Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Yasu on March 24, 2012, 11:31:19 AM
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Excuse a newbie question (I'm new).
I'm planning to buy an Amigaone 500 since I'm not used to put things together myself. I don't demand much of my system except that I want it to work as well as possible.
I wanted to ask what is better: to buy one with a 500 gig HD or with a 128 gig SSD?
As far as I remember Amiga files don't take up as much space as Windows, including the OS. Is the USB support well enough today to enable me to buy any external USB HD and use that if the SSD becomes full?
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I have a 32 GB SSD in my SAM 440 and love it.
USB support is fine, I've used a 1 TB WD USB HD for external storage when needed, but now just have the AOS machine on my Windows network and read everything off Windows shares via SAMBA.
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When you get use to work with SSD you will never want see again HDD.
Go for SSD.
I recommend Corsair Force or GT (60GB), Crucial M4 or Intel 520.
I'm using SSD 3 years now in all my machines PC's and Retro (CF Cards)
And i don't want to see again HDD.
No noise,no heat and low power consumption. Go for it. 128GB SSD for Amiga is waste of money and overkill. 30GB-32GB-50GB or 60/64GB is just fine.
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Will as little as 50 gig be enough? I'm used to fill my PC hd with stuff, excluding mp3s and movies. How much space does AOS use?
Will a newbie like me know the difference when using an Amiga with SDD? Or are the benefits purely technical?
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A 32 GB SSD runs my machine and an entire BBS, which includes a full Aminet mirror. I think my OS partition is 5 GB and OS4 hasn't even dented that, with the SDK installed.
Put a SSD boot drive in it if you like for the speed boosts, and throw a traditional HD in it for storage.
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Put a SSD boot drive in it if you like for the speed boosts, and throw a traditional HD in it for storage.
That's sounds like a good idea :)
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SSD's are great for boot devices. Especially with lightweight OS's as they boot in seconds. I won't use anyhting else for an OS now.
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A 32 GB SSD runs my machine and an entire BBS, which includes a full Aminet mirror. I think my OS partition is 5 GB and OS4 hasn't even dented that, with the SDK installed.
Put a SSD boot drive in it if you like for the speed boosts, and throw a traditional HD in it for storage.
+1
Perfect solution. Go for a 60/64GB for 100 euros. You will be more than OK. But i think you will not be able to take advantage of TRIM under AOS.
TRIM is a carbage collection feature for emptying/collecting garbage from the empty cells of SSD to maintain the stability and extend the life of the product. But AOS is not heavy. So not difference.
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Seaside is correct - AmigaOS does not support TRIM. That being said, I've had no issues with the SSD in my SAM since I got a good SSD in it (see below) even without TRIM support.
My first real experiences with SSD's was not good. This was some time ago, and I'd bought 2 for my gaming PC for use in a RAID bootdrive setup, and 2 32 GB ones for my SAM 440ep.
All of them died. Within months. Same brand - Patriot. Sent them back, they sent exact replacements. I put them all in my one PC, again all of them died. By this time I was more than a little annoyed, and got down the neck of the warranty guy there and he said they had some big issues with their first SSD's. They sent me the next gen models of their SSD's as replacements, all of which are working fine, including the one 32 GB Patriot SSD in my SAM 440ep machine. I would stick with the big names, SSD wise - Intel, etc. I have a OCZ Vertex III in this Windows 7 machine (i7 2600k, 32 GB RAM, 590 GTX) and it's been just super so far, so I'd recommend OCZ wholeheartedly.
You will want to check on the SAM 460ex machine if you need an additional SATA controller to have multiple drives. I believe it was like that at one time.
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You will want to check on the SAM 460ex machine if you need an additional SATA controller to have multiple drives. I believe it was like that at one time.
I want to buy an Amigaone 500, since I know nothing about putting stuff together. They offer that at Acube's homepage (and hopefully also at my national retailer, they haven't answered yet since it's weekend). Are the ones Acube offer any good?
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Just make damn sure you back up ALL of your files! SSD is not as good as hard drives for longevity or reliability (not yet anyway).
