Question about harddrives

Richay13

New member
I know hard drives are one of the things people worry about the least however, I am going to be designing my first computer build soon. I will be using things like native instruments and keyscape, so its necassary that i get a harddrive that reads and writes fast (im assumung). And was wondering if instead of the nveme m2 as a boot drive and a big solid state as secondary. But what if i were to do that backwards. Lets say, a 2gb nvme as a secondary drive (to store the bigger harder to work programs and sound libraries) and a 512 ssd boot (for computer necessities and os). This seems like the most sense to me but maybe theres something im not getting.

Thank you in advance
 
Hi,
The big jump, for most audio work at least, is from spinning disks to pretty much any SSD.
Even an old SSD limited by a Sata II bus is still a huge leap over the best spinning disks.

How fast an NVME drive is depends on whether it's into a PCIE2/3/4 slot and how fast a regular SSD is (I guess you mean Sata here?) depends on whether it's Sata II or Sata III.
Either way your NVME is going to be a lot faster but in real world use for audio the difference is barely noticeable unless you're regularly moving files several gigs in size.

For reading sample libraries, booting up, opening applications etc, I'm not sure the difference would be noticeable.

If it was me I'd throw the possibility of two Sata III 2.5" SSDs into the mix then go shopping and let the cost decide.

PS: I have NVME Samsung 970 boot + storage, and Sata III Samsung 840 storage.
 
Hi,
The big jump, for most audio work at least, is from spinning disks to pretty much any SSD.
Even an old SSD limited by a Sata II bus is still a huge leap over the best spinning disks.

Yes, for sure...SSD drives are much faster. :thumbs up:

That said...to this day, I can't ever recall a spinning disk drive's speed ever being an issue with any DAW use.
The VSTi stuff that many people are doing, usually tasks either the RAM or mostly the CPU.
For reading/writing typical audio files from/to HD...a spinning disk rarely stops the show for anyone that I've ever heard, though I guess if someone has real old, spinning disk technology, it could create some issue, but more likely it would happen at some bottleneck in the computer, 'cuz chances are their computer is old too...but it would have to be real old stuff.

I'm still using spinning disks...WD Velociraptor drives...and I opt for smaller ones, 300GB, with multiple drives in my DAW tower, each dedicated for specific use.
If I was using a laptop for my DAW...then I would probably switch to SSD drives...keep things compact and all that. :)

I just did a quick search for the Velociraptor drives...and WOW, only $35 for a 300GB drive! :eek:
I may pick up few as spares or just for additional storage/archiving/etc.

Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive - Newegg.com
 
No you're right. Spinning media isn't likely to be a show stopper for regular reading/writing of files in the average audio session, unless we're talking about the cheapest 5400 laptop drives or whatever,
but OP mentions sound libraries where it really can be a huge deal.

Velociraptors were pretty impressive in their day but their day was a long time ago when SSDs were very expensive and unproven with regard to long term reliability.
Neither of those things is an issue now.

There's nothing wrong with them, of course, but there's no real reason to consider them over SSD in 2020 other than just liking what you know.

I'd have a good thorough search before buying - That drive was released in '08 and I'm not seeing any info on how long they manufactured them.
Most retailers seem to have them marked out of stock so I'd be curious how long Newegg have had those sitting on a shelf somewhere.
 
Hi,

How fast an NVME drive is depends on whether it's into a PCIE2/3/4 slot and how fast a regular SSD is (I guess you mean Sata here?) depends on whether it's Sata II or Sata III.
Either way your NVME is going to be a lot faster but in real world use for audio the difference is barely noticeable unless you're regularly moving files several gigs in size.

For reading sample libraries, booting up, opening applications etc, I'm not sure the difference would be noticeable.
thank you.

So are you saying all other drives run through the boot drive anyway? The original plan was to have a NVME M2 as my primary and SSD as my secondary. But wanted to make sure.

With everything else that I am reading. Do you think that combo wouldn't make that much of a difference if I had my secondary storage a mechanical spinning disk with an NVME leading the way?

(sorry for all the questions, ive been working with the worst of the worst computer equiptment, and about 2 years ago i switched from an old xp computer to a cheap refurbished one. i want a full desktop make over)
 
thank you.

So are you saying all other drives run through the boot drive anyway?

No problem.
No, I'm saying you're considering two different types of SSD but both are so fast that it probably doesn't really matter which way around you use them for and audio machine, even if large sample libraries are involved.

Personally I wouldn't use mechanical disks at all in a working audio machine these days. There's just no point unless, for some reason, you need quick access to terabytes upon terabytes of information.
Spinning disks, for me, are for putting on a shelf as long term backup or using in a NAS or something.
 
