MacPro + ssd drives
Nov 30, 2010 | 01:59 AM
#1
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From: Venice Beach, CA
MacPro + ssd drives
Okay... I just sold my old 2008 MacPro, and want to go all-out on the new one I am about to order (12-core 2.93GHz).
I am looking for a raid card that can support up to 8 internal ssd drives.
The apple raid card supports 4 internal drives, non of them can be ssd though (and it's not very reliable - my last machine went through 4 raid cards).
Soooo, I want opinions on the following:
• 6Gbps raid card for internal ssd drives.
so far I found: ExpressSAS R608 & RocketRAID 2720.
• a way to get 8 ssd drives into a MacPro
thanks
I am looking for a raid card that can support up to 8 internal ssd drives.
The apple raid card supports 4 internal drives, non of them can be ssd though (and it's not very reliable - my last machine went through 4 raid cards).
Soooo, I want opinions on the following:
• 6Gbps raid card for internal ssd drives.
so far I found: ExpressSAS R608 & RocketRAID 2720.
• a way to get 8 ssd drives into a MacPro
thanks
Nov 30, 2010 | 08:51 AM
#2
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,264
The chassis is designed for four drives. You're not going to fit more in with any degree of ease, and if you do, you're probably going to make the thermal management unhappy and void your warranty.
What exactly are your goals? Why do you want a larger number of drives? You can fit up to 8TB worth of SSD into the case, and if your goal is simply more storage, there are piles of external and NAS options that will work just fine.
If for whatever reason you need a very fast, very large stripe array, you are much better off going with an external array and talking to it via fiber channel-- you will realize much better speed, power management, and thermal management.
What exactly are your goals? Why do you want a larger number of drives? You can fit up to 8TB worth of SSD into the case, and if your goal is simply more storage, there are piles of external and NAS options that will work just fine.
If for whatever reason you need a very fast, very large stripe array, you are much better off going with an external array and talking to it via fiber channel-- you will realize much better speed, power management, and thermal management.
Nov 30, 2010 | 07:21 PM
#3
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It's more an experiment than anything really. I don't NEED it to be crazy fast, but I would like it to be.
512Gb ssd drives are not very cost effective. I figure 8 x 256Gb is more reasonable. Not to mention a stripe array with 8 ssd drives would be blindingly fast.
2TB of internal storage I think is the minimum that I need. The computer needs to be reasonably transportable.
and, i just found this: DX 4
512Gb ssd drives are not very cost effective. I figure 8 x 256Gb is more reasonable. Not to mention a stripe array with 8 ssd drives would be blindingly fast.
2TB of internal storage I think is the minimum that I need. The computer needs to be reasonably transportable.
and, i just found this: DX 4
Feb 1, 2011 | 12:29 AM
#4
Thread Starter
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,923
From: Venice Beach, CA
Okay, this project is officially complete.
I went with all SATA3 (6Gbps) components:
• Crucial SSD 256GB x8
• Areca 1880i Raid card
To mount the 8 internal SSD drives I used a MaxConnect optical bay mount which only takes up one Optical Bay slot. I had a spare anyway
Anyway, here are the results:
Small File read & write speeds:
Mid Sized File read & write speeds:
Large Sized File read & write speeds:
I went with all SATA3 (6Gbps) components:
• Crucial SSD 256GB x8
• Areca 1880i Raid card
To mount the 8 internal SSD drives I used a MaxConnect optical bay mount which only takes up one Optical Bay slot. I had a spare anyway
Anyway, here are the results:
Small File read & write speeds:
Mid Sized File read & write speeds:
Large Sized File read & write speeds:
