BigSully
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New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
I'm looking to get a new PC for my Sonar X3 and want to separate my audio and maybe projects from the rest of the computer for improved speed. Would love opinions on whether to install a second hard drive or use an external USB 3.0 drive. I would think internal drive would be much faster but appreciate any suggestions.
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noynekker
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Re: New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
2017/06/10 17:02:56
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☄ Helpfulby BigSully 2017/06/11 20:27:01
I would definitely go with an internal HDD for audio and projects, make sure it's 7200 rpm spec.
The external USB3 drive would be great for off computer back-ups.
Cakewalk by Bandlab, Cubase, RME Babyface Pro, Intel i7 3770K @3.5Ghz, Asus P8Z77-VPro/Thunderbolt, 32GB DDR3 RAM, GeForce GTX 660 Ti, 250 GB OS SSD, 2TB HDD samples, Win 10 Pro 64 bit, backed up by Macrium Reflect, Novation Impulse 61 Midi Key Controller, Tannoy Active Near Field Monitors, Guitars by Vantage, Gibson, Yamaki and Ovation.
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stickman393
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Re: New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
2017/06/10 17:04:07
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☄ Helpfulby BigSully 2017/06/11 20:27:04
I haven't tried USB 3.0 but I imagine that an internal SATA will be faster, and frankly I wouldn't want any potential bottleneck between my audio files and my memory.
My desktop tower has 4 drives: 2 SSD and 2 rotating iron for backups. I also backup to external USB 3 drives but they aren't the primary storage.
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Zargg
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Re: New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
2017/06/10 18:04:08
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☄ Helpfulby BigSully 2017/06/11 20:27:16
Hi. I agree with the advice given so far. Go for an internal HD / SSD.
I've got 4 SSD's in my studio pc, and back up to external HD's.
All the best.
Ken Nilsen ZarggBBZWin 10 Pro X64, Cakewalk by Bandlab, SPlat X64, AMD AM3+ fx-8320, 16Gb RAM, RME Ucx (+ ARC), Tascam FW 1884, M-Audio Keystation 61es, *AKAI MPK Pro 25, *Softube Console1, Alesis DM6 USB, Maschine MkII Laptop setup: Win 10 X64, i5 2.4ghz, 8gb RAM, 320gb 7200 RPM HD, Focusrite Solo, + *
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garrigus
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Re: New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
2017/06/10 18:35:00
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☄ Helpfulby BigSully 2017/06/11 20:27:34
Standard drive config is... Drive 1: OS, Software, Plug-ins Drive 2: Project and audio files. These don't need to be separate. As a matter of fact, your audio files will be located in each of your separate project folders. Drive 3: If you have any streaming sample libraries (like many of the ones made for Kontakt), a third drive can improve performance. Configurations can vary of course. Some people like to keep the OS and software on separate drives, etc. That's up to you. Also, another external drive for backup is a very good idea. -- Scott R. Garrigus - http://www.garrigus.com* Cakewalk SONAR Video Tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/u...gus?sub_confirmation=1* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks* Publisher of the DigiFreq music recording newsletter: http://www.digifreq.com/* Publisher of the NewTechReview consumer tech newsletter: http://www.newtechreview.com/
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abacab
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Re: New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
2017/06/10 19:48:22
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☄ Helpfulby BigSully 2017/06/11 20:27:44
Yes to both. Good idea to put your projects and audio on 2nd drive. Get the USB for backups.
Most modern motherboards have at least 4 SATA connectors so you can connect up to 4 SSD/HDD drives.
DAW: CbB; Sonar Platinum, and others ...
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Cactus Music
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Re: New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
2017/06/10 20:42:29
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☄ Helpfulby BigSully 2017/06/11 20:27:59
I have a 128 GB SSD C drive, a 240 GB SSD (F) is my working Sonar drive where most of my projects and Wave masters are kept, My 3rd dive is a 1 TB 7200 (G) drive with back ups and sample libraries. Once an album project is finished I move it to the G drive as well as everything is also backed up externally and on 2 other computers so 4-5 backups for most projects.
