Hi
As the title says, I need advice about what to care about when buying an internal SSD.

I'm willing to buy an internal 4TB SSD which will be mainly used for Kontakt libraries, and other libraries for vst that use samples. Obviously the goal is to reduce loading times.

But I dont understand why the prices can be so different.
Examples:
Emtec X400 Power Pro 4TB SSD M.2 PCIe 4.0 3D NAND NVMe 221€

Corsair Force MP510 M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 4TB SSD 518€

In the description I cant see any specific parameter...

So, if you could explain what should I care about to buy the right SSD that would be great.

Thank you

 

I took the cheapest Samsung SSDs at that time (QVO 4TB, idealo ~180€ today) for exactly this purpose.
They have a lower TBW (total bytes written), so a theoretically earlier time of death, but that does not bother so much in this case.

The Kontakt libraries are essentially written once and therefore usually remain more or less untouched for years. And this is exactly the purpose for which SSDs are intended. Quasi WORM (write once read many).

You have given NVMe and two specific types, but I would suggest to think about it again.
With me, the development was that I have initially only the KOTANKT files stored on a internal SSD but over time i stored more and more of data with WORM character (Omnisphere, EWQL, Nexus, UVI...).

Last year (or the year before?) I moved the 3 internal SSD from the PC into a NAS (with 10Gbit) and that is really good.
I just put the 3 SSD plus an extra SSD for redundance into the NAS and copied the files over.
I make use of hardlinks so I even use the old drive letters.
AFAIK there are no cheap NAS that can handle NVMe.

---------------------------------------------------------------

If you stick with NVMe:

It seems to me that the actual speed at which Kontakt files are read is not determined by the SSD, but by Kontakt itself. After a certain point, you simply don't get a speed gain anymore with quicker SSDs.

So the main difference between the SSDs you mentioned is MTBF (mean time between faults in hours) and TBW (total byte written in terabyte)

Corsair Force MP510 Gen3 x4 M.2-SSD
MTBF 1 800 000
SSD TBW 6820 (!)
https://www.corsair.com/de/de/p/dat...ce-series-mp510-4tb-m-2-ssd-cssd-f4000gbmp510
On Corsairs homepage the RSVP is 379,99€ today btw
---------------------------------
Emtec X400 Power Pro 4TB SSD M.2 PCIe 4.0 3D NAND
MTBF 1 800 000
TBW : 800 (!)
https://www.emtec-international.com/de/ssd/internes/x400-m2-ssd-power-pro

 

Last edited: Aug 20, 2023

You pay more for the brand name.

I got a good deal on a 4TB Seagate FireCuda 530, which has 7300MB/s read, and 6900MB/s write speeds.

 

Buy Intell SSD .. They are super durable, I have 2 of those here, under everyday use and they still alive after 11 years

 

Apart from choosing the brand, the cell type of SSD is also important.
Read below for better understanding.
https://www.kingston.com/en/blog/pc-performance/difference-between-slc-mlc-tlc-3d-nand

 

Read/write speed: How fast you can read or write very large files. Like huge videos, single file Kontakt libraries. ~3GB/s read, ~2GB/s write is mainstream now.

IOPS: How fast you can read or write very many small files. Like your scattered plugins, operating system files, your DAW, your browser, Kontakt libraries with thousands of samples, etc. ~400k IOPS is mainstream now.

Cache size and type: Determines after how much time your SSD write speeds go from GB/s to a fraction of advertised speeds.

I'd probably go for a NVMe M.2 WD Blue. Blue is their 'budget conscious' line, but is very, very fast at reading. Cache is pretty small on the Blue. After writing ~15GBs in one burst to it, write speeds will drop from 3.5GB/s to 500MB/s until you let it recover for a couple seconds.

 

I read "I need advice to buy LSD" and I was like "damn, now we're talking" lol

I have a Crucial MX500 2TB for libraries, samples etc. So far I'm happy with it. My laptop is pretty old so it doesn't have NVMe slots.

But in the not so distant future physical modeling will get good enough that most Kontakt (and Falcon, Halion etc.) libraries will become obsolete IMO.

 

Ok thank you all for your advice. Now I understand better what to care about when buying an SSD.
Special thanks for @twoheart for the effort of such detailed explanation.

2 more questions though:
Is the PCIE version important? My board is PCIe 4
What about it's refrigeration? I live in a hot place, temperature rarely gets down of 20C, but can go to 32C. Average in almost all year is 25C.

