SSD Server/External Storage

[blueixus]

Is anyone using an SSD based ExternalStorage /File Server, in my case I want to replace a firewire connected Hard Drive based Iomega UltraMax Pro with an SSD based device to connect to my laptop.

 

I have SSD in the Laptop which runs Amarra but I need at 500GB of external storage. I am on my third hard drive this year! (At least all were backed up).

 

Interestingly before failure of Hard Drive 3 the system was sounding very strange - I though hard drive failure was an 'on' or an 'off' type of thing, not shades of grey.

 

Any thoughts or advice on the quest will be much appreciated.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi blueixus - I haven't used an external SSD, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work great. You'll have to get the SSD and external enclosure separately. Since you want 500GB you probably have to get a RAID0 capable enclosure and span a volume across the drives.

 

[silverlight]

I had a usb external 500GB SSD setup and worked great, with a couple of issues. First, while not expected, the RAID0 (250x2 OCZ Vertex) collectively ran quite hot to the point I was concerned about accelerated failure problems. Second, and I just don't know what the source is, it just didn't sound quite as good as the same music stored on the internal SSD of the Mac Mini I was using it with (usb connectors? usb bus? power related even though I used a linear PSU for the enclosure?) and I did a fair amount of A/B on this because it was so easy to do (very marginal different btw, nothing like swapping other components, etc.... but you want to know if you're spending $1500-1700 on storage it should have the best possible results). The RAID enclosure I used was this one:

http://www.addonics.com/products/enclosures/AE25RDESU.asp

Also, TRIM commands are not currently supported (or expected to be anytime soon) from what I understand on RAID0 setups. So a single 500GB will be better in this regard (even though drives like OCZ colossus are just employing internal raid0 I believe - don't know if will be supported or not). There is apparently one 2.5" 500GB announced a little while back that will hopefully be avilable soon. Last question, will memory based players eliminate the advantage of large external SSD storage?