# Where do you store and access your sample libraries from?



## Bluemount Score (Dec 26, 2020)

So I'm using three of these external 1TB SSDs connected via a single USB 3.0 Hub:

SanDisk SDSSDE61-1T00-G25​
I went with external SSDs because I thought it's very practical when you are switching between two music workstations and don't want to download and organize all your sample content twice / on both machines.

However I'm seeing this solution very rarely and even though I'm totally fine with my loading times (for Kontakt libraries, at least), I've became somewhat sceptical if it was the best thing to do, instead of using internal storage.

How do you store and manage your libraries? Have you made experiences (good or bad) with external SSDs, connected via an USB Hub?


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## mybadmemory (Dec 26, 2020)

External Samsung T7.


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## Trash Panda (Dec 26, 2020)

On my SurfaceBook 2 the sample libraries live on a 1TB SD card. On my PC the ones I use most live on a Samsung NVMe driver and the lesser used ones on a regular ol HDD.


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## Tremendouz (Dec 26, 2020)

My most used ones are on a 1TB NVMe SSD (Adata), the rest split between an older 225GB SSD and a 1TB 5400 rpm HDD.

I'm getting another Adata 1TB one soon for Hollywood Orchestra Diamond and the stuff that's still held hostage by the slow HDD.

Everything's internal btw, I don't want to waste my precious USB ports


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## PaulieDC (Dec 26, 2020)

It took a while and a LOT of switching back and forth and bunches of speed tests, but this is the hard drive config I ended up with in my tower (one I built). The key is the https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01798WOJ0/ (Silverstone PCIe M.2 card) (I have two of them in the tower). Each card runs at x4 speed and holds two M.2 2280 drives, one SATA and one NVMe on each PCIe card. Also provides power, just need SATA cables to the SATA slots. Plus I have two NVMe M.2 2280 slots on the Mobo, one for the C drive (NO libraries on there, only OS and apps) and the other one is for libraries. That gives me a total of 5 1TB drives for distributing libraries across. It’s only 50 bucks the get the cards in, what took time what’s getting the 1TB drives over time, lol. Eventually when they are cheap enough I’ll swap them for 2TB drives, but that’s not necessary, I’m boycotting the buying of sample libraries for at LEAST three, maybe four weeks. 

On the three 1TB NVMe drives I have Berlin on one w/400GB to spare, SpitFire on another w/450GB to spare but that’s not enough room to upgrade BBCSO from Core to Pro, so that’s on hold until I need it. The third NVMe is waiting for BBCSO Pro and future expansions. The two SATA hold all piano libraries on one (VSL CFX, Steinway, Garritan CFX, R275, and a couple synths), and EWHO Diamond plus Harp, Solo and Choir. That one has only 35GB tO spare, lol. I chose SATA for EW because my tests showed no significant difference with Play when loading, slower SATA works fine there. I also have a couple dedicated 2.5” SSDs, one for Kontakt Libraries I never use, and one for all Cubase projects.

All that sounds insane I realize, but the load times are nice. This is why I’ve said my gear and my libraries are currently better than I am, so I’ve been really focusing on orchestration instruction. If anyone has a PC tower with available PCIe slots at least x4 or faster, those inexpensive Silverstone cards are a great place to start. You can expand as needed. And they are 100% reliable, going on 3 years now.


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## BassClef (Dec 26, 2020)

I use this fan free external enclosure via USB 3.1. It holds 2 SATA III drives, 2 terabytes each. 4TB total!






OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini


Packing dual-drive, USB 3.1 Gen 2 performance into a portable, bus-powered form factor, this is the perfect drive for high demand applications on the go.




eshop.macsales.com


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## rnieto (Dec 26, 2020)

I'm using an OWC Thunderbay 4 Mini Thunderbolt 3 enclosure in a RAID 1 (mirrored) configuration, with four 2TB SSD drives.

It's pretty cool—I had a data error a few days ago, and the RAID software rebuilt the faulty data in the drive from its mirrored twin in about 3 seconds, then gave me the green light to keep working.


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## Per Boysen (Dec 27, 2020)

External SSD drives. Two copies of each. Work drive, and backup drive.


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## Ashermusic (Dec 27, 2020)

Per Boysen said:


> External SSD drives. To copies of each. Work drive, and backup drive.


