bitSync
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Requesting Advice for Transition to SSDs
I currently have 3 1TB SATA2 hard disk drives in my SONAR Platinum DAW, one of which is barely used. I've decided on moving from HDDs to SSDs for silence and speed and I'm eyeing the Samsung EVO 850 SATA3 SSDs. I was thinking of getting the 1TB for the system drive containing the OS and the various software applications such as SONAR, Sound Forge, Vegas, etc., and the 2TB for SONAR project files, audio data, and sample library data. My system board has 2 SATA3 6GB/sec connectors and numerous SATA2 connectors.
Considering the 2 port limitation I have for SATA3, should I go with a 2 SSD configuration as described or are 3 drives still the recommended configuration? I'd love to hear what the hardware gurus have to say on the subject. Thanks!
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Karyn
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Re: Requesting Advice for Transition to SSDs
2016/01/29 05:03:43
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☄ Helpfulby bitSync 2016/01/29 14:50:24
The 3 drive recommendation is for HDDs because of the very slow (relatively speaking) seek time of a HDD. That's the time it takes for the physical read/write head to move from one place to another on the disk. While that is happening the disk cannot transfer any data at all, so to optimise performance you split your files across several disks.
SSDs don't have this problem, no read/write head or spinning disk limiting data speed. Most SSDs will come close to maxing out the bandwidth of the Sata channel they're connected to, hence the reason to use SATA3 not SATA2. This means you don't gain any advantage by using several SSDs. Even if it means you can read 3 files at once, it can't transfer the data any faster...
Mekashi Futo. Get 10% off all Waves plugins.Current DAW. i7-950, Gigabyte EX58-UD5, 12Gb RAM, 1Tb SSD, 2x2Tb HDD, nVidia GTX 260, Antec 1000W psu, Win7 64bit, Studio 192, Digimax FS, KRK RP8G2, Sonar Platinum
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bitSync
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Re: Requesting Advice for Transition to SSDs
2016/01/29 14:45:20
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Karyn
The 3 drive recommendation is for HDDs because of the very slow (relatively speaking) seek time of a HDD. That's the time it takes for the physical read/write head to move from one place to another on the disk. While that is happening the disk cannot transfer any data at all, so to optimise performance you split your files across several disks.
SSDs don't have this problem, no read/write head or spinning disk limiting data speed. Most SSDs will come close to maxing out the bandwidth of the Sata channel they're connected to, hence the reason to use SATA3 not SATA2. This means you don't gain any advantage by using several SSDs. Even if it means you can read 3 files at once, it can't transfer the data any faster...
Karyn, I think I was going to say that your reply was very useful and that it has helped me understand that multiple SATA3 SSDs would serve only to provide additional storage, no performance improvement over a single SATA3 SSD, and that I'm very grateful for your spot on reply, but then I looked at your avatar and now I can't remember anything... Cheers!
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Karyn
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Re: Requesting Advice for Transition to SSDs
2016/01/29 16:33:09
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It was a weather balloon.
Mekashi Futo. Get 10% off all Waves plugins.Current DAW. i7-950, Gigabyte EX58-UD5, 12Gb RAM, 1Tb SSD, 2x2Tb HDD, nVidia GTX 260, Antec 1000W psu, Win7 64bit, Studio 192, Digimax FS, KRK RP8G2, Sonar Platinum
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BassDaddy
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Re: Requesting Advice for Transition to SSDs
2016/01/29 22:48:38
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You can get 1X PCI Express cards for aound $20. To $$25. To get you more SATA3 ports. I did and they work just fine. I have 1 250. GB ssd for os drive a 250 and a 500 for samples and a 1.5 TB for projects and content. They are all on SATA 3. 2 on motherboard and 2 on the PCIe card.
