I was going to buy a new iMac but...

[BradGray]

It's all good Ted. I've made a good living in IT, and started with how to tear apart and build these things....though so much has changed since then.

If you have the space, two separate drives would perform (somewhat) better; the OS on one and the data on another. That said, it tends to be a bit overkill in most cases as you can setup separate partitions, on the same drive, that will also assist. I have multiple drives in my PC, as I have the space in the tower (and it's easy for me) to do so.

My setup is Drive 1 (SSD) - Operating System / Daw Application. Drive 2 (SSD) - System files (DAW), Sound Libraries. Drive 3 (SATA - Slower) - Backup.

That said moving everything to an SSD, would still improve your performance tremendously. However, I would definitely recommend that you always have separate backups of your work, on another drive.

Other thing to note, aside from the HD speed is your RAM. If you're maxing out your available 8Gb of RAM on your current system, it will (by default), use the HD to extend the available memory for applications; called virtual memory (or paging). It swaps temp data, that would have stayed in RAM, to the HD. If the HD is slow, it will slow down the performance as well.

Brad, I'm a total dunce when it comes to computers. Thinking that there are people who even understand them is somewhat demoralizing to me-- and I was in gifted classes with a high IQ as a kid Just not my area of aptitude. I did go on Khan Academy once and spent a little time programming a picture of bacon and eggs from code. LOL.


So are you suggesting that I should install something like a 1 TB SSD internally as my system drive-- and then also add a separate internal auxilliary drive for my libraries (replacing my external Samsung SSD) or would it be better to just install a 2TB or greater internal SSD and put everything on there? And would that be OK to do with a maxed out RAM of 8GB?

Also, my RAM on my MAC isn't upgradable to a novice, but supposedly an experienced tech can do a little surgery and install aftermarket RAM. So If I were to take it in for work, I'd probably want to do that also while I had 'em open it up.



Thanks for that advice. I might look into doing what you prescribe.

[Ted]

Update: I had been thinking of doing the upgrades myself but decided to call a computer service company in my city to see if they could do it and what they would charge. Their rates are not bad at all so I'm just gonna take my iMac in early next week and have them replace the hard drive with an SSD and upgrade the RAM from 8GB to 16GB.

The person I spoke to on the phone wanted to know if I wanted a 1 TB or 2 TB SSD. On my current machine I have a 1TB HD that is only about 70% full. But then I have an external Samsung 1TB SSD that I have put my sample libraries on-- it's about 45% full.

The SSD is connected via a USB3 (version 1 I think) so I'd guess that the sample libraries on the SSD might be bottlenecked by the lower speed of this port.

I don't know that an iMac would have the space for 2 separate internal drives-- would it be better to just get the 2TB internal SSD while I have the chance (it's only about a hundred dollars more than the 1 TB) and then install my sample libraries also on that drive? Would it be faster than using an external SSD via USB3?

Thanks

[cosmicdolphin]

I don't know that an iMac would have the space for 2 separate internal drives-- would it be better to just get the 2TB internal SSD while I have the chance (it's only about a hundred dollars more than the 1 TB) and then install my sample libraries also on that drive? Would it be faster than using an external SSD via USB3?

Physically it'll probably have the space as 2.5 in SSD's are pretty small but it might not have more than one SATA port , if it was me I'd probably go the 2TB

Depending which revision of USB it is and various other unknowns there probably isn't a massive difference between the speeds of the two , then I'd use the Ext to do my backups.

[Ted]

I don't know that an iMac would have the space for 2 separate internal drives-- would it be better to just get the 2TB internal SSD while I have the chance (it's only about a hundred dollars more than the 1 TB) and then install my sample libraries also on that drive? Would it be faster than using an external SSD via USB3?

Physically it'll probably have the space as 2.5 in SSD's are pretty small but it might not have more than one SATA port , if it was me I'd probably go the 2TB

Depending which revision of USB it is and various other unknowns there probably isn't a massive difference between the speeds of the two , then I'd use the Ext to do my backups.

Thanks Mark! I'll get the 2 TB. I guess I can probably talk it over with the technician when I drop off my computer. One thing I'm not clear on-- are you advising to put everything on the new internal 2TB SSD (including the sample libraries)? Or are you saying to keep the sample libraries on the external SSD? I do have a 2 TB Time Capsule for my backups.

