Yeah, honestly that would be an absolute dream. Right now, even high-end consumer SSDs top out at 8TB, and if you want anything bigger you’re stuck looking at enterprise hardware that costs as much as a car. Having something like a small, affordable crystal-drive with 100TB capacity and instant speed would completely change the game, not just for archiving, but for music production, video work, and everything creative. It feels like the tech is almost there, but the “affordable” part still seems like the hardest hurdle. Fingers crossed it won’t take too long.

 

"...How do you manage your storage?"

I have external 4Tb SDD (x 2)

27 Kontakt Libraries (Not all are HDD backbreakers)
Addictive Drums (Damn near all drum Paks)
NI Battery Expansions
Rhodes V8 Pro plugin (19Gb)
Slate Digital Verbsuite Classics library
3 East/West libs
AmpleSound J Bass & Upright Bass libs

*All add up to 335Gb on my SDD.

I only have what I will use. And it's waaaaay more than enough to get me the Grammy that I will never get.

You have to trim the fat. Be selective/smart. Have some self control. It's not Pokemon, you do not want them all! Been there. I used to dl Kontakt libs like a crazy guy, but never use them. Change was needed.

I now work within a strict 500Gb limit for my virtual instruments, as you can become a collector of 'Didn't-know-I-even-had-this' stuff quickly, by accident. I allow myself three 'Stupid Big' NI libs, and the rest are smaller support libs.

Example: I wanted the Stradavari Violin (27.8Gb)...so I got rid of Session Guitarist Bass/Strummed AG/Session Vintage/Sonara/Electric Sunburst/Cassette Vibraphone/ect to save space. I just wasn't using them.

Edit: I went back for Electric Sunburst...gray area, don't judge me.

The rest of that SDD space is reserved for the tracks that will make up the videos and masters to the hits that I'm gonna start working on/finishing...first thing tomorrow.

I am a recovering Plugin Download Disorder (PDLD) addict. One day at a time...

Good Luck!

 

Currently having 3 TB of drum libraries (which is basically everything (yes, everything) from SD3, AD, NI, SSD, OWD, GGD etc. A new SDX easily eats up at least 150 GB. On top of that, roughly another 3 TB of Kontakt libraries. What am I supposed to do with my fifth string library? I cannot think of any instrument I do not have. These 6 TB are all backed up to external storage drives. On my machine, they are just sorted as "Drum Libraries 1", "Drum Libraries 2" etc, and "Sample Libraries 1", "Sample Libraries 2". But in earnest, there's no point in chasing the next Kontakt dragon if all I do is use slightly more than 10 % of what I have.

 

I'm on Mega for free 20 GB, MediaFire for free 10 GB, and Google Drive for 20 GB, I think. I started with CDs in the early 2000s, then DVDs, then Blu-ray, then several hard drives. With a few exceptions, they only lasted a few years. Now I've bought external SSDs. It's a lot of money, but I hope they last for many, many years.

Whenever I sent in a defective hard drive, I usually got a better model back. Sometimes the same one with the same missing parts would break again after a few years, out of warranty.

So, I can only recommend backing up your data on multiple storage devices. White paper sleeves are good for labeling. A Blu-ray burner is also important. It all costs a lot of money, but you get something out of it. The best thing is to burn everything to Blu-ray and store external SSDs in a fireproof case. www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-fireproof-document-safe

 

Haha, I think I want to be that too now. It really does make the most sense to stay smart and selective instead of just downloading everything in sight. Trimming it down and focusing only on what I’ll actually use feels like the right way forward. Intelligent, intentional choices instead of endless collecting, that’s the move.

 

I have a very simple method. I avoid Kontakt like the plague! I don't think sample libraries give you good value in terms of Hard Drive Space and installation times!

Of course that is my own view. Everyone will differ greatly, but I see it as either choose my way, or spend years of your life wading through terabytes of stuff you may never need, just to find what you're after.

