You can skip over this paragraph--
I may be late to arrive at this party. Since I started recording with computers I've used lots of different mediums. Tape, DAT, Zip Drives, SCSI Drives, Sata old fashioned drives, eSata. I could tell you the Zip drives failed a lot. :-( And that the conventional drives were pretty reliable. I can tell you that in the old days when you pulled the plug on a DAT, whatever was recorded was recoverable but if you pulled the plug on an old Windows machine you could lose the recording not saved (same was true with the Tascam 2488). I can tell you that if you pull the plug on my current computer while recording with digicheck, you still have most of the recording, even if you didn't hit save. Why is it a risk? When you're at a bar and the band stops, there is always a risk you're about to be unplugged.
 
But wow SSD is something better than anything I've had before.
 
I've used USB SSD for Linux for years, but it didn't seem that different to me from conventional drives. It was just handy b/c it was small and light.
 
Why I bothered trying an internal SSD...
I record many tracks continuously for hours. When Sonar opens the project, it has to convert all the tracks to wave forms so I can find my way around the recording. This takes time. Sometimes 10-15 minutes or more. Also, Midi is saved in the project file. When I practice, I record 1 stereo track (synth output), my guitar, and a the midi from the GR20. I record over and over and over. I count my practice time in megabytes. When Midi builds up in a project, saving the project takes a noticeable amount of time.
 
What I learned...
SSD over SATA2 is at least 3 times better than my pretty darn fast conventional drives. IDK what came in my StudioCat computer, but they're not weak drives.
 
So, to all my Forum Friends, know that a 500 GB SSD used for storing Sonar Projects is way cool. You don't need to keep everything on SSD. I still have the OS and Sonar installed to conventional drives. But for the purpose of recording big projects or even just having fun practicing without IO related dropouts (means you can keep great heaps of takes), try an SSD.
 
 

I keep 10-15 projects loaded on my SSD and export unused projects to internal HDD.
Projects load lightening fast. I have always been the guy who has tried to keep up on new technology (new operating systems, new hardware, exc). I have been using an SSD for almost 3 years now and I love it.
It changed my life

One advantage SATA SSDs have over USB ones is that while TRIM commands are sent over SATA (and Thunderbolt, at least on Macs), they can't be sent over USB because the protocol doesn't allow it. How much difference this makes in the short term is debatable, but is likely to have a longer term effect of slowing the drive down. Though it will still be very fast even without TRIM.

The combined Thunderbolt/USB drives are usually a USB drive with a paralled TB port, so they generally can't use TRIM either.

I used to be hardware tech savvy, but frankly, I rarely crack a case these days. I had to guess at the screws for pealing apart my PC. I don't think I'd ever removed the drive cage since I got it however many years ago.
 
Still, I think I removed 8 screws in the whole process of installing the drive. 2 for the case cover and 6 for the drive cage... checked out how the other drives were attached... and plugged in the new drive. Then I screwed it back together.
 
After booting, the drive did not initially show up. I had to go to Computer Management >> Disk Management. There was a handy popup there telling me I had to format it and make some choices in order to use it. I clicked ok on all the defaults and after a couple of seconds the drive showed up for use on my computer.
 
** BTW, Thanks to Jim at StudioCat for advising me.

I've been working on PC's since right around the time the Dell Dimension was released. Maybe a bit earlier, 2002 or so. Since then I have been building a new PC every 2 years or less. Sometimes using those parts to carry over builds (taking the hard drive, video cards and putting them in newer builds). The SSD was easy as I bought the EXT ears and screwed them in to the cage where my old HDD was.
however I began to notice a small rattle when ever one of the other internal HDD's would cycle/kick on
(Drives D+E are running in low power mode).
I figured it out. The SDD cage was picking up Vibes from the HDD next to it in slot 2.
 
Have to say though, anyone looking for a quick/cheap .. well sometimes cheap upgrade, an SSD is where its at.
I bought a PNNY 220GB for only 60 bucks in 2014. They have come down a bit in price but still a great value.
I would suggest a 500GB like you bought though GSwitz. Welcome to the SSD family.

I just did a test for bounce speed, and interestingly, bounce speed doesn't appear to be impacted in a way that I can detect. As usual, the processor goes to around 50% and stays there. The Disk IO is very low. And it takes a couple of minutes maybe to bounce a complicated multi-track song.
 
No big deal, but I'd expected an increase in bounce speed.

Ive noticed the same thing with exports. I don't see a great difference in processing speed.
Not like I thought I would. Almost appears as if HDD and SSD bounce or export at the same speed (in reference to time).
That could have something to do with Sonars engine (which im guessing probably does)
Sample rate and bit rate conversions.

If you watch Windows Task Manager you should see the reason for the speed of the exports.
 
If you were bottlenecked with disk throughput (disk I/O), you would see your disk pegged at 100% during the export.
 
Since the CPU is showing a heavy load instead, it is because of the computation (math) required during the export, and a faster disk cannot speed up that task.

abacab
If you watch Windows Task Manager you should see the reason for the speed of the exports.
 
If you were bottlenecked with disk throughput (disk I/O), you would see your disk pegged at 100% during the export.
 
Since the CPU is showing a heavy load instead, it is because of the computation (math) required during the export, and a faster disk cannot speed up that task.

That's what I was thinking. Disk is pegged during export on HDD, the same as SSD is.
Good explanation there A-Cab

Memory doesn't go over 50 percent really. Maybe because of hyper-threading? Idk.

Disk IO is very low. Almost nonexistent.

I'm thinking that making it go faster would mean more processing power.