anybody using SSD drives for data/sessions?

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joninc
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anybody using SSD drives for data/sessions?

Post by joninc » Thu Jun 24, 2021 4:57 pm

I've been using a SSD for my main C drive (running OS and software) for a bunch of years now and am wondering if there's a noticeable improvement in performance on recording to them as well.

Prices are still high but it might be worth it if the difference was really noticeable...

(i'm trying to find ways to improve my PC performance until I have a window to build a get a new one and set up all my stuff on it - win10 64 bit 16 gb of RAM 4 internal drives)

Anybody?
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Re: anybody using SSD drives for data/sessions?

Post by Magnetic Services » Thu Jun 24, 2021 5:29 pm

Not sure what difference it makes during the actual recording, but your sessions will load SO much faster and so will any sample instruments you use.

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Re: anybody using SSD drives for data/sessions?

Post by alexdingley » Thu Jun 24, 2021 6:45 pm

Been doing it for years — it makes a huge positive difference. Never had an issue.

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Re: anybody using SSD drives for data/sessions?

Post by digitaldrummer » Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:41 am

I've been using an SSD for the past 5 years for sure (with Windows too). I use one for my C drive and I also store my active sessions on it (and yes, some believe you have to split OS and data, but that's a preference not a requirement). It has no problems keeping up with sessions (although most of mine are < 40 tracks). then I have a second (D drive) where I archive sessions that are not active, keep backups of software (Pro Tools, plugin installers, etc.). Recently I added another that I store samples on (although I don't use samples that often).

some additional notes about SSDs...

most SSDS have excellent read performance - so loading samples, loading sessions, even loading the OS will be very fast (compared to a spinning HDD)

write performance of SSDs can vary a lot. Most SSDs are still as good or better than a HDD, but this is where you may want to dig into specs. For the most part, sessions are large WAV files, which equates to large block sequential access. Most vendors will publish performance for 128K sequential read/write. however, if you have done a lot of edits, and not consolidated tracks, then you start getting into more small, random, I/O. Most vendors will usually publish 4K random read/write specs. This may not be exactly how your system behaves, but it can get you in the ballpark when looking at the specs.

SSDs are also not good for long term archival storage. If you are powering on the drive at least once a month, you should be fine. If you want it to sit on a shelf for a year or more, then you should find a different storage method -- HDD, blue ray, DVD, tape, etc.

SSDs can wear out - but HDD can too. you just don't see it in the specs for HDD, but many HDD crash or wear out every year (as some of us know). SSDs however are given a finite "wear" that is usually measured in "Terabytes Written (TBW)". So if you hit that TBW number, then you are at the expected end of life for that drive - although it may continue to function for some time after (or it may fail sooner). but you can monitor the drives wear with utilities like Smartmon Tools or some vendors provide a tool that will show you the percentage of the drive that has been used -- this is calculated from the lifetime TBW. For example I just randomly looked at a Samsung QVO 2TB drive and it has a TBW spec of 720 TBW. That's a LOT of data.

Also, when a HDD writes to a sector, over and over, its the exact same spot on the physical media (until it wears out and gets re-mapped). SSDs continually rotate a "sector" to different NAND cells. When a bit of data is deleted or erased, that "cell" is re-used for new data. So if you write the same block of data, it's actually writing to a different physical space in the NAND (flash memory) each time. That also mean when you have to write 720TB to wear out the disk mentioned above, you actually have to write 720TB. That can take a lot longer than you might think, especially in a DAW environment.
Last edited by digitaldrummer on Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:35 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: anybody using SSD drives for data/sessions?

Post by Magnetic Services » Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:01 am

digitaldrummer wrote:
Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:41 am
SSDs are also not good for long term archival storage. If you are powering on the drive at least once a month, you should be fine. If you want it to sit on a shelf for a year or more, then you should find a different storage method -- HDD, blue ray, DVD, tape, etc.
Really? I've never heard this. What makes them bad for long-term storage?

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Re: anybody using SSD drives for data/sessions?

Post by digitaldrummer » Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:43 am

Nand, or Flash has to be "refreshed" and over time can lose the contents of a cell. (i.e., bit rot). when the drive is powered on, it's running things in the background to take care of this. vendors typically specify 1 month or 3 months for "data retention" at end of life. I believe that is also a pretty conservative number. The numbers for retention "during the lifetime" are a little less clear. I've even had SSDs sitting on the shelf for a year and I have not noticed any issues, but they are not at end of life (meaning a small percentage of lifetime used), and also are at a room temperature. So YMMV. And to be fair magnetic disk and tape has a similar issue but it seems to take a lot longer to happen.

I do use SSDs for quick backups - but that means they are powered on fairly often (although that may not be long enough to complete the background refresh cycle of a large disk so leaving it on for a longer period of time once in awhile can help). I will use a HDD or other backup for something I expect to be sitting powered off longer.
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Re: anybody using SSD drives for data/sessions?

Post by Magnetic Services » Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:59 am

digitaldrummer wrote:
Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:43 am
Nand, or Flash has to be "refreshed" and over time can lose the contents of a cell. (i.e., bit rot). when the drive is powered on, it's running things in the background to take care of this. vendors typically specify 1 month or 3 months for "data retention" at end of life. I believe that is also a pretty conservative number. The numbers for retention "during the lifetime" are a little less clear. I've even had SSDs sitting on the shelf for a year and I have not noticed any issues, but they are not at end of life (meaning a small percentage of lifetime used), and also are at a room temperature. So YMMV. And to be fair magnetic disk and tape has a similar issue but it seems to take a lot longer to happen.

I do use SSDs for quick backups - but that means they are powered on fairly often (although that may not be long enough to complete the background refresh cycle of a large disk so leaving it on for a longer period of time once in awhile can help). I will use a HDD or other backup for something I expect to be sitting powered off longer.
Wow, it's kinda scary to think about how ephemeral our data really is. Anyway OP, don't let this prevent you from using SSDs in your computer, just use a different medium for long-term backups.

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Re: anybody using SSD drives for data/sessions?

Post by digitaldrummer » Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:36 pm

yeah I wouldn't be scared about SSDs any more than any other drive. And the speed benefits are huge. Just remember to always backup , which you should be doing regardless. You only need to backup anything that you don't want to lose. :lol: Every drive fails eventually. it's just a matter of time. That's why you should have at least 2 backup copies. AND periodically make sure that you can restore files from your backup (because it really sucks when you lose all of your data only to find out that both of your backups are f*ked too.)
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