The price of SSD drives has come down on the bigger drives so if I was re building right now both my C and F drives would be bigger. External drives are also dirt cheap and I just bought a 2 TB for under $100 I'm going to load up and take to work as an off site back up.
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tlw
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Re: New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
2017/06/11 03:26:14
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☄ Helpfulby BigSully 2017/06/11 20:28:18
Internal drive, 7200rpm HDD or an SSD. Either is faster than any variety of USB connected drive. A USB3 5,400rpm USB-powered external drive can stream stereo audio or 1080p HD video easily, but multi-track audio where you want it to be reading and writing completely glitch-free at the same time is a different matter.
USB 3 external drives are good for making fast backups though.
Sonar Platinum 64bit, Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit, I7 3770K Ivybridge, 16GB Ram, Gigabyte Z77-D3H m/board, ATI 7750 graphics+ 1GB RAM, 2xIntel 520 series 220GB SSDs, 1 TB Samsung F3 + 1 TB WD HDDs, Seasonic fanless 460W psu, RME Fireface UFX, Focusrite Octopre. Assorted real synths, guitars, mandolins, diatonic accordions, percussion, fx and other stuff.
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KingsMix
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Re: New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
2017/06/11 12:08:25
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☄ Helpfulby BigSully 2017/06/11 20:28:20
Yes, this is the most important spec (7200rpm).
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Sanderxpander
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Re: New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
2017/06/11 17:05:46
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☄ Helpfulby BigSully 2017/06/11 20:28:35
An USB 3 SSD is actually really fast. I'm surprised, it sounds as if nobody here tried it? Up until recently all the above was true but a USB3 SSD is faster than an internal 7200rpm traditional HDD and only marginally slower than an internal SSD (unless you're talking M2/PCIe).
While I personally prefer to keep things internal (and it IS a little bit faster, given you'd use an SSD for either situation), I can definitely understand the convenience of a USB3 option if you're planning to move projects between a laptop and a desktop.
Unless you're talking ultra high track counts in your projects or intense sample streaming, I doubt you'd ever notice the difference between a USB3 SSD and an internal one.
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tenfoot
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Re: New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
2017/06/12 13:49:46
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I use USB3 SSD audio drives both in the studio for live shows and they work perfectly, as did external esata and standard USB 2 and 3 external 7200 spin drives in the past. FWIW I have never found an external drive to be the bottleneck or point of limitation on a DAW.
Bruce. Sonar Platinum 2017-09, Studio One 3.5.3, Win 10 x64, Quad core i7, RME Fireface, Behringer X32 Producer, Behringer X32 Rack, Presonus Faderport, Lemure Software Controller (Android), Enttec DMXIS VST lighting controller, Xtempo POK.
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konradh
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Re: New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
2017/06/12 14:06:01
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I put a 1 TB SSD inside the box and never looked back.
For project storage, a spinning drive is probably fine, but if you use a lot of sample libraries (especially in the orchestral realm), solid state is the only way to go. Samsung has a pro line that costs a little more than the standard line, but the speed is worth the difference.
Obviously, someone who knows PCs needs to make sure you have the space and it fits right. I have a friend who is good at that.
Konrad Current album and more: http://www.themightykonrad.com/ Sonar X1d Producer. V-Studio 700. PC: Intel i7 CPU 3.07GHz, 12 GB RAM. Win 7 64-bit. RealGuitar, RealStrat, RealLPC, Ivory II, Vienna Symphonic, Hollywood Strings, Electr6ity, Acoustic Legends, FabFour, Scarbee Rick/J-Bass/P-Bass, Kontakt 5. NI Session Guitar. Boldersounds, Noisefirm. EZ Drummer 2. EZ Mix. Melodyne Assist. Guitar Rig 4. Tyros 2, JV-1080, Kurzweil PC2R, TC Helicon VoiceWorks+. Rode NT2a, EV RE20. Presonus Eureka. Rokit 6s.
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Sanderxpander
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Re: New PC - Second Hard drive or USB External drive?
2017/06/12 14:36:58
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As far as I'm aware the main difference between the Samsung EVO and Pro line is that the Pro line does significantly better on sustained write speeds. Which is irrelevant for sample streaming. I think they're similar or only very slightly faster than the EVO series on reads.
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