shut down is similar to sleep state, but it's a hasstle to have to wait and all that, you know.

The RAM state exists only as long as power is applied, so it gets written to disk when entering the sleep state and read back from disk when you wake it up. This gives some details. The point is RAM content is different each time you put the Mac to sleep so the old big file is overwritten by a new big file for the new RAM state. That's a lot of garbage to collect.

Hamper Author

Level 1

31 points

Jun 6, 2013 5:06 PM in response to FatMac-MacPro

It's a bit different when your Library is Managed and hitting >400GB.

I suppose as the state of the desktop is resumed from a reboot, but I just know I'll switch the monitor off and be done with it. I know I'm gonna hit that 768 limit before the SSD naturally fails on me, so I won't lose any sleep over it.

It doesn't nullafy everything we've been talking about, but three years should breed some more spacious SSDs which I'll probably be forced to upgrade to, which in turn will make that 25% over-provisioning a little easier to achieve.

I'm still waiting for a reply on that 25% mark, will keep you informed.

SSD degradation from extHDD data exchange?