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rave966
New member
What us a good option for ext hard drive to store large drum wav files, samples, Slate drums
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Bstrom
Member
iCloud or a PC cloud-based service is the best value for space-to-dollars.
On the desktop an SSD is more durable than an old school platter based hard drive
On the desktop an SSD is more durable than an old school platter based hard drive
Papanate
Well-known member
PC or Mac? 4tb SSD are about $500 - they are very good for storing Sample Sets.
PorterhouseMusic
Well-known member
How about four 1tb SSD's?
TalismanRich
Well-known member
After running 24/7 as a network server, I had my first hard drive go bad recently. A USB 2TB Western Digital Passport Ultra that ran for about 7 or 8 years, it started getting glitchy. I picked up a 4TB WD MyBook and managed to get about 95% of the data transferred. Most of what I didn't copy was an old backup of an ASUS drive that I have since updated to SSD, and still have the original drive, so no lost data there.
I haven't added the new drive to the network yet. I'll probably do that this weekend, then I'll need to map the drive to all the computers.
A 4TB USB spinner is about $150, so you could buy TWO of them for less than a single SSD, and have a full duplicate drive as backup. It won't be as fast, but do you really need that ultimate speed? You are loading the samples into memory anyway. I have drives that have run for over 10 years.
4TB is a LOT of data. I have multiple hours of HD video and audio files on a 4TB drive and it's not half full. The SSD5.5 library is 20GB so a 1TB drive could hold 50 copies of SSD5.5. A 256GB SSD would be more than enough room if you're just using it to store sample libraries, and they run about $50.
Also Slate recommends NOT using cloud storage for their samples.
I haven't added the new drive to the network yet. I'll probably do that this weekend, then I'll need to map the drive to all the computers.
1TB SSDs are about $150 to $200 a pop, so that's even more expensive than a single 4TB SSD.
A 4TB USB spinner is about $150, so you could buy TWO of them for less than a single SSD, and have a full duplicate drive as backup. It won't be as fast, but do you really need that ultimate speed? You are loading the samples into memory anyway. I have drives that have run for over 10 years.
4TB is a LOT of data. I have multiple hours of HD video and audio files on a 4TB drive and it's not half full. The SSD5.5 library is 20GB so a 1TB drive could hold 50 copies of SSD5.5. A 256GB SSD would be more than enough room if you're just using it to store sample libraries, and they run about $50.
Also Slate recommends NOT using cloud storage for their samples.
PorterhouseMusic
Well-known member
I hadn't done a cost comparison - but yeah that makes sense.
My thought was with one 4tb - if it fails the whole thing is toast? With several backups - which is what I've been doing - any one fails and I've got duplicates.
But yeah - cost is a legit factor. Certainly.
My thought was with one 4tb - if it fails the whole thing is toast? With several backups - which is what I've been doing - any one fails and I've got duplicates.
But yeah - cost is a legit factor. Certainly.
Slouching Raymond
Well-known member
I use Samsung T7 1TB drives. One for holding files, and a second to back up to. They are pretty fast over usb C.
Steenamaroo
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You've got some good info there.
I'd footnote it by saying don't buy *anything* where the contents are left to the imagination.
Only buy if you can see the manufacturer name and model of the drive (not the caddy, if there is one),
and can verify that it's something reliable and trustworthy, like WesternDigital, Seagate or Samsung, etc.
There are so many scam devices out there with the equivalent of an SD card on a board inside, or modded firmware to report larger capacity than is true.
I still just buy 2.5" SSDs from the likes of Kingston and Crucial, and just use a USBC to Sata adapter,
because they're reasonably cheap and more than fast enough for the kind of thing you're describing.
I'd footnote it by saying don't buy *anything* where the contents are left to the imagination.
Only buy if you can see the manufacturer name and model of the drive (not the caddy, if there is one),
and can verify that it's something reliable and trustworthy, like WesternDigital, Seagate or Samsung, etc.
There are so many scam devices out there with the equivalent of an SD card on a board inside, or modded firmware to report larger capacity than is true.
I still just buy 2.5" SSDs from the likes of Kingston and Crucial, and just use a USBC to Sata adapter,
because they're reasonably cheap and more than fast enough for the kind of thing you're describing.
rob aylestone
Moderator
My drives are a mess - I have a 4 bay unit that is just storage, and I have a NAS drive - crucial stuff goes on that, and I can access it from my video studio in the office too - at home audio from it is fine, I need to download and re-store in the office. I bought some spitfire audio products and they come on an SSD if you want it, at a modest cost. They say it's for delivery only, not to be used as permanent storage, but that is a 1Tb drive and samples actually stream from it fine, so I do use it!
