Best suggestion on running SSD as system drive w/HDD as data

[El Epho]

I'm configuring a new computer to purchase for running Live 9 Suite (64bit).

I've been told the best setup is to use a 2-drive system with an SSD as the primary/system drive and a HDD as the data/library, and install L9 on the system drive.

What other files should be on the system drive to fully exploit this method of configuring a computer? Should everything that isn't a program go in the data HDD? Including audio recordings, samples, loops?

So is it better to go with an SSD as a primary and then a HDD as a secondary? Or is it better to just have one single 350gb (or so) SSD?

Here's the rest of the stuff that matters:

- water cooled Intel Quad Core i5-3570 Processor (3.40GHz/6MB L3 Cache)
- 16gb of RAM - Dual Channel (4gb x 4) DDR3 1600.
- ASUS P8Z77-V LK -- 2x PCI-E 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0
- 500 watt PSU.
- Video card = NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 1GB

If you see any problems with this speak up! PLEASE!

OH, and what do you make of doing it this way instead? .... http://www.ibuypower.com/info/intel-sma ... ology.aspx

Basically using a smallish SSD as an HDD cache?

Tango Yankee

LFO.

[wjbuchanan]

As long as you are not using USB for your 2nd HDD, this should be fine.

SSD = OS + paging file, Program Data (including Live)
HDD = Samples, etc

[El Epho]

As long as you are not using USB for your 2nd HDD, this should be fine.

SSD = OS + paging file, Program Data (including Live)
HDD = Samples, etc

I'm not exactly sure how the 2nd drive is connected, I'll have to see if I can find that out.

What is a "paging file"?

Also, did you look at that "SSD caching" setup I provided a link for? What are your thoughts?

[wjbuchanan]

As long as you are not using USB for your 2nd HDD, this should be fine.

SSD = OS + paging file, Program Data (including Live)
HDD = Samples, etc

I'm not exactly sure how the 2nd drive is connected, I'll have to see if I can find that out.

What is a "paging file"?

Also, did you look at that "SSD caching" setup I provided a link for? What are your thoughts?

The paging file is a temporary file used when you run low on RAM, or for data that is not used frequently in RAM. Having this on an SSD instead of a slow traditional HDD helps a lot.

The SSD caching I'm not sold on. On paper it sounds good, commonly used files such as system files as held on an SSD For quick access. I am skeptical as to how much performance this would give you in the real world.

SSD caching came about when the disks themselves were very expensive, and gave people a way to boost performance at lower cost.

There would be little benefit to caching data on an existing SSD, due to their speed.

SSD caching does not cache new data, and the data must be frequently accessed (think C:\Windows for example).

SSDs give you three benefits, they are capable of transferring significantly larger amounts of data at speeds, hav no moving parts and are therefore cooler/quieter.

Hybrid SSDs (either having the SSD on the motherboard or drive itself) are cheaper, and allow for higher capacities.

Given that SSDs are cheaper now, I would recommend a full blown SSD instead of a hybrid drive/motherboard caching - unless you are on a very tight budget, or need > 256Gb.

P.S I don't see a sound card on your build...?

[El Epho]

I was planning on using a USB audio interface. I've been told that USB2 audio interfaces outperform Firewire audio interfaces, so I figured I would go with the USB2 types (ASIO). I'm currently trying to find a decent 8x8 audio interface that is 64 bit compatible. I plan on using Silent Way as well.

Does this all seem viable?

[wjbuchanan]

I was planning on using a USB audio interface. I've been told that USB2 audio interfaces outperform Firewire audio interfaces, so I figured I would go with the USB2 types (ASIO). I'm currently trying to find a decent 8x8 audio interface that is 64 bit compatible. I plan on using Silent Way as well.

Does this all seem viable?

Unless you are using a laptop, or want to move the soundcard to one in the future - choose a PCI soundcard, which will outperform USB, FW, thunderbolt.

My opinion is that people find FW more reliable as they only typically have one device attached, rather than 10 USB thingies + soundcard.

I'm not an expert on the various models - I use the internal MBP soundcard as I feel Coreaudio gives low latency out of the box vs ASIO (in my opinion).

[El Epho]

I was planning on using a USB audio interface. I've been told that USB2 audio interfaces outperform Firewire audio interfaces, so I figured I would go with the USB2 types (ASIO). I'm currently trying to find a decent 8x8 audio interface that is 64 bit compatible. I plan on using Silent Way as well.

Does this all seem viable?

Unless you are using a laptop, or want to move the soundcard to one in the future - choose a PCI soundcard, which will outperform USB, FW, thunderbolt.

My opinion is that people find FW more reliable as they only typically have one device attached, rather than 10 USB thingies + soundcard.

I'm not an expert on the various models - I use the internal MBP soundcard as I feel Coreaudio gives low latency out of the box vs ASIO (in my opinion).

Huh ... interesting.

Well, I was just going by what the owner and creator of Silent Way told me about the USB2 thing. He told me that FW is on it's way out and that USB2 was what is being installed in all new computers .. but that doesn't mean he's correct!

Hmm ... I think I'll put up a thread here about this, see what the rest of the membership thinks. There is money at stake here so I need to make sure I make the right choice, y'know? You're using a Mac laptop, I'm using a fully custom Win7 64 machine ... 2 different critters. Perhaps it makes a difference?