 

Can I ask what kind of lifetime you’ve seen with SSDs specifically? I often hear they should last around 5–10 years, but I’m curious about real-world results. Right now I’m mainly working off a 4TB SSD (1 year old), and I also have a 2TB SSD (2 years old) just for archived material. I haven’t made a proper backup of the 4TB drive yet, so sudden data loss on the one I actively use is definitely something I’m thinking about more seriously now.

 

I guess this is specifically for people who use laptops? Desktop doesn't really worry about only having one external. I have 12TB internal. Could use more though...

 

Jahman,programs and especialy kontakt and vst libs can be huuuuugh.Like BFD Expansions,Pianoverse,Syntronik,Spectrasonics,EastWest PLAY,Output,Arturia and many more to mention...full content for DAW and addons..these all together sums up a few digits.
one should use just what he wants to use,and use but 1 internal and maybe 1 external disk.
But for those who want to collect and install all that is available.just buy some extra internal 2 TB SSD`s.Most Motherboards do have 2,4,or 6 SATA connectors,next to M2 slots...if one has 2TB on kontaktlibs,and 2 TB on VST instruments n libs and VST fx,than one will have a whole heap.
And they{SSD} arent that expensive as in earlier days.
But in the end..one should learn to do with less,and just think your little become a lot

OneLove n Blessings to d community of Audioz and Audiosex

 

I guess so. I’m on a MacBook Pro M3 right now since I’m still traveling and moving around a lot. Portability is the main reason I stick with it, but I definitely see myself getting a fixed iMac setup in the future once I settle down more. Mainly for the better internal storage options and overall stability. Probably won't happen until my MacBook starts slowing down though… which feels like sometime way off in the distant future.

 

First of all, there's a tool called "CrystalDiskInfo" that's free; it shows you the operating hours and errors. This way, you can back up your data to another, new hard drive in good time. You should back up your important files again just in case. Samsung and Crucial have a free hard drive tool, which you can also download from their website, which shows you the status of the hard drive, including how many TB are written. You should check this from time to time.

Some HHD hard drives failed quickly but were still under warranty. I have a very old HDD that's still running flawlessly. I've installed two SSD hard drives in my work PC: 1 TB and 2 TB. I think the data is very secure on them, but the first one won't last as long as the second.

I rely on the diagnostic tools. Since SSDs don't have mechanical parts, the read head can't cause a hard drive crash like with an HDD.
With HDDs, you should always defragment them and not fill them up too much. For me, errors started after 2-4 years, so I replaced them all or left them in a closet as data storage.

I hope the SSDs last 10 to 12 years. I also have two 4 TB external data storage devices for movies and plug-in storage, etc., which I connect occasionally, and they should last at least 20 years.

 

If youre on mac. TidyUp (I like v4 the best) its my fave duplicate finder and re-organizer. It can help you delete and move files around. I have a lot of kontakt libs. I use TidyUp to organize all the kontakt instruments into a folder. TidyUp will keep the folder structure of the kontakt files. Then i move all my wavs to my samples folder.

For me this trims the fat but also helps me put the files where i need them and my wavs on a bigger drive.

Its a process but works well for my workflow.

 

Backblaze (cloud provider) data shows that ~10% of their HDDs die within the first 5 years of service, while ~3.5% of their SSDs die within the same timeframe.

A >third of their HDDs die within the first 10 years of service. No data for SSDs yet.

If you meant "how much data can I write to my SSD before wearing it out?", then the answer is: almost certainly several decades worth of data, so not worth worrying about.

If you meant "how long can I keep my SSD fully powered off before data starts disintegrating?": I'm not aware of real world tests, but the standardisation bodies mandate minimum data retention periods for fully powered off NAND depending on the type of NAND (2D/3D SLC, MLC, TLC, QLC), temperature and wear level. TLDR: powered off QLC should be safe for at least one year, powered off SLC for a decade, if stored at room temperature.

 

That is my main ext. SSD:

https://amzn.eu/d/dkNSqlK

hope it lasts long

 

this thread reminds me of two things:
1. - i need to buy another 4tb nvme drive. the one i bought a year ago is dangerously close to full.
2. - i need to do a backup, which i have not done in awhile. yes, i know i'm an idiot.

