Advice on tweaking an SSD for OS and C Pro 8?

Howdy,

I’ve just replaced my mechanical HD that was being used for Win 8.1 and all programs/Apps to an SSD. Loving the performance already.

Should I be making any tweaks to the SSD to minimise writes etc? I’ve heard of people moving “My Documents” to a seperate drive and noticed people have spoken of “Trim” but not sure what this is about. Or should I just leave it alone and Win 8.1 has set it up already?

Thanks for any help.

Jono

It is quite a complex matter. It would also depend on how many other drive possibilities you have and their tech specs. Further other software you will be running on your computer in connection with CB8. If you have “heavy” plugins like Kontakt and Omnisphere I would start by entering the disc management suggestions found on many forums and tutorials. I see you have Komplete at least so, start with the best way to structure that in the environment you have.

Thanks.

I have Komplete and other libraries on its own HD. All Projects read and write from its own HD. Now the OS/C Pro 8/Apps run from an SSD.

Hi Jono
Welcome to the super fast ssd world . i mainly keep a 120 gb drive for the OS and program installs and everything else has it’s own drive , that way when it comes to cloning the OS drive your not cloning everything else with it ,just the installed programs . Never had any issues , been running SSD’s for about 3 years now , i haven’t installed any other programs on the ssd for about 2 years ( only up dates ) so everything is still lean and fast .
Just remember you can’t defrag an SSD drive , if you try you will be in all sorts of trouble :wink:

I have a 1TB SSD and I can not say I experience much difference from the spinning disc. Perhaps a fraction shorter load time. But when loading Cubase it will run through the whole installations of plugs, and if they are many it will take time anyway. It is more a question of how Cubase addresses the start up.

Right. Do not Defrag an SSD. Thanks! I didn’t know that! This saves a lot of tears! Haha. How do I make sure Automatic Defragging doesn’t happen (if it does)? I am so impressed with how quick the SSD is. I am now going to save up for couple of 1TB SSDs for Sample Library Drives!

I got a new DAW recently with an SSD system disk, but I moved all my documents onto a separate a conventional HD. Love the fast boot time, but as noted above Cubase load time is about the same. Then I got an SSD for my sample libraries and that made a huge difference on loading them.

Yes, a sample library SSD drive (or two) is now high on the list for me to buy. Having just installed NI Komplete 10 Ultimate (a beast) on an External USB3 HD, I think searching through sounds using Kontrol would be sped up incredibly (obviously so would loading Sample Libraries without Kontrol).

My understanding is Windows 7 will disable defragging for an SSD automatically.

You asked about TRIM earlier, again that will be automatically setup.

Just enjoy the speedy boot times and responsiveness and relax about tuning it. :wink:

I do Disable the Windows Search service on the music computers. This makes searching for files slower which don’t matter for the purpose of these machines, so that it doesn’t run all the time, trying to keep track of files that are written to the disks.

Defrag has no purpose on SSD drives simply because there is no advantage to do it. This type of drive is mechanically, or rather technically, different and the time cost associated with fragmentation on mechanical drives does not apply.

I would also recommend, if it can be afforded, to get separate SSD for Media (for samples, presets, etc.) and yet another separate SSD for Projects (I make this drive the default for new projects). This makes rebuilding a machine, if necessary, easier (don’t happen to often anymore, but just in case).

It also makes it a bit faster because of the distribution load across drives, ROMpler streaming (e.g. HALion/Sonic factory content) and other vstsounds/vstpresets from the default installation C:, samples for custom sounds or other readonly access to recorded audio or presets on the M:, and the project specific (e.g. audio work folder) streaming from the P:.

I have to confess that I generally use more drives than this, but when I started with SSD drives, I thought this was a good starting configuration. It performs well for me and it keeps the organization of material in good condition, so I kept the general idea and just expanded on it (e.g. an L:\ keeps exceptionally long samples like environment recordings or videos, radio and TV material from the national archives, stuff like that).

I am man! I really am! Its wonderful! :slight_smile:

I’m already planning on getting 2 x 1tb SSDs for Sample Libraries. I wonder if putting them in Raid 0 will make the performance even better?

I thought it wasn’t a good idea to use an SSD as a drive for Projects? I read that there are only a limited number of writes and using to record audio can quickly kill the drive? Please tell me this isn’t so! If they can be used for recording onto them I will clearly get one for that purpose. Everything would be lightning quick (a pure luxury as mechanical drives have been working just fine haha).

Thanks for all the advice. Its very useful and much appreciated!

Jono

RAID SSD - probably not a lot of point but nothing stopping you really. Just be aware, one dies you lose the lot so back up regularly. This is true of hhd as well.

