Best External SSD for VIs

[ossetcrockter]

General advice from someone who has had too many drives (and dead drives). They don't have to be the fastest, they just have to be fast enough for your workflow. Don't worry about FOMO just because something is more expensive (and therefore 'better'). A hard disk with a high rpm might also be worth looking at but any ssd will be fast enough. Also, anything solid state is generally going to be considerably more reliable than spinny disks, as they don't have moving parts. (And even good drives will fail; always make backups of what you don't want to lose, preferably to a remote (or cloud) site if possible).

[slinky005]

Been sitting on this for a few months.
Have Mac Studio on order.
Already have a cheap backup drive.
Need to choose an SSD for audio and maybe a separate one for samples.
Wondering if a Samsung T5 is fast enough for a fair amount of audio tracks (40-50) and Samsung T7 for samples.
I assume samples require more bandwidth than audio.

[machinesworking]

Been sitting on this for a few months.
Have Mac Studio on order.
Already have a cheap backup drive.
Need to choose an SSD for audio and maybe a separate one for samples.
Wondering if a Samsung T5 is fast enough for a fair amount of audio tracks (40-50) and Samsung T7 for samples.
I assume samples require more bandwidth than audio.

Something I learned recently is that Samplers and Romplers are not addressing the number we commonly associate with fast SSDs. That's the large file transfer rate, Samplers etc. ask for random 4K samples, thousands of them, to make a violin patch for instance. So the number to look for is 4K Random Read, which does not incrementally stay in line with the Sequential large file read number that all SSDs are advertised at. In practice it keeps pretty close, but what this means is worrying about it past a point is counterproductive. Most fast SSDs will stream sample libraries relatively quickly, but worrying about say 2400GB/s VS 32000GB/s is really only useful if you're also reading movie files off of the drive. It also means having to google benchmarks for the specific drives you're comparing to make sure it's actually worth the cost difference etc. because you don't get those numbers from the manufacture typically.

Another oil in the water thing. Buying random cheaper USB-C, USB4, or even Thunderbolt enclosures is a bit of a crapshoot. Some of them are not officially authorized by Intel to work with Thunderbolt, (they will say "compatible" not "compliant" etc.) and therefore will do fun things like spontaneously dismount from your desktop. Even more fun, sometimes it's an OS issue.

Sandisk Extreme 4TB portable is what I went with for large sample libraries, it's USB-C and gets roughly 500-1000MB/s but it's actually punching above a bit in 4K Random Read, meaning the 4TB external does not feel that much slower than the internal M.2's in the Mac Pro I'm hooked up to.

[db3]

Have Mac Studio on order. Need to choose an SSD for audio and maybe a separate one for samples.
Wondering if a Samsung T5 is fast enough for a fair amount of audio tracks (40-50) and Samsung T7 for samples.

I have all my libraries (NI, UVI, IK, Spectrasonics etc) on a T7 connected to my Mac. Performance feels like an internal drive.

[In The Mix]

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Sandisk Extreme 4TB portable is what I went with for large sample libraries, it's USB-C and gets roughly 500-1000MB/s but it's actually punching above a bit in 4K Random Read, meaning the 4TB external does not feel that much slower than the internal M.2's in the Mac Pro I'm hooked up to.

Cool! Thanks for mentioning this. I am looking for a large external drive. This might be what I need. In what capacity how you been using it so far?

[Michael L]

I found read speed can vary a lot.
I use multiple drives, based on a very structured file system.
- internal SSD for old and cranky instruments that don't like external samples
- SSD Crucial X8 for all other samples
- USB Samsung as a temp space for downloads and random junk until filed or trashed
- HDD for storage of projects, wav files, app installers and legacy backups
- HDD to Backup all the above except the USB
... Cloud backup is "next"