SSDs, HDDs, and lots of conflicting info

[tedlogan]

I would appreciate if anyone could share their SSD performance experience/ drive setup

I'm on the verge of buying a new PC, and the last thing I simply cannot decide upon is the disk configuration.

(A) 2 drives - most common setup: 500GB SSD (system/apps) + 1TB HDD 7200rpm (projects and data) ?
(B) 1 drive - single large 1TB SSD for everything (some swear this beats all the rest even though you're reading/writing to same disk
(C) 3 drives - 500GB SSD (system/apps) + 1TB HDD 7200rpm (samples) + 120GB SSD/HDD (audio recording and projects) - Ableton's own recommendation...seems weird to have current project and recording (scratch disk) being the same drive.
"Once you save your Live Set, all the recordings stored in this temporary folder will be copied over to the Project Folder where your Live Set is stored. For this reason, we recommend saving your Live Sets to this third drive."

Also, most people say 16GB RAM is more than enough (even for most CG artists), but most also said 6GB was more than enough a few years back, and soon it wasn't. 32GB? I don't use massive sample libraries, but I do multitask a bit (maya/zbrush/photoshop etc)...but who knows what the future will bring? I

I have all the rest sorted. Been researching my PC build for the last 3 weeks, and the amount of conflicting info out there is a pain in making a final informed decision. I've saved up quite a bit and will be spending a fair amount, so I do want to get it right.

Any advice appreciated.

[locojohn]

Hello,

I went for option A. I replaced internal HDD on my MacBookPro with Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB SSD and I use it for system and software. Then I have My Book Thunderbolt Duo as external drive which I configured as RAID 1 and which I use for samples. This configuration is fine for me and I recommend it therefore.

Andrejs

[tedlogan]

Thanks for your input - I was leaning towards option A too. Besides, the other options are too expensive for me.

[hacktheplanet]

I use the first option because it's very easy to manage and the most cost effective.
256gb SSD for system/apps/etc, and then a 3tb network drive for media and general storage. My main sample library lives on the SSD and less-frequently used stuff lives on the larger network drive. I save all my projects self contained to the SSD, which makes loading them very fast.

For the most part, 8gb RAM and any modern HDD is plenty fast for any audio work. Video's a different story. If you're doing a lot of video editing, you'll see a huge performance increase with a SSD large enough to store your scratch folder and enough RAM avoid too much swap.

[Tarekith]

I use a 500GB SSD in my MBP that basically holds everything I need on a day to day basis, as well as all my media files (pictures, movies, music, samples, etc). Still about 100GB to spare too. Any music I'm working on stays on the SSD as well, might as well take advantage of that speed when I need it most.

Then I have two 3TB external USB3 hard drives that I use for manual daily back ups, Time Machine, and any long term media I might want. My mastering archives, my own music project archives, etc.

[Mister Natural]

fwiw - use 240gb sdd for apps and windows7 & a second 500gb sdd for samples/projects/storage

works like a dream

[musikmachine]

^That's what i'm thinking of doing, just was trying to decide on the size of the SSD but this answers it; 240gb at least.

[chris vine]

also FWIW: lenovo laptop with 240 gb SSD for OS and applications, 500gb 7200 HD for storage.

Originally was only the HD - def much faster now.

I read someplace in my research before installing the SSD that it is best not to use the system SSD to do any long term file storage...dunno why but anyway I keep my samples etc on the HD. Plus I record to the HD not the SSD.

if that makes sense, or if it is incorect, I am all ears.

[tedlogan]

Thanks guys - I think I'm gonna go with my original decision - 500GB Samsung 850 EVO (system/apps/Live projects self contained/samples) + 1TB 7200RPM WD Caviar Black (temp recording audio/Maya+Zbrush+Photoshop project data)

Hmm...currently I have all my important data (Music/CG) in my GoogleDrive folder so that it's always auto-backed up. I wonder if one can have two Google Drive folders on the two separate disks somehow pointing to a master location...I'd guess so.

cheers

[musikmachine]

also FWIW: lenovo laptop with 240 gb SSD for OS and applications, 500gb 7200 HD for storage.

