# SSD vs HDD - what am I missing here?



## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

Hi all,

I'm just now realizing that my external drive is in fact an HDD rather than SSD - the Seagate Backup Plus Portable to be specific. I'm not knowledgable on the difference between hard drives so I just assumed that HDD and SSD were essentially the same thing. However, I've recently heard that for sample use SSDs are much better. But why?

My 5TB HDD has given me no problems and has enough space to store all of my libraries so far. Sure, there are some longer loading times for 8dio and Spitfire products but nothing drastic. Everything else runs smoothly, so what's the fuss aside from faster load times with SSDs? Am I missing something?


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## easyrider (Nov 26, 2020)

Speed....


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## newbreednet (Nov 26, 2020)

There are some Operating System reasons why having an SSD as a boot drive makes for a smoother general computing experience however for straightforward external sample storage, basically it boils down you how patient you are!


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## kC_ (Nov 26, 2020)

much faster read/write speed times/lower power consumption/smaller/silent

HDD is a spinning mechanical device
SSD is a solid state memory device

SSD makes a massive difference to your OS drive, windows will boot in 10 seconds vs 40+
applications are more instant to open etc...

I use SSD for my OS/Applications & Normal HDD for my Audio/Samples etc (because a 8tb SSD would cost too much for it to be worth it for me)


on my laptop its SSD for field recording, then transfer that to my main PC HDD drive for mixing etc

in laptops, if you are recording really loud bands, the vibrations can affect 2.5" laptop HDD drives and cause dropouts so SSD should be used


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

easyrider said:


> Speed....


As in booting up projects, apps, loading samples, etc.?


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## easyrider (Nov 26, 2020)

Boot
load times
read 
write


everything...


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

easyrider said:


> Boot
> load times
> read
> write
> ...


Any specific external SSD's you recommend?


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## easyrider (Nov 26, 2020)

Jacob Fanto said:


> Any specific external SSD's you recommend?



I take it you are using a laptop?


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

easyrider said:


> I take it you are using a laptop?


No, newest model iMac.


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## easyrider (Nov 26, 2020)

Jacob Fanto said:


> No, newest model iMac.



What connections does it have for external drives..?


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

easyrider said:


> What connections does it have for external drives..?


USB?


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## easyrider (Nov 26, 2020)

Jacob Fanto said:


> USB?



No thunderbolt? USB C?


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

easyrider said:


> No thunderbolt? USB C?


Nope, just typical USB-A


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## easyrider (Nov 26, 2020)

Jacob Fanto said:


> Nope, just typical USB-A



latest iMac says...

3.5mm headphone jack

SDXC card slot

Four USB-A ports

Two Thunderbolt 3 (USB‑C) ports with support for:




DisplayPort
Thunderbolt (up to 40Gb/s)
USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
Thunderbolt 2, HDMI, DVI and VGA supported using adapters (sold separately)


10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ‑45 connector)

Kensington lock slot


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## kC_ (Nov 26, 2020)

usb-A is limited to something silly like 60 megabytes per second (MBps) so wint make much use of the extra speeds, if you can get usb-c


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

easyrider said:


> latest iMac says...
> 
> 3.5mm headphone jack
> 
> ...


Oh yes my bad, I do have two USB-C ports on my iMac.


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## easyrider (Nov 26, 2020)

Jacob Fanto said:


> Oh yes my bad, I do have two USB-C ports on my iMac.



Then get an SSD and a USB C caddy....


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

easyrider said:


> Then get an SSD and a USB C caddy....


What is the USB caddy used for? Bear with me lol


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## easyrider (Nov 26, 2020)

Jacob Fanto said:


> What is the USB caddy used for? Bear with me lol



To put the SSD in....


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

Why would something like this need a caddy?


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## easyrider (Nov 26, 2020)

Jacob Fanto said:


> Why would something like this need a caddy?




link doesn’t work


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## iggyigoe (Nov 26, 2020)

Get this caddy...


And get two of these SSD's


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

easyrider said:


> link doesn’t work


Hmm I don't know, it's working on my end.


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## easyrider (Nov 26, 2020)

Jacob Fanto said:


> Hmm I don't know, it's working on my end.



nothing happens when I click on the amazon logo


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

easyrider said:


> nothing happens when I click on the amazon logo




Any luck?


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## easyrider (Nov 26, 2020)

Jacob Fanto said:


> Any luck?




Nada..


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

easyrider said:


> Nada..
> 
> I’ll do it



Right so my question is how does this use a caddy? Doesn't it plug right into the USB 3.0?


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## easyrider (Nov 26, 2020)

Jacob Fanto said:


> Right so my question is how does this use a caddy? Doesn't it plug right into the USB 3.0?



that is an external ssd....you get more storage for less money getting an SSD and a caddy separate...


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

easyrider said:


> that is an external ssd....you get more storage for less money getting an SSD and a caddy separate...


I see! Thanks for your help! What's the difference between a mount and a caddy?


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## iggyigoe (Nov 26, 2020)

A mount is like a bracket that fixes to an internal SSD, then you slot that bracket with the attached SSD into somewhere like a Caddy.. Most Caddy's don't need these mounts, you just slot the SSD straight into the Caddy..
If I was you with a latest iMac, I'd look at a hard drive bay with thunderbolt 3 connections.. You can insert 4/5 SSD's and they'll all show up using one very fast port..


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

iggyigoe said:


> A mount is like a bracket that fixes to an internal SSD, then you slot that bracket with the attached SSD into somewhere like a Caddy.. Most Caddy's don't need these mounts, you just slot the SSD straight into the Caddy..
> If I was you with a latest iMac, I'd look at a hard drive bay with thunderbolt 3 connections.. You can insert 4/5 SSD's and they'll all show up using one very fast port..


So just so I'm sure... purchase the SSDs (1-2TB each), purchase a thunderbolt 3 caddy for each, plug those caddies into the bay of USB 3.0's and then plug THAT into a thunderbolt 3 port on my desktop?


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## iggyigoe (Nov 26, 2020)

No, not quite..

Purchase as many SSD's as you can afford, (I recently upgraded all 4 of my SSD's to 2TB capacity)

Then look for a 4 bay hard drive bay with a Thunderbolt 3 connection, not USB 3.. like this:
https://www.megamac.com/products/ow...xt-owctb3qmsr00gb?_pos=2&_sid=ff51ec368&_ss=r

Then insert the SSD's one by one into the Bay, and connect into your iMac via Thunderbolt 3, not USB 3


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

iggyigoe said:


> No, not quite..
> 
> Purchase as many SSD's as you can afford, (I recently upgraded all 4 of my SSD's to 2TB capacity)
> 
> ...


So I'd need a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 3 cord to plug in the bay to the computer?


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## iggyigoe (Nov 26, 2020)

Yes, but these Bays come with a Thunderbolt 3 cable.. Handy!

Make sure if you do want to buy yourself a T3 cable that it's not a USB-C cable.. they have the same connection but very different speeds


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## Jacob Fanto (Nov 26, 2020)

iggyigoe said:


> Yes, but these Bays come with a Thunderbolt 3 cable.. Handy!
> 
> Make sure if you do want to buy yourself a T3 cable that it's not a USB-C cable.. they have the same connection but very different speeds


Oh so the bay you linked comes with the cable? I wouldn’t have to purchase anything else? (Other than the SSDs of course)


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## iggyigoe (Nov 26, 2020)

Exactly!


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