# Hard drive configuration for new music PC (how many/what type)



## alligatorlizard (Oct 12, 2020)

I’m about to invest in a new music PC – my current one is all 7200rpm HDD’s (was built over ten years ago...), so looking forward to the upgrade to SDDs!

However just wanted to check what the recommended configuration for hard drives is these days – I’ve been doing some research, and it seems that it’s still good practice to have separate drives for system/audio/samples.

So I’m thinking an ideal configuration would be 3 drives:

1) 250gb SSD for system drive and programs
2) 1tb SSD for audio/project files
3) 2TB SDD for sample libraries (or possibly 4TB – need to do some calculations...)

Does this sound like a good plan?

Also, based on my research so far, it sounds like I’ll be fine with SATA SDD’s – however if I was to have one or more of the above drives be NVMe, which would benefit most from this? I’m guessing the drive that sample libraries stream from? Or is there any benefit to having the system drive be NVMe other than slightly faster start-up times?


----------



## SlHarder (Oct 12, 2020)

alligatorlizard said:


> 1) 250gb SSD for system drive and programs


I would suggest 512gb for system drive. And then plan to keep at least half of it empty. That will give you download space for any libraries that demand to download to primary drive before installing on secondary drives.

Many off the shelf systems are Nvme as primary.

Sata ssd have certainly been fast enough for me as secondary. Sata ssd will likely save you $$s. My system is Win10 pc.


----------



## JohnG (Oct 12, 2020)

I agree about the boot drive. I would rather have a 512GB 7200 than be stuck with only 256. It's just bound to be frustrating some day.

Personally, I've tried NVME and PCIe storage, which should be tons faster, but hard to tell if it has made any meaningful difference to my work flow. I have pretty much resigned myself to 512 buffers and, no matter how fast the drives, can't crack that level with a big cue.


----------



## mscp (Oct 12, 2020)

I agree with everyone else here. 250gb these days are not a whole lot. Start at 512gb if you can. I'd even go for 1tb (which I did actually).


----------



## Tim_Wells (Oct 12, 2020)

Ditto on the 250 GB main drive. I had one and ran out of room. Get 512 gigs.

For your samples, I'd get two 2-terabyte ssds. Or get one now and buy another later as the first one fills up. They are very easy to install. 

You pay a premium for a 4-terabyte drive. SSDs are quiet and use little power, so other than space, there's no meaningful downside to getting two or more smaller drives.


----------



## JLKooistra (Oct 12, 2020)

I got a 4Tb / Samsung 870 QVO @ 420 euro (Netherlands), don't consider that a premium. 
250Gb boot drive; only with some tinkering (folder redirection etc), else 512Gb +


----------



## alligatorlizard (Oct 13, 2020)

Thanks for all the replies - will definitely go for a larger system drive!

As for the other drives, will check prices, if multiple 2TB cheaper, then no problem - still need to calculate exact space required.

Sounds like I don't need to go out of my way to get NVMe, though if I find a build with one as standard I guess it's a bonus - and will anyway look for a motherboard with NVMe capacity in case it becomes significantly advantageous in the future.

Just out of interest, do people tend to connect NVMe SSD's via the PCIe slot, or via a M.2 connection? Is there any advantage to one method over the other? This is new tech since I last built a PC, so still trying to get my head around the different options...


----------



## SlHarder (Oct 13, 2020)

alligatorlizard said:


> still trying to get my head around the different options...


I know, i hadn't even paid attention to ssd until my hard drive packed it in last winter.

If you are looking at Dell, as an example, most basic systems will have a nvme on the motherboard as system drive, get at least 512gb.

You will have 3 sata ins available on motherb, ssds are physically small so fitting them is easy. With 3 sata cables and a couple of y power spltters you have room for 3 ssd. But if you wanted more ssd, because 1tbyte is still the price sweet spot, external usb c adapters get you as many as you want.

That describes my new Dell.

And I'd recommend not getting caught up in the nvme vs ssd speed threads. Coming from a hard drive you will find ssd so freaking fast.


----------



## alligatorlizard (Oct 14, 2020)

SlHarder said:


> I know, i hadn't even paid attention to ssd until my hard drive packed it in last winter.
> 
> If you are looking at Dell, as an example, most basic systems will have a nvme on the motherboard as system drive, get at least 512gb.
> 
> ...



Yes, I've also concluded that trying to figure out all the pros and cons on NVMe vs SATA SSD is likely to be detrimental to sanity!! Already have enough other specs to figure out... If I find a build with a NVMe system drive, so much the better, but if not, SATA SSD will do fine I think. Sounds like good advice re 1TB being the price sweet spot - in that case, I'll happily fit multiple 1TB drives for samples instead of one large, good to split things up as much as possible anyway as less to lose in case of drive failure (one of the reasons I'm replacing my old PC is a drive just failed...)