However - for video with huge file sizes, I bought a Blackmagic recorder that uses hotswapable ordinary SSD drives. I got some rangxiang 256Gb S101 drives on amazon because I'm cheap. The notion of using them plugging straight in seemed weird, but they have been brilliant. I think I have seen a hardware box with a few sockets for general computer use, but I am totally sold on plugging drives in. The hyperdeck was so good, I bought another. At home I've got so many drives, and no labels, so made the mistake of not saying what they are!
However - for video with huge file sizes, I bought a Blackmagic recorder that uses hotswapable ordinary SSD drives. I got some rangxiang 256Gb S101 drives on amazon because I'm cheap. The notion of using them plugging straight in seemed weird, but they have been brilliant. I think I have seen a hardware box with a few sockets for general computer use, but I am totally sold on plugging drives in. The hyperdeck was so good, I bought another. At home I've got so many drives, and no labels, so made the mistake of not saying what they are!
TalismanRich
Well-known member
Hey Steen, did you see that Micron/Crucial is exiting the retail business as of February 2026? They are getting so much business from the AI data centers, they can't support the consumer market.
I've been using Micron memory for years. When I upgraded my Lenovo desktop a couple of years ago, I tried some memory from a different company, but it wouldn't boot. I even had them send a replacement stick but that didn't work either. A stick of Crucial went in and everything fired right up. Same spec, but different result.
My SSDs have been Samsung and Crucial, although lately I've gotten a couple of TeamGroup Vulcan SSDs which seem to be doing ok. I just used them to upgrade some old computers, not for anything important. Win XP runs great with 4GB and a 500GB SSD!
Papanate
Well-known member
The Price? Between $150 and $275. To me I TB is too small.
Steenamaroo
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Very much depends on your personal needs and usage.
OP mentioned a 20GB library, describing it as 'large'.
If that's the case I'd bet a 256 or maybe even 128 would be enough for their task but, OP, maybe you could expand a little?
Decent rule of thumb might be to estimate your absolute max usage then double it for comfort.
@TalismanRich - Yeah, lol, I've been following that.
I had a similar experience. A lot of oem machines don't support XMP which takes a lot of ram off the table, I think.
I hear Altman signed letters of intent for some crazy % of global supply with two separate companies,
then backed out.
OP mentioned a 20GB library, describing it as 'large'.
If that's the case I'd bet a 256 or maybe even 128 would be enough for their task but, OP, maybe you could expand a little?
Decent rule of thumb might be to estimate your absolute max usage then double it for comfort.
@TalismanRich - Yeah, lol, I've been following that.
I had a similar experience. A lot of oem machines don't support XMP which takes a lot of ram off the table, I think.
I hear Altman signed letters of intent for some crazy % of global supply with two separate companies,
then backed out.
rob aylestone
Moderator
I just bought a new package - download size 50Gb! 45 Gb on my sample drive, so yet another drive added......... it goes on and on.
TalismanRich
Well-known member
Hopefully the OP will stop by again and get all this good information we've provided!!!
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R D Smith
It's as good as it is, for as long as it lasts.
Holy crap, I just looked up new SSD prices and can't believe it. This is an order from march 2023. I bought two of the 870's, one for a backup drive and one an extra drive in my work station. The 970 was to take my Dell laptop from 500GB to 2 TB.
Now the 870 is $676. Glad I bought two when they were cheap.
2
SAMSUNG Electronics 870 EVO 2TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-77E2T0B/AM)
Sold by: Amazon.com
$149.99
Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 2TB NVMe M.2 Internal Solid State Hard Drive, V-NAND Technology, Storage and Memory Expansion for Gaming, Graphics w/ Heat Control, Max Speed, MZ-V7S2T0B/AM
Sold by: Amazon.com
$129.99
Now the 870 is $676. Glad I bought two when they were cheap.
2
SAMSUNG Electronics 870 EVO 2TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-77E2T0B/AM)
Sold by: Amazon.com
$149.99
Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 2TB NVMe M.2 Internal Solid State Hard Drive, V-NAND Technology, Storage and Memory Expansion for Gaming, Graphics w/ Heat Control, Max Speed, MZ-V7S2T0B/AM
Sold by: Amazon.com
$129.99
TalismanRich
Well-known member
You can thank Google, OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft and the rest for needing untold Petabytes of memory storage!
Remember your 48 kilobyte Apple ][+ with a 140KB Disk 2 floppy? Wait... a Disk 2 cost $600 back then. I guess we still have room to go!
Remember your 48 kilobyte Apple ][+ with a 140KB Disk 2 floppy? Wait... a Disk 2 cost $600 back then. I guess we still have room to go!
Steenamaroo
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Yeah, it's pretty rough!
I bought 32gb ddr4 for £65 and a 1TB 990 for £87 a little over a year ago.
That'll cost you £260 and £195 right now.
That's right - £152 spent then would be £455 right now.
I bought 32gb ddr4 for £65 and a 1TB 990 for £87 a little over a year ago.
That'll cost you £260 and £195 right now.
That's right - £152 spent then would be £455 right now.
