HD vs SSD

[Yasu]

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?

[Duce]

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.

[Seaside]

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.

[Yasu]

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?

[Duce]

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.

[Yasu]

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

[CritAnime]

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.

[Seaside]

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.

[Duce]

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.

[Yasu]

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?

[motrucker]

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).

[Yasu]

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?

[Duce]

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.

[Kronos]

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...

[Seaside]

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.