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Just make damn sure you back up ALL of your files! SSD is not as good as hard drives for longevity or reliability (not yet anyway).
It isn't? I thought that was one of it's main points?
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SSD's are getting much better, but still have a higher MTBF than traditional drives.
As for dealing with Acube, I bought my SAM from Amigakit, but have dealt with Acube via email a few times and found them great.
I'd have no hesitations dealing with ACube, Amigakit or Vesalia for your purchase, and I'm sure all of them would be happy to answer questions.
If you wanted a lower cost solution, there's always the PPC Mac/MorphOS and the AROS options. None of the modern gen Amiga systems will run old legacy Amiga programs flawlessly.
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When care more about speed and space than heat and noise you might also want to look at:
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/laptops/laptop-hdd/
Got the 750gig in my PowerMac (running MorphOS) and its just great.
After the 4th or 5th time loading OWB it put that into the SSD-part (and all that is loaded while bootup) and now its just as fast (if not faster) as the 32GB SSD in the MacMini...
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When care more about speed and space than heat and noise you might also want to look at:
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/laptops/laptop-hdd/
Got the 750gig in my PowerMac (running MorphOS) and its just great.
After the 4th or 5th time loading OWB it put that into the SSD-part (and all that is loaded while bootup) and now its just as fast (if not faster) as the 32GB SSD in the MacMini...
Gr8 solution. Though more expensive than one small SSD.
I have this HDD as 2nd in my ITX PC. Very fast.
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I'm using an SSD in my Micro AmigaOne, it is only 20gb IIRC but I've only used about 6-8gb of it :)
Works fast and reliable, I turned off SWAP as I didn't want to overwrite to it and anyway, seems as fast as my old HDD if not faster even without the SWAP!
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You'll find fewer things that will make your computer, whatever make or model, faster and more responsive than an SSD.
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I dunno guys on my peg2 with os4 and morphos with Maxtor Diamond Max 7200 rpm udma ide drives (dual 200gb) its already very responsive and super fast. I think the expense of SSD could go to something else?? I'd love to see some real world results and reports comparing it.
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You'll find fewer things that will make your computer, whatever make or model, faster and more responsive than an SSD.
I'd have to side with Magnetic on this.
I purchased a couple of used Ultra320 SCSI drives and a 64bit PCI controller. Running these in RAID is about as fast (or faster) then two WD Raptor SATA drives in RAID.
SSDs don't offer a significant improvement over this an they are expensive.
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I have a 32 GB SSD in my SAM 440 and love it.
USB support is fine, I've used a 1 TB WD USB HD for external storage when needed, but now just have the AOS machine on my Windows network and read everything off Windows shares via SAMBA.
Hi,
@Duce,
He asked about a HD or SSD for a A500, I really don't consider the SAM 440 a real Amiga, and I can't really answer his question because the SSD may be two fast for the Amiga interface (really don't think it will be, but the Amiga interface is pretty old).
Anybody out there in Amiga.org put a ssd into an Amiga 500 or any Amiga for that matter.
and PULEASE an Apple is not a real Amiga. I don't care if it is running MorphOS. (keep developin please) see I really don't hate morphOS, just the computer they are putting it on.
smerf
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I'm using an SSD in my Micro AmigaOne, it is only 20gb IIRC but I've only used about 6-8gb of it :)
Works fast and reliable, I turned off SWAP as I didn't want to overwrite to it and anyway, seems as fast as my old HDD if not faster even without the SWAP!
Hi,
I believe he did ask for an A500 or LEGACY computer you bunch of loonies.
smerf
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Hi,
OK my fault,
What in the hello world is an Amigaone 500, did I miss something in the past. I thought the Amigaone was done, gone through.
Will someone please enlighten me.
Is he asking for an Amigaone, or an Amiga 500
I am now so confuzed.
smerf
My apoligize to anyone I flamed. I mean if you can't take a joke, you shouldn't be hanging out with us loonies.
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Hi,
OK my fault,
What in the hello world is an Amigaone 500, did I miss something in the past. I thought the Amigaone was done, gone through.
