Storage solutions for my iMac – SSD, Thunderbolt??

zed4

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Hi,

I’ve just bought an iMac 27 i7 3.4ghz with 16gb RAM and all the other options ticked, to replace my Dual Core Duo iMac 27. I was hoping for a big performance increase, but so far what I’ve been using it for, I’ve not seen one and I think this is down to file storage.

This is what I have currently….

1TB iMac drive storing OSX and apps
2TB WD USB external HDD storing Aperture library (500GB) and iTunes library (200GB)
3TB WD external firewire HDD as Time Machine backup for the above two drives

This has been working really well, but I find Aperture is a little slow and I’d like a faster alternative. Obviously the bottleneck here is the USB HDD storing my libraries. So what to do?

My brother has just bought a Samsung Pro SSD for his Macbook Pro. Last night as a test we installed Mountain Lion onto it and connected it to my old iMac 27 via USB. We booted up both the old iMac running SSD over USB and the new iMac running it’s OSX on the internal HDD. Incredibly the old iMac booted nearly instantly, it’s mega fast, and that’s over USB! So I’m keen on the idea of fitting a SSD in my iMac, but will also look at alternatives.

I would like ideally 2TB of storage for my iTunes and Aperture library as they will grow over time, plus another 120GB for OSX and apps.

Would there be any speed difference fitting a SSD into the computer with SATA over having one fitted externally via Thunderbolt? Should I only be looking at SSD? I see WD now offer a 10,000RPM 2TB external drive with Thunderbolt but it’s mega expensive at £650!

I’m thinking of a 2TB HDD to replace my 1TB internally, and then a 120GB SSD. Is that the best option?

Thanks,

Dan
 
If you want speed from external sources you'll have to go Thunderbolt, by the time you've rejigged everything the cost won't be much short of a Drobo or Promise RAID.

The peripherals are always going to limited by their connection technology.
 
Would I see an improvement moving my Aperture library to my internal 1TB drive, instead of storing it on my external USB 2 drive? I assume not, as I guess I'll be looking at approx 600MBps vs 400MBps, so the limit would be the 7200 RPM drive, yes?
 
I'm not a regular Aperture user but all the reports I read of it suggest its a poor performer on most counts but I would expect its performance to improve on the internal. Hopefully some Aperture users will chime in.

The Fusion drive setup seems to be the fastest option currently.
 
I'm not a regular Aperture user but all the reports I read of it suggest its a poor performer on most counts but I would expect its performance to improve on the internal. Hopefully some Aperture users will chime in.

The Fusion drive setup seems to be the fastest option currently.

Thanks for your help.

If I retrofit the SSD in the iMac, can I activate Fusion in my mid 2011 machine?
 
As I understand it the Fusion technology is already baked into OS X, Apple has simply highlighted it by adding in the SSD. There were a few articles about it on Macworld and Ars before Xmas, worth a read. But yes you should be able to configure your own Fusion drive setup.
 
As I understand it the Fusion technology is already baked into OS X, Apple has simply highlighted it by adding in the SSD. There were a few articles about it on Macworld and Ars before Xmas, worth a read. But yes you should be able to configure your own Fusion drive setup.

Yes, just been having a read about activated it through Terminal. Looks interesting.

I think I'll replace my 1TB for a 2TB and fit a 120gb or 256GB SSD :D
 

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