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Sample Drive Strategy for 10+ TB of samples

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Kevin63101

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Using an older I7 Win 10 PC with 32 GB RAM, a 1 TB OS Drive, 3 TB Audio drive.

I have 4 additional internal sample Drives:
1TB SSD M2 for Piano/high polyphony
2TB SSD
2TB SSD
3TB conventional

... and I'm 95% full on my sample Drives due to my sample addiction.

Short of replacing drives with larger drives /transferring data (or deleting less used libraries) what is my best strategy for adding another 4TB+ at this point? I'm out of drive connections on my motherboard and I'm not a fan of typical portable usb external Drives for samples.

Need a big picture strategy.
Click to read more...
 
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If you have any unused PCIe slots (and have enough PCI lanes available) you might be able to install a card that can house one or more NVMe drives.

A single-NVMe expansion card should be quite cheap on somewhere like Amazon, maybe $15-20.
 
Kevin63101 said:
Using an older I7 Win 10 PC with 32 GB RAM, a 1 TB OS Drive, 3 TB Audio drive.

I have 4 additional internal sample Drives:
1TB SSD M2 for Piano/high polyphony
2TB SSD
2TB SSD
3TB conventional

... and I'm 95% full on my sample Drives due to my sample addiction.

Short of replacing drives with larger drives /transferring data (or deleting less used libraries) what is my best strategy for adding another 4TB+ at this point? I'm out of drive connections on my motherboard and I'm not a fan of typical portable usb external Drives for samples.

Need a big picture strategy.
Click to expand...
Don’t buy more drives; instead try to figure out why it is you feel a need to buy sample library after sample library.

I’m assuming you’re a hobby user like myself, dunno if it’s the case.
 
Henrik B. Jensen said:
Don’t buy more drives; instead try to figure out why it is you feel a need to buy sample library after sample library.

I’m assuming you’re a hobby user like myself, dunno if it’s the case.
Click to expand...
I'm in search of a better quality samples or articulations/features. Yeah I could dump (or sell) under-utilized ones, but probably would only gain 1-2 TB back. Currently have a little over 7 TB of actual samples: Toontrack, Spitfire, NI, 8Dio, IKMM, Spectrasonics, Steinberg and others. I hate to part with stuff ... but there is new stuff that has new timbres / better implemented features.

Back to question (assuming I keep old/buy more):
What is best strategy to add ssd storage? Or should I just replace existing with larger drives?

A few years from now I'll add a new main pc and utilize this old one a sound module slave. Yes, just a hobby.
 
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If you have a free PCIe slot that has at least 4 lanes, you can get cheap adapters that work with U.2 or U.3 drives.
These can be had up to 30TB in size.
Aim to pay about a $100 per terabyte, although they could be hard very cheaply last year when there was a glut.
I picked up two 7.68 drives at an average price of about £430.

Another option is to buy a PCIe SATA controller card.
That will give you extra SATA ports.
 
Bruh I feel you.

I have 11 TB across six 1 and 2 TB USB drives connected to my laptop via 2 USB-3 ports (with 4-way USB hubs in each) and one via USB-C. 1st world problems, yo :emoji_stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
 
Regardless of whether or not you end up buying more drives, you should probably delete some of your unused stuff. If you've already used up 10 tb of space, then you can likely assume that you'll continue to amass sample libraries. It would seem that your most viable options at this point are the three that you're wanting to avoid: replacing your small drives, deleting libs, and using external ssds. My suggestion would be to clean out a bunch of your libraries, but if you're wanting to avoid that option for some reason then you'll likely have to get an external drive. If speed is the issue, then buying a fast drive and using your computer's Thunderbolt/USB-C port should take care of the problem. I haven't had an issue with the drive I'm using because I'm utilizing Thunderbolt.

"To buy sample libraries is human. To delete sample libraries is divine."
- Winston Churchill
 
 
 
HCMarkus said:
You could delete from your working drive(s) and still retain a copy on a big external Hard Drive... current best deal looks like $250 for 14TB:

Click to expand...
I recently got a large spinning drive for back up. The one thing I'll say about them is that they are quite loud now that everything else is so quiet, so you need a place you can place the drive to muffle the sound.
 
It's the better tools make me better myth. It seems many will say remove what you don't use and stop going for shiny and new. Many of us are like this.
I stopped buying more drive space because it gets expensive if you have more than one machine. I think better options are now external drives for specific libraries. I'm not a fan of larger SSDs. I don't like putting all of my eggs in a basket on some hardware that can fail without notice since they are silent.
 
jbuhler said:
I recently got a large spinning drive for back up. The one thing I'll say about them is that they are quite loud now that everything else is so quiet, so you need a place you can place the drive to muffle the sound.
Click to expand...
They are nosier than they were a decade ago and probably don't live up to their rated RPM.
 
jbuhler said:
I recently got a large spinning drive for back up. The one thing I'll say about them is that they are quite loud now that everything else is so quiet, so you need a place you can place the drive to muffle the sound.
Click to expand...
If noise is a concern, connect while backing up, then disconnect. Works great for long term storage.

I have several always connected, but I also have a machine closet.
 
So far, recent LaCie d2 Pro 18TB has been fine addition. Not for direct Sample usage, but transferring lesser used, but important titles.

Now using for many past (important) annual download folders - divided quarterly.
~~ $570. and will add another when needed.
Win 11 Pro PC here, which affects some choices ?
 
sostenuto said:
So far, recent LaCie d2 Pro 18TB has been fine addition. Not for direct Sample usage, but transferring lesser used, but important titles.

Now using for many past (important) annual download folders - divided quarterly.
~~ $570. and will add another when needed.
Win 11 Pro PC here, which affects some choices ?
Click to expand...
I have the 10TB version and have been impressed with the performance and it's noise level.
They are premium priced and that comes across.
 
I appreciate all the advice. Lots I could delete (or backup, which it already is regularly). I tend to buy collections discounted, load everything but don't need (or use) all that's included.

It's just been easiest to add sample real estate instead of kicking out the squatters. Currently at about 7 TB of samples, probably occasionally use half.

Far from pro, just a hobby.
 
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