SSD Performance Question

Discussion of Digital Performer use, optimization, tips and techniques on MacOS.

Moderator: James Steele

Forum rules
This forum is for most discussion related to the use and optimization of Digital Performer [MacOS] and plug-ins as well as tips and techniques. It is NOT for troubleshooting technical issues, complaints, feature requests, or "Comparative DAW 101."
Post Reply
Rusty Shackleford
Posts: 171
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Chicago

SSD Performance Question

Post by Rusty Shackleford »

Is there any speed or efficiency advantage to using two internal SATA SSD's in a Mac Pro for loading and streaming samples and VI's in DP (different orchestral sections on different drives, etc.) rather than having them all loaded on their own single SSD? Using 7200 RPM SATA drives I know it was better performance-wise to break up the samples across multiple drives but with the much faster SSD's I'm curious if doing so matters.
iMac 20,1 10-core, 3.6Ghz, OS10.15.7, 128GB RAM, DP 10.13, VEP7
User avatar
mikehalloran
Posts: 15769
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:08 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Sillie Con Valley

Re: SSD Performance Question

Post by mikehalloran »

No.

In fact, the 3G buss speed makes using two drives slower. Being audio, it’s unlikely that anyone will notice this in the real world. If you have 2 SSDs working fine, no reason to consolidate to 1 drive if that’s all you’re trying to accomplish.

All of this ‘better on 2 drives’ goes back to PATA on the G4 and earlier when it was a real thing involving single vs multi threading. With the low capacity, slow HHDs and 66/100 bus speeds of the day, yea, it made a difference.
DP 11.32; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.6.1, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3, Zoom F3 & UAC 232 32bit float recorder & interface; 2012 MBPs (x2) Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
User avatar
mikehalloran
Posts: 15769
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:08 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Sillie Con Valley

Re: SSD Performance Question

Post by mikehalloran »

In my case, I keep my VIs on a separate 2T drive because a 4T drive is over $1,300. Two great 2T SSDs is $1,000. Being faster on paper will not translate to better performance irl.
DP 11.32; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.6.1, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3, Zoom F3 & UAC 232 32bit float recorder & interface; 2012 MBPs (x2) Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
Rusty Shackleford
Posts: 171
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Chicago

Re: SSD Performance Question

Post by Rusty Shackleford »

mikehalloran wrote:In my case, I keep my VIs on a separate 2T drive because a 4T drive is over $1,300. Two great 2T SSDs is $1,000. Being faster on paper will not translate to better performance irl.
Thanks for your replies, Mike. How much performance increase do you notice having VI's on SSDs vs having them 7200 RPM SATA drives?
iMac 20,1 10-core, 3.6Ghz, OS10.15.7, 128GB RAM, DP 10.13, VEP7
User avatar
supersonic
Posts: 664
Joined: Sun Dec 26, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Poland
Contact:

Re: SSD Performance Question

Post by supersonic »

I use the Thunderbay Mini with 4 500GB SSD drives in RAID 0. I get over 1000MB/S this way but is this really any better? I've no clue. I haven't tried with the 4 of them separate with the libraries spread out.
Music is movement in silence
My day jon - http://www.audioplanet.pl
My other passion - http://www.aps-company.pl
frankf
Posts: 1133
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: SSD Performance Question

Post by frankf »

I’ve done some ssd speed tests on our MacPro 6,1 Trashcan internal 1TB factory v external 1 TB 6g OWC in an OWC TB dock using Blackmagic. The internal drive is always faster but the external SSDs are certainly fast enough for sample streaming and audio


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Frank Ferrucci
http://www.ferruccimusic.com
Mac Pro 6,1 64gb RAM DP9.52 OSX 10.12.6 MIO 2882d & ULN2d Firewire Audio Interfaces, MOTU MTP-AV USB
User avatar
supersonic
Posts: 664
Joined: Sun Dec 26, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Poland
Contact:

Re: SSD Performance Question

Post by supersonic »

frankf wrote:I’ve done some ssd speed tests on our MacPro 6,1 Trashcan internal 1TB factory v external 1 TB 6g OWC in an OWC TB dock using Blackmagic. The internal drive is always faster but the external SSDs are certainly fast enough for sample streaming and audio


