New SSD Placement Strategy

Hello All--
 
I finally have the funds to get an SSD for my DAW. I have a ton of HDD storage (6.5 TB) and just wanted to get a 2nd opinion on the best placement for the new SSD.
 
Currently, my system (OS, programs, etc.) are on one physical HDD, and my CW project folders are on a different physical HDD. Boot time for my PC, as well as opening Sonar have been getting progressively slower, but I haven't seen a problem with running Sonar once everything's up and running.
 
My plan with the new SSD is use it to replace the system/OS HDD, and leave the CW project folders on the 2nd physical HDD. 
 
Do you think that's the best use of the new SSD? I recently replaced my laptop HDD with an SSD and my life has improved exponentially :-p
 
Can't wait for my DAW to get the upgrade!

soens

razor
My plan with the new SSD is use it to replace the system/OS HDD, and leave the CW project folders on the 2nd physical HDD. 

YES! As long as it's no less than 250GB, IMO.

Good point. I'm actually getting a deal on a 1TB SSD (960 GBs) so I'm sure to have enough storage for everything on my current HDD.
 
Was your comment because of the potential of running out of space on the SSD if it's in the system drive role?

I'll add that I wouldn't go bigger than 512GB for the OS. If you do I recommend partitioning it. 300GB has always served me well for the OS drive, but windows can create endless bloat so run cclean often.

What Jim said... If u can afford it, get a 1TB and u'll have plenty of space for your favorite sample libraries... REALLY speeds up load time. Omnisphere and others will benifit also, especially with elaborate multies like Skippy creates. Or when you design a Kontakt templates with lots of load time... it just becomes "nice" and quick...
 
Using up your slots with dinky drives just doesn't make sense anymore with the huge drop in prices...U'll ultimately replace them as you accumulate goodies and need more space... here's an "Enhanced Reactor"  1TB Muskin for 229$!

razor
Bought myself my new SSD for Christmas. Now I just have to wait for my wife to give it to me. ;-)

Very excited!

Another thing to consider, as I did, is how much used space do I want to have on my system/program drive?  It is a 250GB SSD, but I prefer to keep it lean, about 80GB used.
 
Here is why.  I do full disk image backups on my system drive once or twice a month.  The image software only copies used disk sectors.  This keeps my external USB backup drive capacity requirements lower, as well as the time it takes to create an image file. 
 
So it really comes down to your preferences.  I could load up the system drive with everything, and take that into account for imaging.  I do currently have my OS, programs, and plugins all on the SSD.  I find that the system, and Sonar, is very responsive that way.  I have all Sonar content folders, loops, samples, etc, on a spinning drive.  I don't use streaming libraries, but Jim makes a very good point for that use case!

razor

abacab

razor
Bought myself my new SSD for Christmas. Now I just have to wait for my wife to give it to me. ;-)

Very excited!

Another thing to consider, as I did, is how much used space do I want to have on my system/program drive?  It is a 250GB SSD, but I prefer to keep it lean, about 80GB used.
 
Here is why.  I do full disk image backups on my system drive once or twice a month.  The image software only copies used disk sectors.  This keeps my external USB backup drive capacity requirements lower, as well as the time it takes to create an image file. 
 
So it really comes down to your preferences.  I could load up the system drive with everything, and take that into account for imaging.  I do currently have my OS, programs, and plugins all on the SSD.  I find that the system, and Sonar, is very responsive that way.  I have all Sonar content folders, loops, samples, etc, on a spinning drive.  I don't use streaming libraries, but Jim makes a very good point for that use case!

I have a 1 TB SSD and I'm only imaging whats on my system drive, which is about half of that, so I should be good to go.

The HDD I'm imaging is 2 TB, so I'm thinking of dedicating it to system backups.

Enjoy!  You are just gonna love watching your system boot in 10-15 seconds or so, as well as launching Sonar in a blink

I hear ya!  There's no going back, LOL!
 
I can barely tolerate my laptop now because of the slow spinning drive.  Spoiled ... yup!
 
I would upgrade the laptop to SSD, but that would require a complete teardown because the drive is under the motherboard, and there is no access from the bottom panel :-(

The SSD is the single biggest performance booster I have seen recently.  It won't make your CPU or RAM any faster, but from what I've observed, my CPU and RAM never run beyond 50%, usually much less.  But now things on the SSD respond like they virtually are in RAM ...
 
I have been building my own PC's for over 15 years, and the technology has mostly improved in increments.  This one is a big leap