System SSD + Audio Spinner versus bigger SSD

[Ian Alexander]

I'm looking at a laptop that can do location recording in addition to studio duty.

What's the thinking these days on storage? Get a 128GB or 256GB SSD for a C Drive and add a fast 1TB hard drive for audio? Or just get the biggest SSD that makes sense? I think I understand that even 24 tracks of 96-24 audio requires less than 10 MB per second, but a 7200 rpm hard drive can write somewhere around 110-120 MB per second. Just because an SSD can do 2-3 times that is no reason to limit storage space.

OK, let the opinions fly!

Thanks.

[Cary B. Cornett]

The general recommendation at this time is, use an SSD for boot/programs and a spinner for the data files. Although the number of allowed write cycles on an SSD is large, there is still a limit. On my new studio (short tower) machine, I run OS and programs from an SSD (little card in socket on mobo), and I have two spinners, 1Tb each, for data files. The second one is actually an old backup drive that formerly lived in an external case.

The laptop does not have a slot for a second HD, so I compromise and have two partitions on the SSD, one for boot/programs and the other for data. I use that computer for remote recording and as my music machine for square dance calling. I don't do much remote recording, so I'm less worried about the write cycle limit on the SSD. The main reason I put an SSD in the laptop was not speed, but safety. What if I'm recording a concert (I did choir stuff for a while) and the laptop gets bumped or jarred by a clumsy audience member? With the SSD, no moving parts to jar loose, so no worries.

There is actually nothing wrong with being old-fashioned and using a spinner for everything. Yeah, boot takes longer, but how much of your life is that?

The only time I found trouble with using a spinner was/is using an external drive that is USB powered for audio tracks on a complex session. Two things: one is that the external drive spins down in idle time, so you have to wait for it to spin up sometimes when you hit "play". The other is that if you have too many tracks going on a session, it can crash when you try to record. This happened to me once, and I had to copy the session files to an internal drive to continue. Again, no real worries with an INTERNAL spinner.

HTH

[Wink0r]

Spinners are cheap but capacity of SSDs keeps going up and prices keep going down. My first replacement 40 Gb HD was $110.00 (I resisted computers for a while). Now that money will buy a half Tb SSD or several Tb on a spinner.