KVR Audio

twitewhite · Post by **twitewhite** » Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:37 pm

My hard drive on my laptop is getting full. Over the last few months, I've been constantly deleting and moving stuff around to make space for my work files and music stuffs, but this isn't a good long-term solution.

Eventually I will buy a new laptop, but my current laptop is still working fine aside from the full hard drive, so I was hoping to just buy an external hard drive to hold me over. I was thinking to buy an SSD and put all my music related files (VSTs, sample libraries, and audio recordings) on the external. Then when I buy the new laptop, I could use the same drive and not have to reauthorize everything yet again because its the same hard disk. Am I correct in this thinking?

Also, will there be any performance related issues I will have with this setup?

Thanks!

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:01 pm

Most things that need authorization will have to be re-authorized on a new machine. Putting sample libraries on external drives can slow things down and cause dropouts, etc. Depends on the sample library and usage.

I managed to get 3 x SSDs into my current laptop, and everything works smoothly. VSTs on the system drive, recordings & library on drive 2, and video projects on drive 3.

I previously was running external drives for sample libraries, but was constantly waiting for stuff to load, then not playing back reliably.

twitewhite · Post by **twitewhite** » Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:10 pm

thecontrolcentre wrote: ↑Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:01 pm Most things that need authorization will have to be re-authorized on a new machine. Putting sample libraries on external drives can slow things down and cause dropouts, etc. Depends on the sample library and usage.

I managed to get 3 x SSDs into my current laptop, and everything works smoothly. VSTs on the system drive, recordings & library on drive 2, and video projects on drive 3.

I previously was running external drives for sample libraries, but was constantly waiting for stuff to load, then not playing back reliably.

Actually now that I think about it and research it more (and your reply seems to validate it as well), seems I couldn't authorize to the external anyway. Such a shame if true, as I'd love to have a portable studio.

Wouldn't an SSD be fast enough to handle this sort of thing, or would I do better getting a 7200 RPM external? Generally the main samples I use are from BFD3 and AmpleSound guitars (and vocal WAV files), the rest is mostly either synths or modeled instruments like MODO Bass.

Or I could go plan B and back up all my work and other personal archives to the external.

Thanks again!

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:35 pm

No problem putting recordings, etc on external drives. But afaik the USB port is the data bottleneck, not the drive itself. It might work great, it might not.

Would it be possible to replace the drive in your current laptop, or add one to a CD bay or something?

Zombie Queen · Post by **Zombie Queen** » Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:37 pm

...and then spilling coffee on it. Seriously, putting everything on external drive in mobile situation seems risky. Wouldn't it be better to just replace laptop drive with a bigger one and clone the disc?

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Sat Jan 12, 2019 8:03 pm

The USB is probably not as fast as the internal connection. If it is, it is. I've streamed from USB where it was slower and eventually there was a tell. Not necessarily noticeable for lighter usage. I personally would not stream samples from a mechanical drive, the performance will be different enough to be a problem for me.

What I do is keep entertainment files, and copies of my own audio on an external drive which I do not use except for that and backup/archive.

Tj Shredder · Post by **Tj Shredder** » Thu Jan 31, 2019 6:27 pm

jancivil wrote: ↑Sat Jan 12, 2019 8:03 pm The USB is probably not as fast as the internal connection. If it is, it is.

I was just contemplating the same question and finally decided for an external 1 TB SSD via USB-3. To replace the internal of my Mac Pro would cost me around 500 € (thanks to fallen prices only...). The external I got for 140 €. I was on the fence for one of those LaCIe rugged as they have a Thunderbolt 2 connector. But when looking at the specs of USB 3 and compare that to Sata, the difference isn't big enough to consider a rugged LaCie (500 vs. 600 mb/s), as its considerably more expensive. I am now having an external SSD, which houses all my sample libraries and other sounds as well. This has the advantage, that when travelling, I can connect it to my MB Air and play them as well on the road...
So far I do not have any performance issues and I can happily wait for further dropping NVME ssd prices...
Via Thunderbolt or USB 3.1 connected NVME M.2 drives should be really fast, Sata is too slow for SSDs anyway...
These speeds we could only dream of a couple of years ago and wonderful music is still produced on 8 years old computers...

cleverr1 · Post by **cleverr1** » Thu Jan 31, 2019 8:31 pm

Worth asking if your laptop has a dvd drive - if so you could get a drive caddy to slot into there instead.

I use an old dell 6430 with a quad core. It has an ssd o/s drive and a 2tb 7200rpm in a drive caddy. It’s an old machine, but it performs really well without anything external running.

Of course if you were to throw more money at it you could stick a >2tb ssd in the caddy instead.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Thu Jan 31, 2019 10:19 pm

twitewhite wrote: ↑Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:10 pm Wouldn't an SSD be fast enough to handle this sort of thing, or would I do better getting a 7200 RPM external? Generally the main samples I use are from BFD3 and ...

BFD3 launches vastly slower on HDD, and this was true years ago when SSD was new, before the NVME connection was a thing.

I have a 7200RPM for backup, once I saw reports that a SSD can die and it does not warn you via the OS it's trying to die, I made that decision. I have a few things backed up with online storage but I don't want more bills to pay so it's this for now. AFAIC that's the single upside to HDD mechanical drives.

gejoreni · Post by **gejoreni** » Thu Jan 31, 2019 11:38 pm

I use a high speed ssd connected over usb 3.1C. I get about 500+ read and write speeds which seems to be fine. I'm on a mac and install all samples on the external - i've even set it up so many of the apps are running external. So far I've run into 0 problems. I record local and then back up. It's sort of my production drive I keep it glued to the back of my monitor LOL. here's the drive I use - super light and easy to move around - light enough you don't even need to put it on a desk - just let it hang. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078STRHBX/re ... uCbD04RHM6

Richard deHove · Post by **Richard deHove** » Thu Jan 31, 2019 11:47 pm

Until relatively recently I used to use a laptop with an SSD drive over plain USB3. All the VSTis were on the internal C: drive, but all song files, recordings, audio files and Kontakt libraries were on the SSD. It worked perfectly. Absolutely no issues with the drive and I was running some pretty audio-intensive projects. The only problem I had was the laptop CPU being pushed hard and the fan running at speed.

Bärtreuer · Post by **Bärtreuer** » Sat Feb 02, 2019 11:03 am

As mentioned, a USB 3 HDD with a SSD should work fine (as it here works with my Laptop for video editing).

crashemusic · Post by **crashemusic** » Sun Feb 03, 2019 12:39 am

I don't like working exclusively off an external personally. What I would do if possible is try to move things that aren't necessarily off the main drive to an external drive or a NAS. You'd want multiple backup options for data protection anyways.

twitewhite · Post by **twitewhite** » Sat Feb 16, 2019 4:00 pm

So far I just deleted and move some stuff off my hard drive to make room for my music. I'll probably buy a new computer this summer, so once I do, problem solved!

I do have backup hard drives but sometimes I forget to back things up lol

Putting Everything on an External Drive?