Hi,
I’m going to change my Nuendo projects HD (.npr/.wav data)…my Barracuda is slowely dying…
My hypotheses are:
I’ve always heard good things of the Caviar but I’m tempted by ES.3 for their cache size and performance tests.
Suggestions?
Thanx in advance!
If you really need performance, consider an SSD.
I upgraded my system and sample drives to SSD’s and the boost in performance has been fantastic.
Here is link to a review of SSD’s and the expected performance.
http://www.steinberg.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=38716
Even though you can use 6gb SATA drives on a 3gb SATA connection, the performance boost is still well worth it.
Once you’ve been there going back is not much of an option. I got a smallish SSD for a system drive, and use it as a scratch disk for working projects. The HDs are now pretty much for basic warehousing. Hope to replace at least a couple of them with nice big SSDs as onward we roll.
Chewy
Ok, thanx for replies!
I was strongly considering SSD…but price factor for (at least) 500GB SSD should be considered also 
So… I have to think realistically… and I go “back” to wonder: Seagate ES.3 or Caviar Black?? 
Anyone already using ES.3 for audio here??
Both the Seagate and the WD work just fine… and I’ve had to send examples of each back to the factory at least once. I have not experienced any real difference, performance-wise.
Not to harp on the value of SSDs (or… maybe that’s not entirely true), but just because they make such a huge difference: if cost is an issue, why not consider doing something along the lines of what I’m doing, and only keep a project or two (or three, or four) on the SSD at one time, and when they’re finished, move them off to the cheap stuff?
In my experience the performance enhancement has been well worth the cost, and I spent less than a hundred bucks on a drive more than adequate to that task. Of course, my projects are rarely, if ever, more than 20 gigs big.
No more evangelizing from me! Good luck…
Chewy
This is a good idea and I might try it. But do you really need an SSD for a project drive? I can see for OS or streaming samples, but I’ve never had an issue with SATA drives for projects.
Yes.
I keep my OS and projects on 2 separate SSD drives, and the increase in performance has been fantastic. Boot time is 45 sec. With the old drive it was 110 sec.
Projects and samples also load much faster.
Well… you don’t need separate SSDs for boot and project drives. A project won’t bottleneck with system activity. As described above, in my case I use the boot drive AS the project drive. But yes, writing and saving to an SSD is much, must faster, both system-wise and project-wise. My next SSD will likely be for sample streaming.
Chewy
I’d love to get an SSD drive for samples, but I have a TB of sfx, loops, instruments, etc. Maybe when the capacity grows.
On my new machine I did the following and it’s lightening fast:
System Drive OWC Pro SSD 240gig $280
Library Drive Seagate Hybrid SSD 1 TB $109.99
Song Drive Seagate Hybrid SSD 1 TB $109.99
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC
The hybrids are not quite as fast as the ssd’s but dramatically faster than a 7200rpm drive…best of both worlds at a great price
I was wondering about those hybrids, and how they work. I mean, I do drive a Prius… and don’t really understand it, but love the mileage. Is it sort of the same thing?
Those prices are pretty ridiculous. I’d seriously considering making one of them my library drive if it makes a big diff. Can you elaborate?
Chewy
I only know a little about them as well…it has an ssd cache on top of the regular HD that learns
here is a shootout video ssd vs hybrid ssd vs 7200rpm traditional HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gnm8bGFYvo
that got me sold and it delivered…especially at the price