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  3. VSL on external drive on a Mac - what would you get?

  • VSL on external drive on a Mac - what would you get?

    O
    O

    I've ordered one of the new Macbook Pro laptops, maxed out with 16GB of RAM. I'm hoping to finally do ALL of my work -- including running VSL -- on a single computer, and I'm cautiously optimistic this machine will do fine.

    My question regards running the samples from an external drive.  What would you recommend?  My current VSL library is around 430 GB, so it will (just barely) fit on a 500 GB drive.

    I'd like something quiet. (I've had external drives before with excessively loud fans.)  Is SSD worth the expense?  (Wow - what an extra expense!)  USB 3?  Thunderbolt?  Thunderbolt seems unnecessary, and hardly worth the cost, and the drive options are extremely limited right now anyway.

    OWC makes a fanless, bus-powered 480GB SD drive with USB 3.0 (the OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini), and it's a rather pricey $640.  The non-SD version is $130 (7200 rpm, 16MB cache).  Have people had considerable success with non-SD external drives, or seen a big benefit to using SD?

    What would you recommend?  Thanks in advance for any advice!

    -John
  • M
    M
    Greetings from Hollywood, Is this the new MacBook Pro Retina? (SWEET)

    In Los Angeles, Audio/Video professionals almost exclusively use G-Drives or CalDigits.

    You can remain portable with a (CalDigit VR Min)i in Raid 0, or a (G-Raid Mini) again in Raid 0.

    These are NOT SSD's but they are very fast, very affordable, and very portable...

    But with Apples new Thunderbolt adapters, you can use just about anything. Regards, Mike B.
  • Cyril BlancC
    Cyril BlancC
    last edited
    last edited

    @Mike B Studios said:

    In Los Angeles, Audio/Video professionals almost exclusively use G-Drives or CalDigits.

    You can remain portable with a (CalDigit VR Min)i in Raid 0, or a (G-Raid Mini) again in Raid 0.

    .

    Hello Mike

    Is it possible that you run Xbench on your CalDigit ?

    Since I have touch to SSD, I will say to buy SSD, you can load much more samples in memory. My 44 GB template loads in 1:40 (instead of 20 mn) template loads 

    You buy 2 x 256 GB SSD and put them in Raid 0. So you will have on 512 GB drive

    MacBook Pro M3 MAX 128 GB 8TB - 2 x 48" screen --- Logic Pro --- Mir Pro 3D --- Most of the VI libs, a few Synch... libs --- Quite a few Kontakt libs --- CS80 fanatic
  • M
    M
    Cyril, There's no need for benchmarks. You are correct. Nothing is commercially faster than SSD's... Ostimusic, asked if anyone had considerable success with external HDD's? Yes we have. CalDigits and G-Drives have ruled the Hollywood Audio/Video scene for many many years. Ostimusic, also asked if anyones seen big benefits while using SSD's? Yes!!! (Cyril) every time he loads his infamous 44gig VSL template, in less than 2 minutes. Ostimusic should buy what he can afford. If time is money, then an external ThunderBolt Raid 0 SSD is perfect for the new MacBook Pro. If this is not an option, there's NOTHING wrong with good old fashioned Raid 0 HDD's. As for me, we use SSD's, HDD's and FIBER.
  • Cyril BlancC
    Cyril BlancC
    last edited
    last edited

    @Mike B Studios said:

    Cyril,

    There's no need for benchmarks. You are correct. Nothing is commercially faster than SSD's...

    .

    I do not agree with you, it is always good to have benchmarks even with disks, I have a USB disk that takes days to copy 40 GB

    MacBook Pro M3 MAX 128 GB 8TB - 2 x 48" screen --- Logic Pro --- Mir Pro 3D --- Most of the VI libs, a few Synch... libs --- Quite a few Kontakt libs --- CS80 fanatic
  • M
    M
    Cyril, You don't agree with me even when I agree with you. What I said was, there is no need for benchmarks to prove your point... YOU ARE CORRECT SSD's ARE MUCH FASTER. No ones talking about USB. Who in this business still uses USB? Someday everyone will have SSD's, but it won't happen overnight. Until then, (Firewire 800 Raid 0 HDD's), (eSata Raid 0 HDD's), and (Thunderbolt Raid 0 HDD's), can and will get the job done.