Will someone please enlighten me.
Is he asking for an Amigaone, or an Amiga 500
I am now so confuzed.
smerf
My apoligize to anyone I flamed. I mean if you can't take a joke, you shouldn't be hanging out with us loonies.
No Smerf, the Amigaone designation is used for the X1000 and on Acube 's pre-built systems.
If I'm not mistaken that what he's referring to by Amigaone 500.
http://www.vesalia.de/e_amigaone500.htm
And don't worry, we're used to being flamed by you. Its part of your charm.
What you and the rest of the legacy crowd don't get is we PPC users don't care if you think we're using "Real" Amigas.
Hey, at least its not an X86 PC.
And Hyperion's OS4 is based on Amiga OS 3.1.
BTW - Since you can get a FastATA controller for the Amiga, I don't see why you couldn't use an ATA SSD.
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BTW - Since you can get a FastATA controller for the Amiga, I don't see why you couldn't use an ATA SSD.
I have a FastATA MK IV in my 1200D with a dual port IDE to SATA converter. I use a 60 gig OCZ SSD.
Anyway, for smaller files, it performs up to 2x faster than CF or a regular IDE HD.
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I have a FastATA MK IV in my 1200D with a dual port IDE to SATA converter. I use a 60 gig OCZ SSD.
Anyway, for smaller files, it performs up to 2x faster than CF or a regular IDE HD.
Thought that would work good.
Gotta be a big improvement over a standard hard drive on an Amiga.
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Thought that would work good.
Gotta be a big improvement over a standard hard drive on an Amiga.
not SCSI speed but its better than stock :)
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not SCSI speed but its better than stock :)
I imagine its quite a bit better then stock.
Its silly to compare an Amiga interfaced storage system with a 64 bit 133MHZ PCI interfaced 15,000 rpm hard drive array.
But its nice to know that there are options for the Amiga.
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Works fast and reliable, I turned off SWAP as I didn't want to overwrite to it and anyway, seems as fast as my old HDD if not faster even without the SWAP!
What is SWAP?
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A SWAP file is a section of a hard disk set aside to function as virtual RAM memory, should you run out of the actual physical random access memory - the system hits the hard disk.
Windows works in a way you really never have to deal with SWAP files or virtual RAM partitions much in regards to setup, but Amiga OS4, like Linux - you create a SWAP file upon setup of the hard disk. When you setup a new 4.1 machine, or put a new hard disk in a AOS4 machine that does not have a swap file partition, you will be prompted to set one up. IIRC, the recommendation for OS4.1 is 2x your physical RAM. My SAM 440 has 512 MB, so 1024 (1 GB) was recommended, but I think I bumped SWAP up to 1.5 GB just to be safe. And I don't think I've ever had to hit SWAP once yet, but I cranked it up pretty high once I put the SSD in. Setting up a SWAP partition in OS4 is extremely easy, no more difficult than it is in one of the popular GUI based Linux distros.
Essentially, you reserve a portion of the hard disk to act as RAM should you actually ever run the SIMM/DIMM ram chips right down and out of memory. This hopefully means you'll never get an out of memory message :)
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btw. AOS3.x machines have had better SWAP/virtual memory than windows ever. AOS4 virtual memory almost look like an attempt to emulate windows broken version of virtual memory/SWAP.
Linux seem to have the best virtual memory and disk caching system, not that I would like to see it on Amiga either.
With modern HW you can have enough RAM anyway. Amiga virtual memory is needed only for classic Amigas and for SAM440ep-mini.
btw. I wonder if win8 can be without SWAP/virtual memory file? Finally? Or does it still generate and use the swap file anyway??
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Win8 builds its own swapfile/pagefile just like the previous versions. Can be disabled, of course.
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A SWAP file is a section of a hard disk set aside to function as virtual RAM memory, should you run out of the actual physical random access memory - the system hits the hard disk.
Ah, I remember it when it was called virtual memory. Make sense what you write even though I think 2 gigs of RAM should not be drained when using an Amiga anytime soon :)