Limited number of writes - that is correct but the limit these days is very high, as in you’ll probably upgrade something before it is an issue.

In regards to RAID SSD some of you may find the following document interesting about bottlenecks on the RAID controller side

It’s from 2011. Some the of comments regarding “sustained random write performance” are both correct (it degrades) but also a little out of date. More recent SSD’s take time to internally move things around (so does TRIM) when they start to fill up. Effectively if you sustain a lot of writes and performance degrades you can let it sit “idle” for a couple of hours and try again and the performance will improve back to the usual standard.

I would put more weight to say 4x 250 GB drives, or something to that effect, rather than TB drives in RAID. Like robw said, it’s a lot to loose when drives go, and they will, just a matter of time. I also generates a bit of force on your organization of material, which in my case is a good thing. Finding needles in haystacks was never my thing. :wink:

This would also be much cheaper and if there are money constraints, the price difference would easily afford experimentation with for example drive swapping, for a speedier workflow between projects.

All storage medium does come with limits. The only way to find out if this would prohibit your way of doing things, is to try it or try to calculate it. I am doing fine with working on projects using SSD’s. This may not be true for everyone.

The Samsung EVO drives I mentioned have a nice “lifespan” (look for that title on the link).

I look at it this way, a traditional hard drive will fail, just a matter of time, as is the case with an SSD. The difference is that until it happens, the SSD is faster and more reliable. I keep a single 250 GB drive as a working drive for projects, and every so often I store off my project on other (alternate project or backup) drives.

One can argue for and against all day, and in the end one has to go ones own route, which depends on many factors. I can of course only speak from my own experience. From it I say, if you can afford it, try SSD! :slight_smile:

Regarding using an SSD for projects, in my opinion the main reason not to go that route is that you end up paying a premium for little or no gain. Awhile back I experimented with having the same project on both an SSD and traditional HD. As far as I could tell the performance, including startup time, was pretty much the same. Go with the cheaper HD for projects on the basis of cost vs. performance.

Remember once you have an SSD with some spare space on it you can always test specific things to see if the SSD offers any improvement. I found sample libraries - big yes; projects - meh.

Sounds like great Logic to me. I want to put Komplete 10 Ultimate onto its own SSD. It says its 440gb of uncompressed data but when I looked at the finished installation folder it was only around 240gb. I bring this up because I just wanna know what size SSD I should get. Do I need to leave headroom of empty space like a mechanical HD? Just wondering if a 500gb SSD would be a great choice or whether I should get a 1TB (and then install a few other libraries onto it)? Cheers for the advice. Saves so much money not buying the wrong thing! :slight_smile:

Jono

Well I’ve got Komplete 9 Ultimate with a few extra libraries - so not the same, but in the neighborhood. I put only the sample data on a 512GB SSD and it is taking up about 285GB, so I’ve still got a decent amount of space for more stuff. I also have a 1TB HD which has a bunch of misc. samples that aren’t in frequent use, so increased load time doesn’t matter much and I also have a copy of the NI libraries there for backup (plus of course the distribution HD).

Looking online at the cost of the same model of SSD in different capacities it seems that 2x 500GB costs a bit more than a single 1TB. However if you only need to start using the second half of the 1TB disk a couple of years from now I’d expect the cost of a second 500GB drive to have dropped a lot by then (plus improved quality).
So:
The cost of two 500GB drives now > cost of 1TB drive now (but not by much)
But:
The cost of one 500GB drive now + one 500GB drive in the future < 1TB drive now (probably)

If it were me, I’d go for the 500GB now and add another later if needed, which may never happen. If you got 500GB now and in a couple of months added an extra 500GB instead of going for the 1TB (oops) you’d still only be out $20 or so. But if you get 500GB and never need to add more, you’ve saved hundreds.

Jono, one other tip about moving the Kontakt samples. Right now you have them installed on an HD right? When you move them to an SSD you’ll of course need to reset the data paths inside of Kontakt. But after doing that rename (if you don’t delete) the folder on your HD with the old copies. If you don’t, then any projects you created before moving the libraries will get their samples off the HD and not the SSD. Renaming the folder will cause projects not to find the samples and you’ll get a dialog letting you point at their current location.

Since having to reset the paths on a bunch of old projects can get tedious, the sooner you get the SSD the less of those projects you’ll have (activate purchasing rationalization). :astonished:

There are many advantages to SSD, performance is only a single aspect. The price point can certainly be a factor for some, but that is subjective. However, the main point was simply that you can absolutely run your projects from an SSD drive. I use it because it certainly has not imposed negatively on me in any way. Others may chose not to do it. :slight_smile:

For anyone interested in a general comparison between the two, take a look on Wikipedia.