Read speeds with external drives on M3 Macs?

[wayne_rowley]

It’s easy to get obsessed with numbers. But I use external SATA SSDs in USB 3.1 enclosures for sample streaming and have never come anywhere near to hitting bandwidth limits in practice.

Wayne

 

[Soundbed]

Once the samples are in RAM the need to access the disk will decrease, too.

 

[Soundbed]

These high disk speeds are more relevant for tasks like editing 4K and 8K video.

Randomly pulling in bits of audio at 48k, 24bits hasn’t needed to get much faster than SATA3 which is quite old.

I prefer MVMe for future proofing my setup a bit and because I do edit 4K video on occasion.

But I still bottleneck my audio with cheap M.2 storage in max 10Gbps enclosures (to save money) for the majority of my sample collection. Real world speeds around 850MBps on that Blackmagic test.

 

[octave music]

This will provide "Up to 3151MB/s real-world performance"

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-express-1m2

It's true regarding the Express 1M2. I got tired of waiting for reviews that would use these bus powered fan-less enclosures the way I would, and so I bought 3 of them and put a 4TB WD Black SN850X in them. Each is connected to it's own USB4/TB port on my MacStudio M2 Ultra. I get 3218 Write and 3115 Read [see the screen shot below]. When my 80GB VEPro template is opening, using iStat menus for disk speed monitoring, I see readings hitting 1600 MB/s and even a bit higher and that is while loading all of those tiny VI Samples, since I was able to lower my Stream Buffer settings in Kontakt, Spitfire players etc to the minimum. With my previous setup, where I had SSD's [2.5"] connected via TB3, those drives max out at 550MB/s but when loading my template, it wouldn't typically show anything over 300 MB/s.

The Zikedrive claims to get 3800MB/s Read speed, also via USB4 which I believe is the KEY to maxxing out external NVME speed. It has the same USB controller chip as the OWC Express 1m2 in it, which currently is said to be the best USB4 controller out there. It's called the ASM2464PD. [https://www.asmedia.com.tw/product/e20zx49yU0SZBUH5/363Zx80yu6sY3XH2]

I haven't confirmed this yet, but I think maybe OWC throttled down the read/write speed so as not to cause ANY thermal throttling that might occur if it were allowed to move files at the speed that ZikeDrive does. OWC I have found will make tweaks like that to their hardware to allow for the best possible real-world experience for their users, especially when they don't know what type or brand storage will be installed in the enclosure. When I first moved nearly 10TB of all of my VI libraries copying over to the Express 1m2, I was able to sustain 3000MB/s read and writes [For around 20 minutes until it completed] combined from a bunch of SSD's in Thunderbay Mini 4's, which as I said can only do 500MB/s each...but with several of them all copying at once to my Express 1M2, the transfer speed never once dropped! I think that has a lot to do with the cache and quality of the WD Black SN850X, as well as the design of the OWC Express 1m2 enclosure and OWC's decision to limit the speed just a bit. The NVME drives never got over 70 degrees celsius during that sustained work, and their normal idle and normal usage temperature sits between 46 and 50 degrees celsius, all well below their specd limit of 90 degrees Celsius. I monitored the temps both with iStat menus and Drive DX...and the readings on both matched.

Aside from when you first copy your libraries to the new drive, at least in working with VI's , you will probably never hit those higher temps but I think it's wise that OWC capped the speed a bit [again my theory] so you never have to wonder if the drive is getting too hot, and throttling.