External SSDs, USB 3, backed up on HDs.


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## Toecutter (Dec 27, 2020)

What is the best solution when you have a bunch of regular SSDs and not enough SATA 3 ports? I need at least 6 more ports (preferably internal, my case is huge) while keeping the full speed of drives. Is that possible? Windows 10 computer.


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## Zero&One (Dec 27, 2020)

Tremendouz said:


> Everything's internal btw, I don't want to waste my precious USB ports


Get a usb hub. Mine works great and it also has 3 charge ports.

@OP I’ve 6TB SSD on external usb drives and experienced no significant difference to the internal ones.

I remove an external SSD, pop in my tin 4TB drive. Backup and remove. Back to business.


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## Tremendouz (Dec 27, 2020)

Zero&One said:


> Get a usb hub. Mine works great and it also has 3 charge ports.


Wouldn't USB be a bottleneck? I'm only going to buy NVMe SSDs from now on.


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## Zero&One (Dec 27, 2020)

Tremendouz said:


> Wouldn't USB be a bottleneck? I'm only going to buy NVMe SSDs from now on.


The speed drop is very little I found on Disk Speed Test. 
And NVMe wasn’t worth it for samples. Not sure it’s worth it on my game rig either for that matter.


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## ennbr (Dec 27, 2020)

USB 3.0 will provide if I recall 430mbs read/write depending on the SSD attached


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## Tremendouz (Dec 27, 2020)

Zero&One said:


> The speed drop is very little I found on Disk Speed Test.
> And NVMe wasn’t worth it for samples. Not sure it’s worth it on my game rig either for that matter.


Not sure if "worth it" but it does speed up game loading times a bit and I like the small size and no cable hassle


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## khollister (Dec 29, 2020)

4 x 2TB Samsung 860 EVO's in Akitio Thunder Mini attached via TB3. I also have some samples on the internal drive in the iMP where the player can utilize the speed, e.g. Synchron Pianos. Have a Samsung T7 (NVMe in a USB C package) for EWQL Composer Cloud stuff that isn't critical, i.e. everything except HWO and SD3. 

While the T7 is fast on sustained sequential reads (large block sizes), it's sample streaming speed is lower than the TB3 SATA EVO's. I first noticed this in the Synchron player and then did testing with ATTO Disk Manager, running tests from 32kB to 64MB block sizes to confirm. Not sure if it is the USB implementation in the T7 or the USB 3.1/gen 2 protocol itself, but TB is far superior, at least on my Mac's.


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## FrozenIcicle (Dec 29, 2020)

What's the point of getting a macbook pro if you're gonna have SSDs in a tower?


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## Bluemount Score (Dec 29, 2020)

Per Boysen said:


> External SSD drives. Two copies of each. Work drive, and backup drive.





Ashermusic said:


> External SSDs, USB 3 (...)


Out of curiosity, what exact model is this?


Thanks for the replies everyone, I someone missed it all until now.


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## Per Boysen (Dec 29, 2020)

"Samsung Portable SSD T5". I use two 2 TB units for sampler library and a 1 TB for work-in-progress (that I store on two ordinary 5 TB magnetic drives). 

As for USB 3 hub I use a "Ptp-link USB 3.0 7 port hub with 2 charging ports". I have used it daily for six months now and it works well both with my studio desktop and travel laptop.


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## michalioz (Dec 29, 2020)

I'm using two 1TB Samsung T5s and various cloud services (ie dropbox, google cloud) just to backup projects. I guess making a backup of the actual libraries doesn't make sense since we can re-download them if something happens.


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## ptram (Dec 29, 2020)

I'm using an external disk duplicator bay (from Orico), hosting four Crucial SSDs varying from 0.5 to 2 TB. I also have an additional external SSD.

The bay with exposed drives is not elegant, but it is in a hi-fi furniture closed on the front by a door, therefore not exposed to public scandal. At lest, the drives are well ventilated!

Speed is fine, but I guess that a dedicated thunderbolt enclosure would be even better.

Paolo


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## Ashermusic (Dec 29, 2020)

Bluemount Score said:


> Out of curiosity, what exact model is this?
> 
> 
> Thanks for the replies everyone, I someone missed it all until now.


My four SSDs are four different ones, 1 each from Samsung, Crucial, Micron, and SansDisk.


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