[cosmicdolphin]

Thanks Mark! I'll get the 2 TB. I guess I can probably talk it over with the technician when I drop off my computer. One thing I'm not clear on-- are you advising to put everything on the new internal 2TB SSD (including the sample libraries)? Or are you saying to keep the sample libraries on the external SSD? I do have a 2 TB Time Capsule for my backups.

I think it depends on how much you use them and exactly how much performance difference there is. If possible I'd put all my Kontakt Libs on the fastest drive as it will stream them from disk if ram is low.

[Ted]

Update: I got my iMac back from the shop today with a 2TB SSD and RAM doubled to 16GB.

I went to restore everything from my Time Capsule via the Ethernet connection— hoping that it wouldn’t take that long. So I’m looking at the transfer speed of the restoration and it’s like 17 MB/s and telling me that it’s going to take 10 hours. Bummer.

So I went online and have surmised that it’s going so slowly because you have to manually shut off the wi-fi on the Time Capsule if you want to utilize the Ethernet connection for a restore. So I think my Mac is restoring via WiFi. Meh. I read where if you do it properly via the Ethernet connector it’s only an hour or two— whereas mine is showing 9 hours til completion.

Would it be bad to hit the “cancel” button mid-transfer and go back and reconfigure the Ethernet and turn off the WiFi on the Time Capsule and start over? I really don’t want to wait 10 freaking hours.

[cosmicdolphin]

Would it be bad to hit the “cancel” button mid-transfer and go back and reconfigure the Ethernet and turn off the WiFi on the Time Capsule and start over? I really don’t want to wait 10 freaking hours.

Oh man that sucks, never used Time Capsule to be honest on any of our Macs - If ever I put a new boot drive in anything I just take it as an opportunity to start fresh with a clean install. I'd probably just wait it out now.

[Ted]

Well I got my Mac restored and upgraded with the 2TB SSD and 16GB RAM-- the machine is SO much faster and snappier.

But when I go into Kontakt or Komplete Kontrol and pull up one of the piano instruments I still have the same problem. It doesn't look like the CPU used is even very high. And the "Disk" readout in Kontakt seems to be in lower digits when it suddenly turns red and drops notes anyway. So I tried a few things including increasing the preloading of samples. I also tried limiting the number of voices and that just made it worse. Changing my buffer didn't help.

Usually I get the drop outs when I play a passage with the sustain pedal and then let off of it and start to play a new passage. I feel like I'm constantly sneaking around on the piano hoping to eke out the parts without the "disk" readout turning red and hacking up what I'm trying to play. It's hard to get into the mood of playing a piece when you're hoping the damned computer will just let you be.

There were a couple of piano instrumental listings that passed over the last few weeks that I really wanted to submit to. I had gone into voice memos and composed some ideas-- but I didn't even bother trying to track them. I was hoping the issue would be fixed but it's not.

I'm just wondering if my Samsung external SSD with my Native Instruments sample library is fast enough-- but it's just the USB 3.0 connection that is limiting it. Last week I did record a very simple piano part on the Una Corda instrument for an ambient drone cue-- and it would drop out almost every note if I did an offline bounce of the song. It was only when I switched to realtime bounces that I could get the track to sound right.

It's really just the pianos that are causing this problem. It sucks because these pianos sound so good. Perhaps I should take one or all of my NI piano sample files and move them onto my internal system SSD and see if that helps. Anybody have any thoughts on that? would it be best to try to move them or just delete them and reinstall with Native Access? Is there a limit to how many times you can download something from Native Instruments? Some newb questions I know but help would be appreciated.

[cosmicdolphin]

Perhaps I should take one or all of my NI piano sample files and move them onto my internal system SSD and see if that helps. Anybody have any thoughts on that?

Yeah I'd just move one of the problematic Libs to the internal drive and try it , can't say I've ever had the same issue but I don't use an external drive for my Libraries either.

This is how to move them...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OArjT9AiLoI

[Ted]

Perhaps I should take one or all of my NI piano sample files and move them onto my internal system SSD and see if that helps. Anybody have any thoughts on that?

Yeah I'd just move one of the problematic Libs to the internal drive and try it , can't say I've ever had the same issue but I don't use an external drive for my Libraries either.

This is how to move them...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OArjT9AiLoI

Thanks! I've watched a lot of Benoni Studios content and he has a nice relaxed lucid presence and really goes in depth on his tutorials. I'll give it a shot later today.