SSD for older DAW computer worthwhile?

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john12ax7

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Joined
Oct 15, 2010
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Location
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My main DAW computer is a Win7  i7-2600. Wondering if going SSD sata for the OS is a worthwhile upgrade? Will Pro Tools load faster? It's also my simulation and design computer.

It's a triple boot system so  I'm hesitant to have to reinstall everything,  but a performance boost would be nice.
 
An SSD can give an old computer a noticeable boost. I put one in my old mac mini and I still use it today for listening to music and looking at youtube. If your machine doesn't have that much memory that could also lead to a noticeable performance boost.

As long as the machine is vaguely new, I would definitely just prop it up and keep it going. It used to be that machines were obsolete after ~4 years but not anymore. I have two toshiba portege R-series laptops that are literally at least twice that old and they're still fine for most things.
 
My girlfriend just did this last week. Boot up is so much faster now.

I’m not knowledgeable enough to specifically answer this question but we learned that your motherboard will limit the speed you can actually get from the SSD. So depending on what you’ve got, the fastest SSD won’t run faster than a cheaper SSD.

I’m sure somebody here will give you a great answer but if not, the guys at Micro Center in Tustin will let you know the cheapest SSD that will get you the best possible performance from your computer.
 
Current fast SSD are a very worthwhile upgrade particularly to a legacy system for the system drive.

Sata3 is amazing bandwidth ... 

I recommend using something like 'disk clone' function in Acronis  to build your replacement disk - it  ensures you get all the 'boot' data intact on the new drive.

Also recommend doing system images for safety.

It can happen that some apps are 'keyed' to a hardware 'hash' which can include the system drive identifying data, so there are times when even a clone of the system disk can cause probs - but it's reasonably rare.

I've just done my notebooks which are around 10yrs old - the responsiveness is a giant pile better now.

Cheers
 
Just adding my "yes" to the pile. 
I have a 2012 MacBook Pro with Quad i7  2.6GHz so probably about the same as your system and SSD boot absolutely made a difference.  Besides speed of loading and writing, my Mac also runs quieter and cooler.
 
Yes. Big time. I'm running an HP z800 And it made a world of difference. I actually have 2 ssd and 2 hdd. One for start up, DAW's, and processing, the rest for storage.
I duplicate my ssd as I have read they can die but so far nothing has happened in the past 5 years.
 
Yes - I forgot to add that  cooler! 

My HP Pavillion 17"  i7  circa 2009 has always been a bit of a 'heater'  necessitating 'standing off' the desk  ...  it has  2x 500GB 2.5" internal notebook drives.

No more :)  The SSD do indeed run quite a lot cooler (too).  It's now my 'dining room drum kit recorder' and going strong with Cubase    and    Toontrack Superior Drummer  etc.  What a killer bunch of kit :)
 
Yes, you should notice the improvement in performance, and the drop in volume is definitely worth while.
 
at least twice that old and they're still fine for most things.

+1

For seek times there's no contest. The older the gear the better the comparative boost.  :D Mechanical drives should really only be used for nas/vm's today.  Adopted them early on, so I do got some stories of files/tracks disappearing, but they've long since worked out the kinks. Next build will be NVMe's with SSD's for storage, maybe raid 10 em' if it's even needed anymore.
 
The comment regarding SSD 'reducing the volume'  [acoustic noise of rotating media]  is an excellent point also!

So that's advances in :

-  massive speed, some reduction in power consumed, decent reduction in heat, silent  and compatibility [sata3]

....

The 'sweet spot' of cost as far as I'm concerned, in the lastest 'fast SSD' is for the 500GB  type  .... I think it won't be long before that migrates to the 1TB storage capacity. 

The cost of the latest SSD 500GB [in my local] is  somewhere between the cost of a  2TB .. 4TB  current fast conventional hard drive.

...

I get something like 384MB/s  reads 'avaerage'  in my 'HD Tach' measurements for the Seagate fast ssd.  [mix of block sizes in test]

For the big stuff, the current crop of  2TB .. 4TB  conventional  hard disks are crazy  [low] prices  .....  and the performance is also pretty exceptional ... I'm just starting to migrate to 4TB hard disks for the 'large end'.

Of course, with so many options on the 'storage pyramid'  :)  it really is important to have efficient 'archiving' tools.

GoodSync is the finest I have used and makes light work of even the heaviest 'network archiving / synchronisation' type jobs. It blitzes thru it's tasks with great levels of reporting and 'accountability'  :)
 
I picked up a 1TB SSD but haven't installed yet.  Do the old rules of DAW drive setup still apply? I currently use 1 drive for OS(es), 1 drive for samples,  1 drive for audio projects.

Could I for example put samples alongside the OS on the same SSD? Does it matter one way or another?
 
Hey John,
I think most of the folks using the system in a pro capacity would say that the same rules apply with using separate drives, whether ssd or not.
I have a relatively small (120gb) for OS and apps myself, and then another 512gb for files.  That's it.  But I'm not pro.
Depends on what you're doing and how much of a risk taker you are I suppose.

FWIW, I've never had an SSD break down on me but other's mileage may be different.
 
Got everything mostly up and running.  Decided to do a clean install so took a little longer.  But definitely a worthwhile upgrade. Feels like a new computer.
 
john12ax7 said:
Feels like a new computer.

Definitely,
it's a great update.

Maxing the RAM the Motherboard can take is also worthy

Don't forget to service the computer fans and heatsinks. Use an air compressor, vacum hoover , toothbrush what it's easier for you.
Clean them every 6 months or at least once a year, clean and install new thermal compound when you do that.
 
Feels like a new computer.

yay!  Glad it worked out.  Forgot to mention yes clonezilla gives me the least problems.

Edit: Also, hope I'm not insulting your intelligence by recommending this, but if you're running Win7, make sure your defrag utility is turned OFF on all SSD's, as it will only shorten their life and not improve speeds.
 
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