It's Bass, not Bass. i7 2700K, 16GB DDR3, 2 SSD sample drives and OS drive, HDD SATAIII for projects, 2 24" monitors Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, Focusrite VRM Box, LAVA Lamp, SONAR Platinum 64 bit, Mackie MCU and 1 MCU XT, Akai Advance 49, Windows 10, Komplete 9 Ultimate, Cakewalk, Toontrack, IK, AAS, XLN, UVI, Air Music Tech, Waves Factory, Sample Tek and Sonivox VSTi's. Overloud, T-Racks, Audio Damage, D16, Nomad Factory, Waves Gold FX
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slartabartfast
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Re: Requesting Advice for Transition to SSDs
2016/01/29 23:51:30
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It is not necessarily true that multiple SSD's will not provide a performance boost over a single SSD operating at maximum speed. Each SSD can be moving data in either direction via its own SATA connector simultaneously. The quoted SATA maximum bandwidth is not shared, or divided among the various SATA connections, although that does not preclude that there will be a pinch point somewhere else in the system that the drives are feeding through. Most SATA controllers are able to serve full speed to multiple drives simultaneously. That said, for audio work, a SATA 600 connection is not often needed for either the system/application drive or the real time audio recording/playback drive. If you have one of the massive sample libraries that stream directly from the drive, an SSD sample drive may make a significant difference in how you work. Otherwise, you are probably just looking at some improvement in booting and loading large applications. If you are not having dropouts with low buffers you really have no reason to upgrade.
As for silence, a mechanical HD in good condition should not be making a lot of noise compared to the power supply, CPU cooler and case fans.
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bitSync
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Re: Requesting Advice for Transition to SSDs
2016/01/30 11:14:20
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So, I ordered a 2TB SSD, which I think may hold everything for me. For now, anyway.
@slartabartfast -
I'm going to see how it goes with the single 2TB SSD. The current HDD does produce mechanical noise audible above the extremely quiet large case fan, so silencing is still a factor for me. And mitigating HDD mechanical failure is yet another consideration. I'd love to be able to move the DAW outside of the studio but I just don't see that happening. I can RX5 the case fan noise out of the open mic tracking where necessary but there's nothing short of time consuming surgical editing and repair I can do about the sporadic drive noise that gets picked up by the mic.
As far as dropouts go, the system is pretty well tuned, using 32 or 64 samples in the ASIO buffer with nearly never a dropout, unless I'm doing something silly with plugs during tracking. I'm moving toward more sample-based synths in some of my projects and that may impact overall storage I/O performance, we'll see. Thanks!
@BassDaddy (not BassDaddy) -
Nice tip about the PCIe SATA3 adapters, thanks!
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mudgel
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Re: Requesting Advice for Transition to SSDs
2016/02/08 16:35:59
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There is a significant benefit to multiple drives even when using SSD drives exclusively.
Mike V. (MUDGEL) STUDIO: Win 10 Pro x64, SPlat & CbB x64, PC: ASUS Z370-A, INTEL i7 8700k, 32GIG DDR4 2400, OC 4.7Ghz. Storage: 7 TB SATA III, 750GiG SSD & Samsung 500 Gig 960 EVO NVMe M.2. Monitors: Adam A7X, JBL 10” Sub. Audio I/O & DSP Server: DIGIGRID IOS & IOX. Screen: Raven MTi + 43" HD 4K TV Monitor. Keyboard Controller: Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S88.
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bitSync
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Re: Requesting Advice for Transition to SSDs
2016/02/09 21:38:50
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mudgel
There is a significant benefit to multiple drives even when using SSD drives exclusively.
I'll have to keep my eye on things, but last night I imaged my new 2TB SATA3 SSD and I've got everything up and running on the single SSD drive. So far so good. I'm super happy about the snappier Windows and application performance and the absence of the HDD clatter is a joy to behold.
Win7 Pro x64 SP1 / SONAR Platinum x64 (latest) / Mackie d8b + D8Bridge x32 v1.1 = MCU DAW Controller / Frontier TranzPort DAW Controller / Studiocat 3.20 GHz Intel i7 950, 24 GB DDR3 1600 RAM, Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R 2.0 Mainboard, 2TB SATA3 SSD / NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT v341.95 / RME HDSP9652 PCI (ASIO) / RME ADI-8 QS / 24 bit at 44.1 / New Belgium 1554 / My Stuff
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Vastman
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Re: Requesting Advice for Transition to SSDs
2016/02/09 23:13:43
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Karyn
It was a weather balloon.
I am soooo lame... now I understand your avatar! Good one..
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