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Even big orchestral libraries like the Hollywood, LASS, Spitfire etc?
Music is movement in silence
My day jon - http://www.audioplanet.pl
My other passion - http://www.aps-company.pl
User avatar
mikehalloran
Posts: 15769
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:08 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Sillie Con Valley

Re: SSD Performance Question

Post by mikehalloran »

Rusty Shackleford wrote:
mikehalloran wrote:In my case, I keep my VIs on a separate 2T drive because a 4T drive is over $1,300. Two great 2T SSDs is $1,000. Being faster on paper will not translate to better performance irl.
Thanks for your replies, Mike. How much performance increase do you notice having VI's on SSDs vs having them 7200 RPM SATA drives?
It depends. Bouncing etc. are notably faster. Streaming in real time, not really. File transfers and other tasks I’ve moved to the external, no question, there’s a large time savings.

My studio runs cooler having gone to SSDs for everything except Time Machine. Never going back.

For a 6.1 MP, HHD platter speed is your bottleneck unless multiple drives in a TB RAID 0 array. USB 3 is your next speed limit but you can’t hit it unless using an SSD. With TB, 6G is your limit for SSDs unless using multiples in a PCIe in a RAID 0 array. Be seated when you see the costs on those TB/PCIe extenders. You need fewer SSDs than HHDs to achieve the same speeds and SSDs will run much cooler with less fan noise.

What’s the benefit if your primary medium is audio? None that I know of. Commercial video is different—those users need the big guns.

My 2010 rig has a 3G SATA/eSATA limit. I’m good with it for now. A 2011 or later bumps me to 6G if I did nothing else. I’m looking at upgrading my 8 year old system to get more horsepower (cores) as I use more VIs. Speed is not my issue.

Your 6.1 has PCI speeds internally—OWC can bump this to 2 or 4T (not cheap). A single SSD in a TB dock gives you (theoretical) 6G transfer/streaming rate. A 2T WD Blue 3D or MX500 will set you back around $500 plus the cost of whatever TB dock you like. No need to go with the higher cost 850/860 EVO since it will never be your primary drive.
DP 11.32; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.6.1, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3, Zoom F3 & UAC 232 32bit float recorder & interface; 2012 MBPs (x2) Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
frankf
Posts: 1133
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: SSD Performance Question

Post by frankf »

supersonic wrote:
frankf wrote:I’ve done some ssd speed tests on our MacPro 6,1 Trashcan internal 1TB factory v external 1 TB 6g OWC in an OWC TB dock using Blackmagic. The internal drive is always faster but the external SSDs are certainly fast enough for sample streaming and audio


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Even big orchestral libraries like the Hollywood, LASS, Spitfire etc?
LASS full here


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Frank Ferrucci
http://www.ferruccimusic.com
Mac Pro 6,1 64gb RAM DP9.52 OSX 10.12.6 MIO 2882d & ULN2d Firewire Audio Interfaces, MOTU MTP-AV USB
User avatar
HCMarkus
Posts: 10090
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:01 am
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Rancho Bohemia, California
Contact:

Re: SSD Performance Question

Post by HCMarkus »

It should be pointed out that the internal SATA ports in 4,1 and 5,1 Mac Pros are SATA2, half as fast as the SATA3 interface current SATA SSDs ship with. Although the SATA3 drives are compatible with the Mac Pros's SATA sports, the potential for throttling does exist. It is my understanding that the max total combined throughput for all SATA ports is 600MB/sec on these Mac Pros.

In my rig, I have a bunch of SSDs. The newest, fastest ones (Samsung 850 and 860 EVO drives) are connected to a PCIe SATA3 card, an inexpensive one like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-E-Express- ... SwHUhaEMXT that maxes out at about 500MB/Sec due to it running at PCIe 1x slot speed.

No matter what they are attached to, all the SSDs work very well for audio, much faster than spinners. Like Mike, the only spinners I run now are Time Machine and Session Backup drives.
HC Markus
M1 Mac Studio Ultra • 64GB RAM • 828es • macOS 14.7 • DP 11.32
https://rbohemia.com
Post Reply