What would I need an M.2 1tb internal SSD for?

[Bapu]

My boot drive is a Samsung 870 Evo SSD.

I just upgraded my Samples drive to 16TB (45% full). AFAIK I have no streaming libraries. I also keep my Dropbox desktop app access there too.

My Projects drive is 2TB (about 60% full). Getting close to upgrading to a new drive (probably 4TB this time).

What would an M.2 internal SSD do for me?

 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2022 by Bapu

[RBH]

Os system clone  back-ups ? Audio archive back-up ?  - naw. ..........   Bapus' random thoughts of the day archive ?   Ubetcha.

[DeeringAmps]

17 hours ago, Bapu said:

What would an M/2 internal SSD do for me?

I don’t have any “streaming” libraries either, but the m.2 loads Superior Drummer pretty darn fast. Most of my libraries are on it, but when I added “Legacy of Rock” I had to move a few things.  
But my VSTi collection certainly pales when compared to the Lord of Am. 
IF you have a few that are slow to load and are frequently used, I think the m.2 would be a plus. Haven’t checked prices lately, it’s all a balancing act. 
t

Edited January 1, 2022 by DeeringAmps

[Bapu]

On 1/1/2022 at 5:49 AM, DeeringAmps said:

I don’t have any “streaming” libraries either, but the m.2 loads Superior Drummer pretty darn fast. Most of my libraries are on it, but when I added “Legacy of Rock” I had to move a few things.  
But my VSTi collection certainly pales when compared to the Lord of Am. 
IF you have a few that are slow to load and are frequently used, I think the m.2 would be a plus. Haven’t checked prices lately, it’s all a balancing act. 
t

I guess I've never been frustrated by library load times. One man's ceiling and all that....
 

[DeeringAmps]

19 minutes ago, Bapu said:

never been frustrated by library load times

When Jim built the new machine 3 years ago it just made sense to go with the m.2.
The net result was the faster load times, one of those "unintended consequences" that didn't bite me in the a-$-$.
It was just recently (Legacy of Rock install) that I maxed out the 1TB capacity.
I think some of the Group Buy went on the secondary VSTi drive (EVO) as well.
Some put the OS on the m.2, and that seems like a "waste".
Keep the OS "lean & mean", 250gb EVO's are perfect.
But I digress...

t

[Starship Krupa]

There are two flavors of M.2 drive, SATA and NVME. SATA will transfer data at about the same rate as your Evo SSD.

NVME on the other hand, is way faster, so it's a good technology to use for your boot/programs drive and/or any other use where faster disk read/write times are desirable.

If you're already plenty happy with how fast your system boots, how quickly programs load, how fast your sample libraries load, then you have no need for an NVME drive. Wait a few years, the prices will come down.

[Jim Roseberry]

NVMe now comes in two flavors:

• PCIe 3.0 (good drives sustain ~3500MB/Sec)
• PCIe 4.0 (good drives sustain ~7000MB/Sec)

Only recent make machines support PCIe 4.0.

 

If you have something like Spectrasonics Keyscape, the C7 Yamaha Grand loads ***REALLY*** slow.

Using a fast m.2 SSD helps mitigate this.

[Paul Young]

 I don't like forfeiting the SATA ports to use them.

[Jim Roseberry]

On 2/16/2022 at 9:23 AM, Paul Young said:

I don't like forfeiting the SATA ports to use them.

FWIW, Some motherboards forfeit SATA port/s... others don't.

 

You can also put a M.2 NVMe SSD on a PCIe host controller card. 

That PCIe host card has be be placed in a slot with at least 4 PCIe lanes.

You can get PCIe host cards that hold two or four M.2 NVMe drives.

If two, then the card needs 8 PCIe lanes.  If four, then the card needs 16 PCIe lanes.

(Each NVMe drive requires 4 PCIe lanes for maximum performance)

[Tim Smith]

I have seen MOBOS with two M.2 ports. I guess lanes and cpu are something that needs a match to work properly and why if I were going that route I would be looking at the specs on both. If I had the lanes, I would be trying to use them all on that higher spec'd drive for sure.

This could be a misconception on my part, I have attempted to have multiple drives for sample libraries so that one drive isn't being overtaxed if running several libs at once. I'll try to spread those samples out as opposed to lumping them all on one larger drive.

............if not streaming libraries, I guess it doesn't matter as much.

[Jim Roseberry]

You'll achieve better performance using multiple Samples drives... vs. using a single larger Samples drive.

 

I'd try to us M.2 NVMe drives strategically... for those scenarios where it'll yield the most significant benefit.

ie:  If you've got a library like the Yamaha C7 Grand from Keyscape (which loads S_L_O_W), putting it on a fast M.2 drive helps mitigate the load time.

[Amicus717]

I've got two M.2 drives in my machine, totaling 3 TB of storage. I put my biggest goto libraries on there -- the ones I fire up with every project -- and they do a great job cutting down on load time.

Still takes me about 5 - 7 mins to load up my main template, but that's a huge improvement over my previous DAW, where I'd open a project then go for lunch.