SSDs and Daz Studio?

maclean

Hey all,

I'm in the middle of a minor revolution, finally saying Goodbye to XP 64-bit (very reluctantly) and moving to Win 7. I bought 7 when it came out, used it for 6 weeks and fled back to XP, so for me, this is a big step.

I've spent the last 4 days going between Google and the Win 7 registry, and I've pretty much beaten it into submission. Apart from a few minor annoyances which can't be hacked, I've finally made it usable.

Right now, I'm using this install of Win 7 as a sandbox, and I'm going to buy an SSD and do a clean re-install (as opposed to cloning). Or a couple of SSDs - I'm not sure yet. Unfortunately, I bought 2 new 10,000rpm HDDs 3 months ago, but I can always use them as backup disks.

So what I want to know is how you all use DS on an SSD drive? I never install DS to the C drive, so I'm wondering if I need to change anything. Here's what I usually have.

Disk 0
C Win 7
D XP 64 (I have a dual boot now, but I'll be abandoning that).
E DS 2, DS 3, DS 4,5 + all content
F Poser 6, Poser 9

Disk 1
G All tetures and photoshop files (but not the app)
H Backup
K Backup
S Page File

First off, should I continue to install DS to E (or D once XP 64 goes)? Or is it better to have them on the C drive? I really don't want to do that as I hate trawling through system folders all the time. I'd rather have everything I need on a separate partition.

Secondly, is it worth getting 2 SSDs? The 2nd one would be for textures and backup. Would opening docs in photoshop be faster than on a regular HDD, (bearing in mind that I have some pretty large files).

I know the more modern SSDs don't have the read/write lifespan issues that older ones have, but I'm not sure if they're up to the sort of constant use I'd put them to.

Any advice from someone who's tried this is welcome.

TIA

mac

SimonWM

I have Windows 7 on an intel 180 gb ssd drive and everything else including DAZ Studio, Poser and the libraries on a regular hard drive. I'm happy with how everything works. I keep the ssd as an exclusive os drive and is half full. Just make sure to move your Windows Library folders (Docunments, Pictures, Music, video) to your regular hard drive.

Richard Haseltine

Remember that SSDs have a limited number of read/write cycles, and when doing things like optimising images DS can do a lot of writing to the temp folder. For that reason it's generally considered wise to do as SimonWM does and place volatile data on a traditional drive, with the SSD being used for relatively stable stuff (OS and applications) so that they load quickly.

maclean

Thanks for the replies.

I've been doing some reading and I came to the same conclusion - better to keep the SSD for the OS and regular HDDs for everything else.

I don't need to worry about Windows Libraries as I removed them completely, and as for My Documents.... I've never ever used that folder for anything, even on XP. It's hidden too.

cheers

mac

maclean

I ordered a Samsung 840 Pro 128Gb today. Currently, Win 7 is using 26Gb, so I didn't see the need to pay more for the 256Gb drive. I'll use the SSD for Win 7 only, and the two 10,000rpm HDDs for everything else.

But the more I read about SSDs, the more I wonder. How long are they going to keep telling us to keep data on HDDs? It seems bizarre to me. New SSDs don't have any of the issues the early ones had, so this whole HDD thing seems pretty antiquated. It can only be a matter of time before everyone starts to dump their HDDs and use nothing but SSDs. Not even for speed, but for the reliability of having no moving parts, no heat, no vibration, etc.

Anyway, for now it's ok. I just thought I'd throw that thought out there.

mac