 

The reason I dont delete libs is that I constantly forget what was about that library...
Anyway, Kontakt can manage two different ssds each one with different libraries installed and use one of them depending on what library you want to use?
That would be helpful...

 

I buy more bigger drives.

 

no, no technial reasons here, it is just a matter of organisation.

one big bunch of chaos data can not be handled properly, 150 subfolders in root can not be handled either.

simple example:
have a disk for downloads,
then 3 subfolders for http, torrent and everything else.
inside them, make a monthly folder for all your downloads.
inside these folders, always collect 4 gb into a disc image file,
later make a BD-XL image of 10 of these "DVDs"
whenever a months runs out, make a backup of the last folder and burn the BD.

such a structure should be implemented (on the disk and in your brain) before you even download the first file. because if you dont do it at day 1, you will never do it.

first paint the wall and repair the heating, then build wooden racks for audio gear to put in front of the wall. if you first biuld the audio stuff, you will never paint the wall.

 

On the production box there is a internal 6TB drive that holds all "content". Content meaning video assets, audio for video projects, sample libs, Kontakt libs, etc... Basically anything content oriented that requires mass storage to contain and is moved off of the system drive to maintain order. Otherwise installing much of this stuff giving in to the defaults, a 2TB NVme system drive would be overloaded in a matter of days. VST's (aax's, dll's, etc) and the executable ends of production applications are generally the only things stored on the system drive. The system drive (the boot drive that holds the OS) needs breathing room to work correctly, and cluttering it all up with superfluous content is a no no... I only keep installed on the prod box what is needed or most used. I also don't download a ton of stuff anymore because a great deal of it is redundant or just plain junk which isn't worth spending the $$ to store. I have a 2TB offline drive that is used to store releases that are too large to put to 50GB optical. It's also used as a buffer to accumulate stuff that will get burned to optical - as in once a 46.6 GB chunk of data occurs on the drive that is burnable, it gets removed from the drive and placed on optical BDR. Really huge libraries like BOOM SFX have their own external hard drive that it lives on. SATA3 Drive docks are your friends.

In the case of Kontakt (or any sampler or sample player for that matter) I do not run libs hot off external drives because it confuses the crap out of the samplers/players (and the DAW's as well) once the drive gets removed from the dock. If there is a library(s) that are needed for a project I will install the needed libraries to the system and run them from the system. Way smoother operation both from the sampler and the DAW in this respect.

 

Last edited: Sep 11, 2025

Good tip @Obineg and exemplary work! All beginnings are difficult. As a beginner, you make a lot of mistakes on the computer due to ignorance. Later, you have to rename everything manually and organize it, which is a lot of work, and you also have to permanently back up the data. If you're too lazy, you'll end up drowning in data chaos.

When I download something, everything goes into a download folder, then I rename the file, for example: "Waldorf - PPG Wave 3 V v2.0.0 VST3 - 05.09.2025 - 44 MB - KG - R2R" and then move it to a folder called "My VSTI & VST" in the Waldorf subfolder.

(Main folder): My VSTI & VST
(Subfolder): Waldorf
Waldorf - PPG Wave 3 V v2.0.0 VST3 - September 5, 2025 - 44 MB - KG - R2R
Waldorf - PPG Wave 3 V v1.3.1 VST3 - September 29, 2022 - 53 MB - KG - R2R
Waldorf - PPG Wave 3 V VSTi v1.02 - May 3, 2011 - 49 MB - ASSiGN

You should definitely unpack subfolders and their subfolders beforehand with WinRAR, etc., otherwise, when copying hard drives, moving data, etc., Windows will refuse to open them because the file names are too long. Keygens can also be unpacked separately so that Windows Defender, etc., doesn't eat the keygen.

I took a screenshot of each plugin and labeled it. For example: Folder: My 32-bit VSTi - 2025 - 063 VSTi - Pictures (jBridge) --> AlgoMusic - M42 VSTi (32-bit) jBridge. If I don't remember the name of a plugin, I search through the images – it's very quick.

Folder suggestions for beginners: MIDI, SAMPLES, WAV, PRESETS, KONTAKT, MP3, MY MUSIC....