Originally was only the HD - def much faster now.

I read someplace in my research before installing the SSD that it is best not to use the system SSD to do any long term file storage...dunno why but anyway I keep my samples etc on the HD. Plus I record to the HD not the SSD.

if that makes sense, or if it is incorect, I am all ears.

I've read conflicting stuff as well; i thought i'd get 128gb just for windows and applications and keep all samples and libs on sata drives which i do anyway. Is it true that you shouldn't defrag an SSD at all? Anyway hopefully live will load a bit quicker, i'm able to make coffee while projects load lol but that's not Live been slow, it's my hd and it gets annoying after a few crashes.

[chris vine]

I've read conflicting stuff as well; i thought i'd get 128gb just for windows and applications and keep all samples and libs on sata drives which i do anyway. Is it true that you shouldn't defrag an SSD at all? Anyway hopefully live will load a bit quicker, i'm able to make coffee while projects load lol but that's not Live been slow, it's my hd and it gets annoying after a few crashes.

So they say, no defrag, so switch that OFF in yr OS.
Yeah well, I got a 240gb SSD and went through a whole vortex of having to clean out my 500gb HDD and wanting to clone my OS onto the SSD because I simply couldn~t fave a clean install and reinstalling all my programs and plugins etc. So I managed to sort that out, I thought, only to discover there was some system inherent in the Lenovo that wouldn~t let me clone so easily. Finally a tech guy helped me out. THEN I got a wierd error message and BLACK screen of Death 2 times after the new install saying "can~t find HD - ie the SSD"! Right before a gig. But hasn't happened since, so fingers crossed, because that would mean a clean install. But yes, massive improvement all round in performance, speed, no flashing HD warning lights in Ableton Live as the system tries to deal with too much bottlenecking.

[Schmidi]

Used option A for my last two builds. Now I guess I'm on option C because I have a few backup drives.

Option B is the only one I would NEVER recommend, (thought my experience is from spinning platter drives). YMMV with an SSD, but I would avoid the "hybrid" drives 100%.

[Martin Gifford]

I swapped from HDD to SSD. The whole system is much faster. Ableton installed faster. But... loading of songs is not faster. This is annoying because I have around 1,000 songs (mostly just 8 bar ideas), and I want to go through them all to pick out the good ones. Most of the time is spent in loading songs rather than listening to them. Maybe a separate drive for songs would be faster.

I wonder why it's like this in Ableton? FL Studio loads itself and songs in a few seconds. All other programs and documents load instantly. Ableton is the slowest program I have by a very long way.

[re:dream]

Option B is the only one I would NEVER recommend, (thought my experience is from spinning platter drives). YMMV with an SSD, but I would avoid the "hybrid" drives 100%.

Why?

I am thinking of replacing my 1 TB hard drive on my Mac MINI with a 1 TB SSD. The Mac Mini can't take two drives, if I had two drives, one of them would have to be external... So for me simply having a on TB SSD seems logical. Is there a reason why not?

[tedlogan]

Option B is the only one I would NEVER recommend, (thought my experience is from spinning platter drives). YMMV with an SSD, but I would avoid the "hybrid" drives 100%.

Why?

I am thinking of replacing my 1 TB hard drive on my Mac MINI with a 1 TB SSD. The Mac Mini can't take two drives, if I had two drives, one of them would have to be external... So for me simply having a on TB SSD seems logical. Is there a reason why not?

I would guess, only in the case of HDDs, to avoid choking/slowdowns - reading/writing to the same drive, but I think this only starts to matter of you're recording tons of tracks 96khz all at once. With SSDs it matters even less, I think, as the bandwidth is more than enough. Please correct me if I'm spouting rubbish.

I did go with 500GB SSD + 1TB Hdd in the end, still awaiting delivery of the new system. 1TB SSD would have been nice, but the price at present is way too high, and 500GB should be more than enough for my current needs. the 1TB drive will be for backups, GoogleDrive folder, MP3s and so on. All programs and Ableton projects, including samples, will be on the SSD.
Some related and useful discussion here http://www.logicprohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=98514

and here

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-c ... 013-a.html

though both are two years old, so previous gen SSDs...