What do you think of this one:
Crucial P3 Plus M.2 4000 GB PCI Express 4.0 3D NAND NVMe I can buy it for 221€

 

Last edited: Aug 20, 2023

With NVME drives you should definitely add a heatsink, with SATA it doesnt matter they don't get that hot. Using gen4 pcie will give you an increased bandwith and speed but again you'll need a heatsink to keep the ssd cool enough

Crucial ssd are good stuffs, but I can't speak about the one you refering. But Micron definitely builds quality ssd as they manufacture their own chips

 

Theoretical yes practically no.
Cooling should not be a problem inside a well cooled box.

As I said above - this is a bit lost - the bottleneck seems to be the software in Kontakt. The loading behavior does not get any better, even if the SSD could theoretically transfer 3 or even 4 TB/s. Somewhere it stops at 300-400 MB/s. I guess it was programmed badly, not making use of threading possibly.
(its the same with my backup software btw)

It happended to me years ago. I would never buy Kingston again.
All my SSD since then are Samsung. Not one single failure ever since (830,850,870EVO and QVO)

It depends. If you use it as system disk with permanent R/W then a heatsink would be good. But as Oly waats to use it as KONTAKT disk, they may not even get warmer.
I use several Intel NUCs with NVMe. They never get hot.

 

Last edited: Aug 20, 2023

Crucial 4tb MX500 ssd was like 50 at Newegg a few weeks back. I had a 1 TB it worked fine. That was before I chanced to a M2 NMve 4 TB drive. Crucial Are Micron drives and they are really good. To say they are faster than Samsung I don't know but I do know you are limited via your SATA port on speed.
I like the crucial drive no issues for like 2 years just wanted a bigger boot drive for multi boot.

Just letting you know from my experience.

 

Last edited: Aug 20, 2023

my 990pro 2TB is @ 50 degrees °c when idling, with a thermal pad towards the system heatsink, may need extra cooling.

 

I will only use it for KOntakt and other vst that read info, also my case is very good and have special place for the ssd which is like a small corridor or tunel, with it's own fans. So maybe I dont need to add heat radiators.

About the brands and so, where I live there not much choice and buying outside brings high transport fees, so I have to do with what there is in stores here.

 

That's not very hot for an NVMe. The limit is 80°C. The Idling temp in my box (19'' cabinet in a rack). is 34° C idling a max of 44° C under heavy stress (acc. S.M.A.R.T. over 2 years).
NVMe do have a mechanism to cool them down if they get near the limit. Datatransfer is limited and if the really get too hot they are shut off. I have some external SSDs and when I stress them too much the SSDs slow down massively.

 

https://www.mindfactory.de/product_...4-3D-NAND-TLC--LNM790X004T-RNNNG_1496665.html
185 €
Add this and you´re safe
https://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/be-quiet--MC1-Kuehler-fuer-M-2-2280--BZ002-_1404791.html
or this one
https://www.mindfactory.de/product_...ro-Kuehler-fuer-M-2-2280--BZ003-_1404792.html

Even if you buy the Pro Be Quiet you´re under 220€

 

I personally use a 16 TB HD for storage, I know it's not faster than a ssd or NMve but the libraries are big and you will need the space for them if you use a lot. I wish you good luck on finding what you need.

 

I have two Intel SSD 4 TB HDDs on my audio PC for about 3 years now..... works rock solid and they´re really fast.
3 years ago they were the best buy regarding performance/price.
Im vey satisfied!!!

 

Look for one of the following in your region:

• Team Group MP34 M.2 2280 4TB PCIe 3.0 x4 $246.99CA (167.85 EUR)
• Kingston NV2 4TB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 $264.97 CA (180.37 EUR)
• Crucial P3 4TB PCIe 3.0 3D NAND NVMe $264.97 CA (180.37 EUR)
• Corsair MP600 CORE XT M.2 2280 4TB PCIe 4.0 x4 $259.99 CA (176.98 EUR)

Note: Used Bank Of Canada online conversion.

 

I had notes cutting off when I rendered on kontakt 7 (btw I'm using a cheap 1tb nvme in a cheap enclosure plugged into a USB 3 hub into laptop. streaming at like 18kb I think not the min 6kb. it works ok for 60 bucks.) and saw people complaining about the offline render, streaming speed and multithread- apparently some combo of that will cut notes off. not surprised about bottleneck. but I'm able to get away with playing a tokyo strings quintent with only 8 gigs of ram streaming off the nvme. it's not ideal it's just shoestring budget for now.