240 GB SSD or 1 TB HHD ?

G

GtrGtrGtr

New member
Hi there again recording guys and gals .

I am at building a new home computer studio. That said I was after an "all in one " computer on e-bay but lost the bid . I'm glad I did after further reading on this informative site. I am new to this style of recording and although the software(Cubase 8 Pro) requirements are exceeded by this laptop Im on now , I want to get a faster ,dedicated desktop to use in the studio alone.

I am looking at a few but some have 240/250 SSD's and others the 1 TB HHD. They also both are equal in ram at 16 GB's . I am fond of Win 7 so that will be my OS but perhaps Win 7 Pro.

Question: Which will serve this purpose best ? Although the SSD is smaller as the GB's go I hear it may be best ? I'm a bit computer friendly but not one to build my own so I'm letting a pro do it so please respond with anything off topic of SSD and HHD too. The computers I am looking at say they are dual or three monitor ready ,having never needed more than one monitor.

I really at this point can only imagine why and weather this appointment is needed...

Capts log 3/2016.. Tascam 1800 / Tascam 750CDRW/ Cubase 8 pro/Rane HC6/ Furmin power cond/M-audio studio monitors(Older purchase) and an RTA Producer studio desk is in transit so as of now I have nothing on line yet till desk arrives.


Thanks again to the many here that are basically helping me build this new venture with me -Steve:thumbs up:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I know that different members around here do it different ways, but what I've become accustomed to is using a smaller SSD as my system drive. This drive has Windows installed to it, and all of my applications. Then I use a larger HDD as a data drive. I record straight to my data drive.

My SSD is a Samsung EVO 250GB, and my audio drive is a Western Digital Black 1TB. I also have another WD Black 1TB that I use just for holding sample libraries like EZDrummer, Superior Drummer, etc. Load times for sample libraries are acceptable, but would be faster if I used a SSD for that purpose. Same for audio...throughput would be through the roof with an SSD, but a 7200 RPM HDD gets the job done with no complaints.

So I guess that my answer is get both :)
 
Tadpui said:
I know that different members around here do it different ways, but what I've become accustomed to is using a smaller SSD as my system drive. This drive has Windows installed to it, and all of my applications. Then I use a larger HDD as a data drive. I record straight to my data drive.

My SSD is a Samsung EVO 250GB, and my audio drive is a Western Digital Black 1TB. I also have another WD Black 1TB that I use just for holding sample libraries like EZDrummer, Superior Drummer, etc. Load times for sample libraries are acceptable, but would be faster if I used a SSD for that purpose. Same for audio...throughput would be through the roof with an SSD, but a 7200 RPM HDD gets the job done with no complaints.

So I guess that my answer is get both :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Tadpui ! Now you have taken me into unfamiliar waters as far as my knowledge base goes.

Does the WD get installed on the same computer that has the SSD or are they installed on different towers? Could you elaborate on just how these items are linked together? You lost me when I looked up the WD and found it to be an internal drive? Would external drives serve the same purpose and run fast enough to get the job done?

Thank you to Jimmy69 for the edit I will work on not running on with my posts ;)
 
Last edited:
Hi GTR,

Yes, whether you run additional drives internally via Sata cable and power cable, or externally in a powered caddy and over USB2/3/firewire/thunderbolt, they'd still all be running off the one computer.
Most desktop towers have room for a few hard drives and it'd be common enough to find 4 sata ports, if not more.

If you're tip-toeing into unknown waters then the safest bet is to go with a medium sized system SSD. I find 256gb to be enough.
It's not essential but I'd never go back to a spinning system disk, now that I've tried good SSDs.
Add a 1TB storage 7200 drive internally to hold all your sessions and samples.

If, for some reason, it turns out not to be adequate then maybe upgrade to SSD storage. Depending on your workload 256/512gb might do?
The 1TB 7200 drive becomes a backup drive and would hold all the stuff you're finished with (like we're ever finished).


I run a 256gb system SSD, 256gb session SSD and 1TB samples SSD. Overkill for a lot of people but it suits me.
I also have a 2TB external USB2 7200 drive. Everything I have gets written to that drive once a month or so.

It's good for backup backups to be external. That way you can store them in a different building for fire/flood safety.


Edit: An external drive is simply any old normal hard drive in a powered enclosure, with a USB (or whatever) interface.
If you're thinking of buying an external drive, always make sure you know what drive is actually inside it. Go for a reputable name (like WD) and 7200 speed.
If you're not on the ball you'll end up with a slow 5400RPM drive, especially if you're looking at 2.5" drives.

