SSD Drive for OS or Audio ?|

[cinealta]

An SSD is best for reading only (eg OS, programs etc). Don't use it as a digital audio drive, or scratch disk, because it will slow down with constant writing.

[solidstate]

Originally Posted by cinealta

An SSD is best for reading only (eg OS, programs etc). Don't use it as a digital audio drive, or scratch disk, because it will slow down with constant writing.

With all due respect this is just plain wrong. SSD are wastly superior in every aspect, including writing. Numbers don't lie.. but if you must try to make your computer 'sleep' with a 50+ tracks session, wake it up and press play with an HDD:-)

[Lion73]

Buy it. It will run fine I have been using 2 ssd's in my system for a year now, one is used as system drive and the other as my current projects drive and audio scratch, it is perfect and the performance increase is substantial I cannot remember the last time I had a "disk access" warning.

I run 2 library drives that are standard hdd because all they do is serve up my samples to the current project and do not need to be quick. I own an audio post studio so my work has to be archived properly I back up all my projects on a weekly basis to a local hdd and then all the projects from the edit suites included are backed up on our network.

If you are worried about the lifespan you could adopt a similar approach and have a library hdd drive that you could backup to and pull samples from.

Cheers

[Norrie]

Thanks for the reply's guy !

I have noticed out some SSD Drives have cache and others dont..... Do I need cache on a SSD ?

Out of the 2 drives I linked what would you say is the best bang for the buck ?

I am really not sure what secs I should be looking at any help would be great

Thanks again

Norrie

[chk23]

Originally Posted by solidstate

With all due respect this is just plain wrong. SSD are wastly superior in every aspect, including writing. Numbers don't lie.. but if you must try to make your computer 'sleep' with a 50+ tracks session, wake it up and press play with an HDD:-)

They are superior in access time basically. What you need for recording and playback is transfer rate though - although most SSDs (at least the better ones) are superior in that, too, you can get close to that speed with a RAID HDD setup, and get much more value for the money (especially if you have 16+ Gig RAM for caching). I use a 128GB SSD (Sandisk Extreme) for OS and main applications and a 2TB Raid setup for Instruments and Projects. Never ever even got close to a "disc access" warning, on the contrary, Cubases disk-level meter stays constantly at zero.

[philait]

Norrie, I've just last week installed the 'slower' Agility 4 in 512gb size in my macbook pro. The speed difference is incredible! fro pressing the power button to logon screen is 10 seconds. I've had no issues so far and am very impressed with the OCZ drive.

[JC Wolf]

The OCZ Vertex 4 (with the latest firmware) would be my choice, if I was in the market right now. For one, it's the Agility's big brother (and in this case 1 generation ahead) and performance wise shows specs. that are pretty hard to beat. It's (Vertex 4) also backed by a 5 year warranty versus 3 years for the Agility 3.

The Intel 520 series is also to be considered. They have similar specs. and warranty although I give a slight edge to the Vertex 4 in the performance category. The big difference worth mentioning is the cost. Intel's SSDs are still more expensive but they do have the reputation of being more reliable.

With both offering a 5 year warranty, I think this point is moot, IMHO.

[Norrie]

Thanks for the reply's guys

I think I will go for the Agility 4 with 5 year warranty.

Can any one tell me what would be the best way to set up the drives.

Would it be SSD = OS + DAW + plugins or would I put the plugins on another drive ?
Then my other drives for Audio and another for Samples ?

[Arksun]

I still dont feel I can trust an SSD for audio use just yet, I have big question marks over their longevity still and they just haven't been around long enough to form a good enough opinion yet. I'd prefer to use it for either the OS drive, or for fixed large sample libraries to store on.

If I was to buy an SSD drive now I'd prob go for either Intel or Samsung.

[chk23]

Originally Posted by Norrie

Thanks for the reply's guys

I think I will go for the Agility 4 with 5 year warranty.

Can any one tell me what would be the best way to set up the drives.

Would it be SSD = OS + DAW + plugins or would I put the plugins on another drive ?
Then my other drives for Audio and another for Samples ?

I would put the plugins on the same drive as the DAW, provided you have enough space left.

[Masaaki]

Originally Posted by Arksun

I still dont feel I can trust an SSD for audio use just yet, I have big question marks over their longevity still and they just haven't been around long enough to form a good enough opinion yet. I'd prefer to use it for either the OS drive, or for fixed large sample libraries to store on.

If I was to buy an SSD drive now I'd prob go for either Intel or Samsung.

I have a same feeling, but I just bought 9th SSD, which claims 2,000,000 hours MTBF. That's actually almost 230 years.......I know, they don't test their drives for 230 years, but just come out with those numbers after statistical data. Do I really know longevity between SSD and HDD, buying just 20 or 30 of them? I don't think so. So, I just go ahead, and make redundant backups (mostly using external HDDs, and NAS RAID).

[philait]

Originally Posted by chk23

I would put the plugins on the same drive as the DAW, provided you have enough space left.

Agreed!