Lastly, I have NEVER used USB for streaming VI libraries [25 years in the music biz composing]. I have always thought of USB as a bit unstable for such data heavy usage, and instead opted in previous computers for E-SATA [a long time ago] TB2, and then TB3. But after reading about a bunch of issues various users are having, not just in this forum but other mac forums etc, with BUS POWERED TB3/4 devices having disconnect issues with the Mac Studio, I started digging.
Knowing what I know about the required specs that the computer has to provide to a device that is TB3/4 licensed and approved, there are certain minimum voltage allocations that must be made and I think at this point in time, that is what is causing people issues, especially it seems, from what I have crowd sourced through reading when the 3rd bus powered device is connected to the Mac Studio [not to a powered thunderbolt hub but direct to the computer] that's when people are getting unexpected and unpredictable behavior from lowered transfer rates to disconnects etc. That would drive me crazy. I hypothesized that TRUE USB4 enclosures, like the OWC Express 1m2 [and ZikeDrive] would be immune to this issue because being that they identify themselves to the Mac Studio as being ONLY USB4, and not even attempting to connect as TB3 or 4, the voltage issues might not arise. So far, after 7 days of heavy testing, I have had 100% up time with my 3 OWC Express 1m2, and I've even unplugged them and replugged them in different orders to see if that would shake-up the USB4 bus in my Mac Studio. They have been rock solid so far and I think I made the right decision in my purchase. I also think the key here is to stick to the latest PCIE gen4 NVME offerings like WD Black SN850X [4TB is around $280] or the Samsung 990 Pro [4TB is around $320 and a bit backordered from what I've seen] because while we are only using about 1/2 of the read and write speed of what those NVME drives are capable of [which you will only get at this time if they are internally installed on a PCIE card] the cache and thermal management on those drives I believe are superior to PCIE gen3 NVME's that will cost about $70 less. It's not just about the speed but it's also about what tech and how the tech is implemented in a given NVME.

 

[octave music]

These high disk speeds are more relevant for tasks like editing 4K and 8K video.

Randomly pulling in bits of audio at 48k, 24bits hasn’t needed to get much faster than SATA3 which is quite old.

I prefer MVMe for future proofing my setup a bit and because I do edit 4K video on occasion.

But I still bottleneck my audio with cheap M.2 storage in max 10Gbps enclosures (to save money) for the majority of my sample collection. Real world speeds around 850MBps on that Blackmagic test.

I agree with much of what you have said. The bandwidth component, thank goodness, for VI streaming is not a fraction of what video/film editing is. But, there are some constant aspects that I can absolutely say are improved and are "nice" that I am experiencing with my USB4 OWC express 1m2 setup. All of the drumkits in the N.I. Komplete series such as 60's Drummer, Modern Drummer etc...they load so quickly that as soon as I double click on the preset to load it, by the time my hands are re-oriented on my MIDI keyboard, everything, including the cymbals, which in my case were last to load with my TB3 setup and SSD's is ready to play. No waiting. It's the little things like that whereas I would have to wait 8 to 10 seconds [just guessing] for the whole drum kit to be ready to play. Little ergonomic things like that add up throughout a work/composing session. The presets in Omnisphere now load as fast as spinning the jog wheel on the front of a Roland JV-1080 going from sound to sound. No lags, no clicks, no pops when playing and jumping through presets. Keyscape Pianos, thje "LA Custom C7" presets load in just under 9 seconds...but those are playable from the get-go--the remaining seconds are I think to get every single velocity layer loaded etc. All of these little improvements add up to a better work flow...for me at least.

 

[jbuhler]

It’s easy to get obsessed with numbers. But I use external SATA SSDs in USB 3.1 enclosures for sample streaming and have never come anywhere near to hitting bandwidth limits in practice.

Wayne

Generally, I would say this is true. Anecdotally, I have small issues if I'm hitting too many libraries all on the same USB 3 enclosure, actually even if the separate SSDs are all on the same USB3 hub. So I still tend to distribute my external drives to various ports, some on Thunderbolt (I have two four-bay enclosures that runs over thunderbolt—and I never have an issue with these) or Thunderbolt docks with USB 3 ports, some on the main USB3 ports from the iMac. And I spread my most used libraries across the array SSDs. It's one reason I've been a bit reluctant to move to larger SSDs, though I could almost certainly consolidate a lot of what I have while still distributing the most used libraries across everything.

 

[HCMarkus]

the most important number is the last one in the default setting (random 4Kb, 1 thread) followed by the other random 4Kb (multithread).

This.

Once the samples are in RAM the need to access the disk will decrease, too.

Some VIs put full-length samples in EAM. IIRC, Superior Drummer is one. But most put only the front end of sample into RAM and stream from disk as notes are played, reducing RAM usage but requiring a lot of small random reads on a continual basis.

The reason the Envoy Express enclosures (of which I have two serving my VI samples) top speed is limited to 1550 is due to the fact they use only two or the four Thunderbolt lanes available. Still more than plenty fast, and price for the empty enclosures is to about $70, down from the $90-100 price of late.