To me, using expensive M2 SSDs for the operating system and application files makes no sense, unless you are running a low RAM system. I mean, you'll have gobs of RAM, right? So, especially in a semi-dedicated use system, every bit of the OS & apps that are needed is probably already in RAM. If you are using lots of virtual memory, then, sure, having it on really fast access makes sense, but it's always better to just have enough RAM it never has to get swapped out. (I admit to being ignorant about how much RAM gets consumed loading VST libraries, etc.) Stuff that has to get pulled "at random" and quickly becomes unused, to be replaced by something else, etc. might benefit from super-fast SSDs, but even then, the OS is not going to kick stuff out of memory unless it needs to, if it's usage indicates it's just going to get pulled back in.

I use spinning media (on USB 3.0) because of $/TB, but will gladly switch to SSDs when my ship comes in. The spinners themselves have never, ever been a bottleneck on audio or video, but, admittedly, I'm not making Finding Nemo III here...
 
Anything that's in RAM was read from a disk which is why you'll see people talking about improvements in application loadings times more than operation once the app is up and running.
I often move large files around and benefit from the additional speed of the NVME there but asides from that I'd be perfectly happy on a SataIII, or even II, SSD system disk.
 
Anything that's in RAM was read from a disk which is why you'll see people talking about improvements in application loadings times more than operation once the app is up and running.
I often move large files around and benefit from the additional speed of the NVME there but asides from that I'd be perfectly happy on a SataIII, or even II, SSD system disk.
I do understand the loading time, but this is 2020, after all. I have a standard SSD in my old Mini and a "fusion drive" on the new[er] iMac. I can't say I sit here twiddling my thumbs waiting for apps to load on the Mini. I know M2 is blazingly fast, but always felt it was probably more of a gamer kind of thing, or maybe in the 192kHz realm of discussion when it came to Home Recording audio relevance. (Color me old and grumpy :))

P.S. You want to talk about slow, let me tell you about the 8" floppy disks I was writing drivers for in the early 1980s (on "mid" frames)...
 
Think you've maybe taken me up wrong?

My point to the OP was that the difference between Sata ssds + PCIe based ssds, for our general use, is going to be negligible.
Large file transfers aside I'd be perfectly happy on a sataII/III ssd system.
 
Think you've maybe taken me up wrong?

My point to the OP was that the difference between Sata ssds + PCIe based ssds, for our general use, is going to be negligible.
Large file transfers aside I'd be perfectly happy on a sataII/III ssd system.
No, I thought we agreed, but I was probably needlessly editorializing.
 
P.S. You want to talk about slow, let me tell you about the 8" floppy disks I was writing drivers for in the early 1980s (on "mid" frames)...

I was lucky, I never had to deal with the 8" disks, but I did have some really nifty 1" pink punch tape in the early 70s. 110 baud modems were the hot ticket! Put that teletype anywhere there was a phone.

Sometimes its hard for me to believe how much things have changed.

I would think that having as much RAM as the system will hold would be the way to go for using virtual instruments. The least amount of memory that needs to be swapped, even to an SSD, the better. Some of those virtual instrument files are pretty hefty.
 
Hi, I just built and in the process of moving everything from WIndows 8.1 pro over to the new Win 10 Pro build (10th Gen 10700K). Case and all. Here's my drives list. Including back up.
This build allows over 10 separate drives, but I'm not using them all, lol.
(Note the pcie slots usually negate one Sata6, some times 2 Sata6. Depends on your mother board. But for example, this Asus Maximus Hero XII, I'm using M.2 NVMe which shuts down the Sata6_2 connection. That's ok, no loss of a drive connection.
But if I use the 3rd pcie M.2 NVMe it actually shuts down both Sata6_5 and Sata6_6 slots. That's two sata6 connections used for 1 pcie M.2. (I'd rather have 2 SSD using both sata6 connections, than one pcie M.2 drive connection. That's a loss of 1 Sata6 connection) CHeck your boards capability ;)

But for the most part, once your OS and all Updates are installed (MB manufacture Drivers last) and stable, Do the Optimization process. Mac/PC Optimization Guides | Sweetwater


1TB M.2 NVMe SSD (At least 500GB SSD/M.2 for OS drive) (nothing but program installs, and updates)

1TB HHD with at least 7200rpm for Library

256GB SSD for song creation (Only)

2TB HHD 7200rpm for basic Local Storage


Extras
SSD for games


Backups

Consider back up. Some do it on larger Flash drives now, lol. Usually I use them for the current ongoing songs/projects, of the whole session.
We need 2 redundant back ups, in case a backup fails. Only one backup of a finished song session, and you lost it, lol...
I do the back up manually.
I use a Docking Station to back up on a 2TB 7200rpm drive, for local storage not connected to the computer all the time.
Then when full, on the shelf it goes, in antistatic wrap. (Remember discs go bad after years, but longer than tape)
The 2nd is online storage (off-site) Google, gives us 15GB free, as do others, and then there's plenty of paid services.


Heck,,, hope I didn't confuse things lol...
 
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