Re. the system drive though, I guess I'm safest with 500gb, but I checked my current computers, and on my current music PC have 85GB data on system drive - on my internet/gaming PC have 65gb - so surely 250gb will be fine, especially as I keep the music one soley for music?


----------



## SlHarder (Oct 14, 2020)

alligatorlizard said:


> so surely 250gb will be fine,


There are threads here that mention library installs which require the initial download destination be the primary drive. That caused users to have to free up space on primary temporarily, which can be a hassle.

Using Dell as example, website lists several starter desktop systems that come with 512 nvme system drive as standard. Hopefully the 512 will just fall into place when you start shopping.

My 8yo system was a high-end gamer pc with 1tb hardrive and 12gb ram, gasp! Now days the starter off shelf systems outperform that by a mile, and for less money.


----------



## vitocorleone123 (Oct 18, 2020)

I went with a 1tb nvme for Windows and everything else except samples/libraries. I then added 2 SSDs. Go with the biggest SSD(s) you can afford. If you have many many TB of samples, use the SSDs only for the libraries you use most. No, sample libraries don't need SSDs - but they use less power and are generally more reliable, etc. At that point you can start adding 10TB+ hard drives or add a good NAS for both backups and sample/library storage with large hard drives. 

My 1TB nvme has ~500GB on it. My 1TB SSD only for music related files (not including plugins, which are on the main drive) has 600GB on it. I have an older 512GB SSD I use for downloads and other misc short term stuff I added for the heck of it. I store a backup of all my few Kontakt libraries on one of my NAS, which also includes some libraries that aren't installed on my PC - that takes up a lot of space (I got tired of waiting for it to count the GBs).


----------



## fakemaxwell (Oct 18, 2020)

Get a 1TB NVME M.2 for your system drive, there's no reason to save a few dollars with SATA/250GB if you're going to use the computer for the next decade.

As for the rest- there's no benefit to split projects and samples onto separate SSDs. The only reason to not get bigger SSDs for everything is price. What I did in mine was to have an SSD for projects and most used samples, then another 8tb HDD for the rest of the samples that don't get a lot of use. 8TB SSDs are still pretty expensive, so it seemed the most economical.

Last thing- splitting up into multiple SSDs to prevent drive failure seems like a big waste of time and space. Just get a big HDD or two and a USB dock, back up your entire computer to it, and rest easy.


----------



## chimuelo (Oct 18, 2020)

89 bucks for a 1TB NVMe M.2 was @ Amazon on Prime Day.
Newegg had some for 99/119 too.

NVMe is great at loading samples quicker, but it’s streaming only comes in handy when writing GBs inside of your PC. Or if you archive videos, etc.

Haven’t verified this yet but the Intel 905P’s are super low latency, blazing fast transaction times, and extreme bandwidth.

Still waiting for a Hands On example as I am leery of yet another expensive claim, but if true I’ll grab a few of these.
PC in question is an AMD 3700XT/64GB’s/ 2 x 905P’s 480GB/970 Pro NVMe M.2.

Realtime performer who says loads don’t exist anymore with these 905P’s.
I’d get a pair of 480s as they aren’t expensive, but the 2/4TB models are insanely priced. They sell like crazy though so it obviously has an edge.


----------



## JohnG (Oct 18, 2020)

Hi @chimuelo 

I share your skepticism on the Optane drives, having bought a relatively small one.



chimuelo said:


> Haven’t verified this yet but the Intel 905P’s are super low latency, blazing fast transaction times, and extreme bandwidth.
> 
> Still waiting for a Hands On example as I am leery of yet another expensive claim, but if true I’ll grab a few of these.



I tried the Intel Optane 900P 480 GB Internal Solid State Drive - PCI Express - Plug-in Card

I put one on my "strings" PC and still was not able to reduce my buffer below 512. To be fair, it only holds the Spitfire Symphonic Strings so far, so it's not like I put everything on it, but I would not call 512 a barn burner.

The other specs: Windows 10, i9-9900K with a bit of overclocking, 64GB


----------



## chimuelo (Oct 18, 2020)

Benchmarks never impress me either.
If it loads samples faster than my NVMe M.2 I could use one.
I just don’t think we can do much better than current consumer devices.
Even the read optimized devices from Samsung haven’t made me jump in.

512 must be painful.
256 is as far as I can go, but still run @48k/128samples/2.6 Duplexxed.

Best To You & Yoyr Loved Ones.
JG


----------



## JohnG (Oct 18, 2020)

chimuelo said:


> Best To You & Yoyr Loved Ones.
> JG



you too, cousin



chimuelo said:


> 512 must be painful.



yes it is!


----------



## colony nofi (Oct 18, 2020)

Some observations - as someone who has both travelled extensive for projects, and has a multi-studios facility for composition + sound design

Separate projects off from samples / other software. Not for drives, but for management. Even if just a single studio, it makes backup / restore should something go wrong MUCH simper. 