 

[Soundbed]

This.


Some VIs put full-length samples in EAM. IIRC, Superior Drummer is one. But most put only the front end of sample into RAM and stream from disk as notes are played, reducing RAM usage but requiring a lot of small random reads on a continual basis.

The reason the Envoy Express enclosures (of which I have two serving my VI samples) top speed is limited to 1550 is due to the fact they use only two or the four Thunderbolt lanes available. Still more than plenty fast, and price for the empty enclosures is to about $70, down from the $90-100 price of late.

You’re right, thanks for adding that.

I’ve spent so much time looking at those OWC (and Acasis) enclosures but haven’t needed them, yet.

I think this is the other one people tend to recommend?

ACASIS Tool-free 40Gbps M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure

https://a.co/d/duyiwjh

 

[octave music]

You’re right, thanks for adding that.

I’ve spent so much time looking at those OWC (and Acasis) enclosures but haven’t needed them, yet.

I think this is the other one people tend to recommend?

ACASIS Tool-free 40Gbps M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure

https://a.co/d/duyiwjh

WHy not spend $20 more and get the OWC express 1M2? If your computer is any of the Apple Silicon models, it will move the data faster and take advantage of the USB4 bus as well as avoid the self powered drives issue that people are experiencing with multiple bus powered drives connected. I kept researching the Acasis and OWC offerings and felt like something was missing from the product offerings...and when OWC released the express 1M2 sometime around December 7th, that was what I new had to be out there. A true USB4 device that only connects via USB4 with the best USB4 controller chip in it that is out there right now. The Acasis TBU401 does provide the ability to connect to a wide variety of TB and USB ports, but if you don't need that, and you have the latest mac, you are leaving real-world speed and potential speed on the table. This website lays out what each of the controller chips are capable of and one must drill down to see what is actually inside of the enclosure. https://dancharblog.wordpress.com/2...ipsets-2022/#thunderbolt-3-jhl7440-enclosures

The 40Gb [that's gigabits] per second that websites plaster all over the place are complete B.S. and even more B.S. when it is an enclosure that connects via TB because Thunderbolt 3 and 4 have to allocate a decent chunk of data space to allowing the potential for Video to pass through on the same cable. That is why the Highest performance TB 3 or TB4 enclosure maxes out at around 2800MB/s. The lack of video allocation is how Zikedrive gets 3800 MB/s reads and 3100 MB/s writes [they claim] and the OWC Express 1m2 gets 3200 MB/s read and write. I chose the OWC because I wanted to purchase from a company that I have done a ton of business with and has never let me down.

 

[Vik]

The Zikedrive claims to get 3800MB/s Read speed, also via USB4 which I believe is the KEY to maxxing out external NVME speed. It has the same USB controller chip as the OWC Express 1m2 in it, which currently is said to be the best USB4 controller out there. It's called the ASM2464PD. [https://www.asmedia.com.tw/product/e20zx49yU0SZBUH5/363Zx80yu6sY3XH2]

Here's a link to Zike (Ziketech/Zikedrive), for those who interested:

https://ziketech.com/products/ziked...fastest-usb4-ssd-drive?variant=42809341608097

3800 MB/s (if this a real life number) in a $119 enclosure ain't bad.

 

[Aymara]

Acasis 40Gbps Tool-free M.2 NVMe Thunderbolt 3/4 USB 4 SSD Enclosure

TBU405 VS TBU405ProM1TBU405 is base version (Tool-free Installation), while TBU405ProM1 (Tool-free Installation + Built-in Silent Fan) is an upgraded version of TBU405. The main difference is that TBU405ProM1 is additionally equipped with a built-in silent cooling fan. According to tests...

www.acasis.com

That is the best NVMe enclosure.

Confirmed ... I use THIS one from Acasis on my iMac Pro with a Lexar NM790, which has the advantage of much less heat, than most other SSDs, e.g. Samsung. Performance on my machine is around 2500 read / 2200 write.

Huge advantage is the "plug&play" design of the enclosure. I use it with 2 SSDs, which I swap, when needed ... one for sample libraries and one for Time Machine backups.