Summary, in my opinion.....
SSD for system, always.
Internal second drive for sessions and samples.
External 7200RPM drive for regular backups.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Hi GTR,

Yes, whether you run additional drives internally via Sata cable and power cable, or externally in a powered caddy and over USB2/3/firewire/thunderbolt, they'd still all be running off the one computer.
Most desktop towers have room for a few hard drives and it'd be common enough to find 4 sata ports, if not more.

If you're tip-toeing into unknown waters then the safest bet is to go with a medium sized system SSD. I find 256gb to be enough.
It's not essential but I'd never go back to a spinning system disk, now that I've tried good SSDs.
Add a 1TB storage 7200 drive internally to hold all your sessions and samples.

If, for some reason, it turns out not to be adequate then maybe upgrade to SSD storage. Depending on your workload 256/512gb might do?
The 1TB 7200 drive becomes a backup drive and would hold all the stuff you're finished with (like we're ever finished).


I run a 256gb system SSD, 256gb session SSD and 1TB samples SSD. Overkill for a lot of people but it suits me.
I also have a 2TB external USB2 7200 drive. Everything I have gets written to that drive once a month or so.

It's good for backup backups to be external. That way you can store them in a different building for fire/flood safety.


Edit: An external drive is simply any old normal hard drive in a powered enclosure, with a USB (or whatever) interface.
If you're thinking of buying an external drive, always make sure you know what drive is actually inside it. Go for a reputable name (like WD) and 7200 speed.
If you're not on the ball you'll end up with a slow 5400RPM drive, especially if you're looking at 2.5" drives.

Summary, in my opinion.....
SSD for system, always.
Internal second drive for sessions and samples.
External 7200RPM drive for regular backups.
Click to expand...

Thanks Steen this is the unit specs Im looking at right now , I will add a 1TB 7200 external drive also. Does it look like it will be enough not to make this a bad experience?
Intel i3-4370 Dual Core 3.8 GHz 16 GB DDR3 240GB SSD Win 7 Pro -Thanks again guys for the lead.-Steve
 
Sounds like a good job. :)

SSD has been around for a while so there's a big difference in performance between older tech and newer. Me? I'd want to know the SSD model number, just to be sure of what I'm getting.

That said, any SSD at all is going to smoke the average spinning disk, so it's not like you can go far wrong. :)
 
Steenamaroo said:
Sounds like a good job. :)

SSD has been around for a while so there's a big difference in performance between older tech and newer. Me? I'd want to know the SSD model number, just to be sure of what I'm getting.

That said, any SSD at all is going to smoke the average spinning disk, so it's not like you can go far wrong. :)
Click to expand...

I have had a 1 TB HHD added to this unit along with the 240 SSD and upgrded the ram to 32 GB. It says 3 monitor ready . Anything else I should look into before I pull the trigger?

Intel i3-4370 Dual Core 3.8 GHz 16 GB DDR3 240GB SSD Win 7 Pro / without additions mentioned -Thanks to all who help on this site .
Its so nice to ask and then receive . Very active informative forum -Steve
 
OK, the SSD will make a difference in overall performance, the i3 chip isn't bad, but let me give you some warning. If you start loading up a lot of plugins, you are going to have some performance problems. What probalems I cannot say since it depends on the pluggins, the host software, etc.

Now, you can get around this with some resource management (freezing tracks would be my first suggestion), not an issue, and for tracking, I have done 16 tracks on a dog laptop with no issues. But I just track, not concern on latency, no pluggins (maybe some light compression and EQ, fader levels), but it captured with no issues and no drops. Bumping up to an i5 if you can swing it, would be better, but you can do it with the i3, just requires a little planning and knowing how to get the most out of what you have.

Just so you have a full picture and understand some of the limits with the i3. Not talking you out of it, just making sure you are making an informed decision. :)
 
GtrGtrGtr said:
I have had a 1 TB HHD added to this unit along with the 240 SSD and upgrded the ram to 32 GB. It says 3 monitor ready . Anything else I should look into before I pull the trigger?

Intel i3-4370 Dual Core 3.8 GHz 16 GB DDR3 240GB SSD Win 7 Pro / without additions mentioned -Thanks to all who help on this site .
Its so nice to ask and then receive . Very active informative forum -Steve
Click to expand...

I bet you will be fine with this setup. Unless you can afford upgrade to i7 I wouldn't change much.

---------- Update ----------

DM60 said:
OK, the SSD will make a difference in overall performance, the i3 chip isn't bad, but let me give you some warning. If you start loading up a lot of plugins, you are going to have some performance problems. What probalems I cannot say since it depends on the pluggins, the host software, etc.