Different data needs different backup strategies. Where as samples can probably be ok with just your main copy + a backup of all the libs or their installers (and if you have extremely fast internet, just access to the original downloads. Though note that companies go out of business / have different policies on downloading libs. We have many more than you'd expect from the last 15 years which are either no longer downloadable OR there's a barrier to downloading (like waiting for return email!). For deadlines, this is a a no go!

You project files need to be backed up twice. Once off site (or in the cloud). That goes for archived projects (and you just KNOW someone will call asking for changes to a piece of music you wrote 7 years ago)

Backups can be any old drive, but make sure you have documentation of what is backed up where, and how to retrieve it. 

We have always found that going for the largest SSD's we can helps us. It makes backup easier (and easier when I need to go on the road - see below)

One day, no matter what the size of your SSD for samples, you'll outgrow it. Have a plan for how that effects your working processes, and backups. I like to have all my samples in one volume, but thats just me. Keeping things in their own "pots" of data-space helps my headspace. Currently I have 8TB (2x4TB) for sample libs, and another 4TB for loops / wav files / vsti's other than kontakt/sine/spitfire etc

In our studios, we've gone between using single drives per project (great for simple projects) to shared storage through a NAS to now building out 10GBE and a shared SSD server for all project files and SFX, with all music libs belonging to their own rooms on local drives through blackmagic docks. This means I copy projects I need on the road onto to portable SSD's (Glyph 4TB) and throw sample drives into USB-C caddies as required.

Run the fastest NMVE drive you can get your hands on for OS. As mentioned here, 1TB seems to be the sweet spot these days for composition rigs. Having headroom is useful (not for speed, but for convenience)


----------



## alligatorlizard (Oct 20, 2020)

I will likely go for a 500gb NVMe M.2 system drive (Samsung 970). 

However, just for the sake of argument, I'm still not convinced I couldn't get by just as well with a 250gb SATA SSD:

1) In practice, only benefit of NVMe over SATA in this usage seems to be a few seconds quicker startup time (at best) and possibly very slightly quicker loadup of cubase.

2) If I only use to computer for music, and only install cubase plus plugins on system drive (all audio/samples/backups on other drives) - I don't see how I'm going to go much over 100gb?

Am I missing something?


----------



## Technostica (Oct 20, 2020)

alligatorlizard said:


> I will likely go for a 500gb NVMe M.2 system drive (Samsung 970).
> 
> However, just for the sake of argument, I'm still not convinced I couldn't get by just as well with a 250gb SATA SSD:
> 
> ...


Not really.


----------



## Polkasound (Oct 20, 2020)

alligatorlizard said:


> I don't see how I'm going to go much over 100gb?
> 
> Am I missing something?



In 2013, I built a Windows 7 PC using a 60GB system drive. Between Windows, all my programs and plugins, I never used more than 35GB of it. Earlier this year I built a new Windows 10 PC with a 250GB system drive. Between Windows, all my programs and plugins, I'm currently using 140GB of it.

A 250GB system drive will work fine, but somewhere down the road, you may run into a library installer that automatically downloads files to your system drive. This happened to me a few years ago when I was trying to download IK Multimedia SampleTank 3. The download kept failing and I couldn't figure out why. It turns out that the files were downloading to an obscure directory on my system drive without my knowledge, and maxing out the drive. When I discovered what the problem was, I was able to change the installation path, but it sure caused a headache.

Despite what happened a few years ago, I chose to go no bigger than 250GB for a system drive because I don't anticipate buying any more big libraries like SampleTank.


----------



## shponglefan (Oct 20, 2020)

I'm using a 256 GB OS drive and haven't run into any issues with downloads, installs or anything. I strictly use it just for the OS though.

Everything is as follows:

1 TB SSD - applications
4 TB SSD - main sample library drive
2 TB SSD - secondary sample library drive
4 TD HDD - scratch disk for misc files


----------



## daan1412 (Oct 20, 2020)

I've just received my new PC - went with 2 SSDs (Samsung EVO 970 M.2). 250 GB for Windows and 2 TB for music production. Additionally, I use an external 1.5 TB HDD. Perhaps having just 2 TB for music stuff seems kinda small, but I don't see myself filling it any time soon.

Right now, I'm at 166 GB free on the system drive. I won't install anything there (well, maybe some really small apps), so I don't expect to run out of space _that_ easily. This is my first day using it, so we'll see how it goes.


----------



## shponglefan (Oct 20, 2020)

daan1412 said:


> Perhaps having just 2 TB for music stuff seems kinda small, but I don't see myself filling it any time soon.



That's what I thought the first time I got a 2 TB. Then Black Friday happened...


----------



## topaz (Nov 21, 2021)

im going for 256gb system too. It’s good discipline to not install tons on a boot drive. I may eat my words


----------



## polyfonic (Nov 21, 2021)

You should definitely get at least 500 gb for system partition.
Or maybe get yourself a 2tb m.2.disk with 700gb for system and 1.3 tb for projects


----------

