Hi,
Setting up a new PC, thinking about what the best configuration and types are for the disk drives?
I have put my idea into logical groups below, but I can only put 6 drives into the PC max.
- Operating System Drive - Pro 850 500GB SSD
Program Drive
Sample Drive 1
Sample Drive 2
VST (Instruments) Drive
VST (Effects) Drive
Projects Drive
Windows Paging File Drive
So first off, should I keep the o/s separate from the programs drive?
I’m looking here to find the best physical configuration that I can fit those groups in - without using a logical partition.
My thinking on the two sample drives is, if a project is using a lot of samples via different VST instruments, would it not be better to spread the disk load, and therefore avoid any potential bottleneck?
I prefer to have my projects on a separate drive. That way, audio data that is local to the project folder is read from one disk, and any samples from a library from another disk, again avoiding any bottlenecks.
With the paging file, Windows (v7 64-bit pro) and certain applications will make use of the paging file, even if you have lots of RAM installed. I have 32GB installed. I would prefer to keep this on a separate disk, and am considering a modest size SSD just for the paging file. I’d still keep a small paging file on the system drive for any potential crash dumps etc .Any thoughts on this?
I have put the VST Effects in a group on its own above. But I am thinking that these could go with the Programs or o/s drive, as, if I am not mistaken, most VST effect plug-in are simply loaded into RAM, so there would be no extra disk workload for them on playback or mix-down/export ?
I am wondering about going SSD for all the drives. Any thoughts on this?
I was also thinking, would I be creating any other bottlenecks by separating things onto so many different disks? That is, for example, would it be faster reading and getting audio data from 2 separate SSDs than 1 SSD?
So those are my thoughts. I’d welcome any suggestions, help or advice on this. Thanks.