Just to put some real world balance here this makes interesting reading.
SSD Write Endurance 25nm Vs 34nm
It's up to 5000 posts but in summary the first drive to fail was a Samsumg.. However this was after

So that 478.037 TiB comes to 525.607 TB (I prefer TB to TiB). That is equal to 8212 times writing the 64GB capacity of the drive. Which is equivalent to writing the entire 64GB capacity of the drive, every day, for 22 years. Or to writing 287GB every day for 5 years.

Thats good enough I think. Of course we all keep regular backups incase of failure anyway don't we?

[jg42]

I've got 2 SSDs - one for system, the other is for VI data (samples)

[Norrie]

Thanks guys I think the plan of attack then for the SSD will be for OS Sonar and all plugins. Then a Audio drive and then my sample drive.

Would I be best putting all the samples from any drum VST's on the SSD or keep them on the sample drive ? Would I notice much of a difference having them on a SSD ?

[chk23]

Originally Posted by Norrie

Thanks guys I think the plan of attack then for the SSD will be for OS Sonar and all plugins. Then a Audio drive and then my sample drive.

Would I be best putting all the samples from any drum VST's on the SSD or keep them on the sample drive ? Would I notice much of a difference having them on a SSD ?

I don't think you would, except you're changing drum sets all the time. I use Superior 2, mostly with the two biggest sets "roots sticks" and "metal foundry", both between 2 and 3 gig. They take some seconds to load on startup with my RAID HDDs, but i won't pay eight times the money for the extra two or three seconds an ssd would give me.

[Norrie]

Originally Posted by chk23

I don't think you would, except you're changing drum sets all the time. I use Superior 2, mostly with the two biggest sets "roots sticks" and "metal foundry", both between 2 and 3 gig. They take some seconds to load on startup with my RAID HDDs, but i won't pay eight times the money for the extra two or three seconds an ssd would give me.

I find Steven Slate Drums 4 loads kits in just a few seconds on my system so I think you are right and I would be best putting the samples on my sample drive

[fireberd]

I just built a new system and used an OCZ Vertex 4, 128GB SSD. I have Windows 7 and my recording software (Sonar X1, Melodyne, Ozone 5, etc) on the SSD. Everything else is on a 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive (including the Sonar projects).

However, I built my system before I saw a post on the Sonar forum by Scott at ADK on the poor reliability and customer service at OCZ. He recommends Intel SSD's.

[Norrie]

Hi Guys well I decided to pull the trigger on a SSD and I will order tomorrow.

I am trying to pick between a few...... here are the links

OCZ Vertex 4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (VTX4-25SAT3-256G) - With FREE BattleField 3 PC (Retail) [VTX4-25SAT3-256G]

OCZ Agility 4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (AGT4-25SAT3-256G) - With FREE Mass Effect 3 PC (Retail) [AGT4-25SAT3-256G]

OCZ Agility 3 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-240G) [AGT3-25SAT3-240G]

I don't know enough about the SSD drives to know what is best or if there is anyting that would cause a problem with Audio systems.

If any one could tell me what they would pick and why I would really appreciate it

Norrie

[Masaaki]

Crucial M4 lines have been mentioned by many people here, and I would trust that information. I have personally OCZ vertex 3, and it's been working just great, but heard a lot about troubles with OCZ SSDs, particularly Agility lines.

So, if the price is comparable, I would choose either Crucial M4 or OCZ Vertex 4.

[Norrie]

Originally Posted by Masaaki

Crucial M4 lines have been mentioned by many people here, and I would trust that information. I have personally OCZ vertex 3, and it's been working just great, but heard a lot about troubles with OCZ SSDs, particularly Agility lines.

So, if the price is comparable, I would choose either Crucial M4 or OCZ Vertex 4.

I will look into the Crucial M4

I like the look and the price of the Vertex 4 do you know what is better the Vertex 4 or the Agility 4.... I cant see much of a difference from the specs ?

I also don't see any mention of cache in the drives is that a issue... is it needed ?

Thank you for your help

[TNM]

I have ssd for OS, and two thunderbolt for samples and data (ableton library, reason refills, etc)

I guess i have never done a project with more than 64 audio tracks and can't see the 2tb 7200 internal sata drive in the imac ever having a problem with (at maximum if ever) 64 tracks.
That said, the general speed of the OS and *loading* libraries and sounds is amazing in comparison to "pre ssd" days.

And these are what are considered "slower ssds'. I can only imagine the top end stuff.. it would be mindblowing!

[PMoshay]

I just put a Sandisk 256 in my Mac Pro....... fantastic.
Here's some bench tests on my SSD drives in my iMac (2010) and latest Macbook Pro Retina...... the others are FW800 & SSD in a USB 3.0 small case.....
All results are based on using protools........ i use Protools HD10 OSX 10.7.4...... the SSD drives work fantastic in all instances, but i do not record to them as yet, just playback....... i will test that at some point.
I used X-Bench to test
The Oyen FW800 is a 7200rpm drive
The 4 TB is a LaCie 4TB Thunderbolt Raid
The hd2 imac is a internal 7200rpm drive
all others are SSD's either internal or in USB 3.0 cases