Space saving advice using SD cards for factory packs

[Nav]

Hey,

Longtime Ableton user, recently switched to a new MacBook Pro with SSD/Flash drive so storage space was limited but performance is awesome. Currently Ableton runs like a dream and hard drive accessing live packs and samples etc is really fast. However due to the nature of the MBP my storage space is limited.

I'm considering moving the 60gb of factory packs to an SD card so that I can free up the space for other stuff. I'm expecting some performance loss, but wondered if anyone had any experience of this or do I go with USB 3?

I like the idea of SD cards maybe because they are more portable and can just stay in the slot without being noticed.

[Airyck]

I use an SD card on my MacBook Pro Retina to hold all of my packs and samples. I haven't noticed any kind of performance loss. I formatted it as soon as I got it to HFS+. I also have a 250GB external hard drive. So with my 128GB SSD and 128GB SD I'm able to plugin my external hard drive to do time machine backups every so often. I've only had the card in for a while but it's really great for holding the User library, packs, and projects when I want to chill on the couch with headphones and the Push instead of sitting in the studio.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MTH ... DW6ZQ1AC6N

If you get the right one it's totally flush with the MacBook Pro, you double your space and don't even notice it.

Up to 95MB/sec. read and 60MB/sec. write speeds

[Nav]

Brilliant thank you

[BoddAH]

I guess SD cards are an alright solution for storing Factory Packs but keep in mind that they are not optimized for repeated erase and write cycles so avoid using them as an actual HDD replacement, especially for recording.

[Nav]

Was this not said the same for SSD drives originally?

Has the technology of both not come on enough?

[BoddAH]

Was this not said the same for SSD drives originally?

Has the technology of both not come on enough?

SSDs use advanced algorithms to distribute the writing cycles equally among all sectors in order to limit wear, in addition to being designed to last a large amount of write cycles.

By comparison, SD cards are still low tech and simple data storage mediums that are only designed to be as cheap as possible and hold as much data as possible on really limited space.

[alpertt]

I guess SD cards are an alright solution for storing Factory Packs but keep in mind that they are not optimized for repeated erase and write cycles so avoid using them as an actual HDD replacement, especially for recording.

This is not correct. They are primarily used within handheld recorders and cameras. I'm using one in zoom recorder over a year. (heavily using, recording/formatting almost every day.) No issues so far.

[Airyck]

This is also why I format them in HFS+ format and do a time machine backup to a USB hard drive. This way I have the portability of an SD card but have a backup in the unlikely case it gets lost or stops working. There is no reason it shouldn't keep working for years.

Solid state drives have the most longevity out of all storage media. Look at the USB flash drives, 10 years of continuous use. SSD 51 years etc... I don't think it's anything to worry about. You'll probably replace your laptop before your SD dies, just back it up.

[Airyck]

5 years is the allotted data retention time for an SD card due to gradual drift of cell voltage that can lead to data bit loss. It's a series of switches, high voltage means 1 and low means 0. If the voltage gets low it doesn't read as 1 any more and your data becomes corrupted. So backup, and swap every 5 years and you'll be good. It could last longer but obviously it's always good to make backups. If you have a larger SSD external drive you can swap your SD card every 5 years and just make regular backups, your SSD should last your whole life with that kind of use. It's more likely that the SSD or SD will be physically damaged or lost before it dies.

My suggestion above is the extremely safe way.
Here's a quote from a technical website regarding SD cards.
It's where I got the graph from the above post.

Secure Digital (SD) memory cards are based on flash memory and as such have a finite technical life span. Fortunately, this life span tends to be comfortably long. Most flash memory cards are equipped with a wear controller to balance out the demands on particular parts of the memory, and are guaranteed to withstand about 100,000 program-erase cycles before the integrity of data storage becomes compromised. In other words, even if one were to fill and format an SD card five times every day, it would still last for more than 50 years. Most of the better memory card brands are in this context happy to offer lifetime warranties for their products (hence keep your receipt!).

Read more: http://www.apotelyt.com/photo-memory/sd ... z3JimPvsPZ

[Nav]

Cool beans

Ordered one today 128gb for my sound packs and projects, I already back up to USB via time machine so I got it covered

Thanks for all the advice