Now, you can get around this with some resource management (freezing tracks would be my first suggestion), not an issue, and for tracking, I have done 16 tracks on a dog laptop with no issues. But I just track, not concern on latency, no pluggins (maybe some light compression and EQ, fader levels), but it captured with no issues and no drops. Bumping up to an i5 if you can swing it, would be better, but you can do it with the i3, just requires a little planning and knowing how to get the most out of what you have.

Just so you have a full picture and understand some of the limits with the i3. Not talking you out of it, just making sure you are making an informed decision. :)
Click to expand...

Ditto...
 
GtrGtrGtr said:
I have had a 1 TB HHD added to this unit along with the 240 SSD and upgrded the ram to 32 GB. It says 3 monitor ready . Anything else I should look into before I pull the trigger?

Intel i3-4370 Dual Core 3.8 GHz 16 GB DDR3 240GB SSD Win 7 Pro / without additions mentioned -Thanks to all who help on this site .
Its so nice to ask and then receive . Very active informative forum -Steve
Click to expand...

No worries, Steve. Glad to help. :)
Unless there's some particular reason, there's no need to go to 32gb ram.
16gb is still overkill for most setups.

I know what DM is saying but i3/i5/i7 aren't good/better/best. There's overlap.
There are plenty i5 and i7 chips which are less powerful than the i3 you're looking at.
 
You should be good with the SSD and 1TB internal. Load windows and all your apps on the SSD. When you get Cubase loaded, direct it to save audio and project files to your 1TB drive.

I have a similar storage scheme as Steeno, though he runs Mac and I'm PC. I also have a third spinning disk solely for backing up the other drives.

You're going to love having multiple monitors. Most everyone here has at least two. Mine are stacked one over the other so I'm not swinging my head side to side.
 
Steenamaroo said:
No worries, Steve. Glad to help. :)
Unless there's some particular reason, there's no need to go to 32gb ram.
16gb is still overkill for most setups.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I had recent Ram failure/conflict and am down to 12GB with the missing cards. Actually the replacements are sitting next to me. Haven't installed because PC shows no need.
 
Chili said:
You should be good with the SSD and 1TB internal. Load windows and all your apps on the SSD. When you get Cubase loaded, direct it to save audio and project files to your 1TB drive.

I have a similar storage scheme as Steeno, though he runs Mac and I'm PC. I also have a third spinning disk solely for backing up the other drives.

You're going to love having multiple monitors. Most everyone here has at least two. Mine are stacked one over the other so I'm not swinging my head side to side.
Click to expand...

Then there is my freaky desires with well, 6 total. Only 3 are actually for Cubase. Thinking of adding another tho...
 
Steenamaroo said:
No worries, Steve. Glad to help. :)
I know what DM is saying but i3/i5/i7 aren't good/better/best. There's overlap.
There are plenty i5 and i7 chips which are less powerful than the i3 you're looking at.
Click to expand...

Yes, I am running with a 6 year old AMD chip and 8 gigs of RAM on my main computer. I have no issues but I understand the limits when I hit it. SSD did make it a lot snapper :D
 
Steenamaroo said:
No worries, Steve. Glad to help. :)
Unless there's some particular reason, there's no need to go to 32gb ram.
16gb is still overkill for most setups.

I know what DM is saying but i3/i5/i7 aren't good/better/best. There's overlap.
There are plenty i5 and i7 chips which are less powerful than the i3 you're looking at.
Click to expand...

I bumped SSD to 480GB and went to i5 but left the ram at 16 GBs - Thanks again guys-Steve
 
Last edited:
Steenamaroo said:
Do you need the extra space? If so, cool, but I'm just asking incase you think 480 will be faster/better stronger.
It's just bigger. ;)



Without a specific model number that i5 may be an upgrade, or a downgrade.
Do you have the chip number?
Click to expand...

Just got off the phone with the builder and his reply was that they use the same quality chip i3 or i5 and also told me Im making a good choice swapping 32 GB ram for the i5 as it will be a definite upgrade.
The 480 SSD was mentioned several times in this post and used with the 1 TB WD so I am not the guy to buy twice so better to have than to have not .

Thats it then , trigger pulled on i5/480SSD/1TB 7200 WD HHD/ 16GB ram/and added a few more 3.0 USBs/wireless also added Thanks guys ! Hope this will be a good start ... -Steve
 
What i5 is it they are installing? From memory there are only a couple versions that are 4 core. I could be wrong but hope you have all the details before investing.

Still not sure that the price difference in the main thing that could determine your PC abilities is not an issue here. It like $40 more for an i7 right? Maybe I got the math wrong...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top