External SSD worth it?

Hello composer friends!

I read all kinds of opinions on that so i decided to give it a shot here with people of similar demands to mine.

I have an Mac Mini (Late 2012), Core i7, 16GB, Hd 1tb Fusion Drive (128 SSD) with the latest macOS and running my sessions / libraries thru an LaCie 3tb USB3.0 7200rpm.

I don´t plan to upgrade my machine right now and I’m having difficulties with some sessions within my DAW (Logic X).

An External SSD to run my libraries (thru usb 3.0) will be an big step up or will just improve by a little (or nothing) my computer’s performance?

Is there anything else that you would suggest?

I have macbook air 2017, i have no problems logic pro x.

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I also want to buy SSD(but I heard that if they burn (broken (burning), the information is completely destroyed, unlike HDD) for better performance in kontakt 5! Core I7 -7700, corsair -16 gigabytes, two monitors(video) (for ease of working with a mixer). There is a problem due to the lack of SSD in kontakt 5 loading time (in some libraries). Headphones SENNHEISER HD 280 PRO. All of my musician-friends do not complain about SSD, it’s definitely faster in terms of load time!

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@Avbiolab @Goaudio

I don’t think the problem is with Logic. I just wanted to give you all the information about my setup.

What i do have is this CPU overload with these large orchestral sessions and i know this is relatively common without an powerful setup.

I was wondering if changing my external hard drive to an SSD would improve my system´s performance significantly or slightly.

Thank you! I didn’t knew about this burning problem.

I use Kontakt a lot too. The loading problemas are not really an big deal for me because i really use Kontakt´s batch resave feature.

My biggest problem is during playback / recording. Even with all samples loaded, sometimes i need to force Logic´s closure! Specially with my strings / orchestral libraries.

Most likely they weigh a lot and devour the processor resources.

The problem may be:
one .
1.Old processor. i7-2700? or 970? My old core i5 showed higher performance than i7-2700. I threw it in to landfill (i7). :slight_smile:
If you have an old line of processors i7, then get rid of them (they overheat more often than i5 and sometimes even inferior in performance) and therefore glitches, endless problems, etc.
The first and main indicator is that the processor can not cope - it is a wheeze in sound and stuttering (RAM also, but less often).

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I use external SSD via USB-C for Kontakt libraries. The performance is much smoother and loading times are significantly down compared to internal HDD.
One thing to consider is your connection. You may not see big improvement if you connect SSD via USB 3.0.

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1.Old processor. i7-2700? or 970?

How do i discover it? The only thing i see here is 2,6 GHz Intel Core i7.

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Mouse over the “computer” icon and right-click and left-click the “properties”. There will be a detailed description. Next you will see all the specifications of your PC.

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Thank you! I´ll consider that.

USB-C also is also an good idea and not very expensive one.

Screenshot

44

Slightly lower performance evaluations.

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Core i7 (I7-3720QM)

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I’ve done it right?

Yes. Sometimes the brakes are given by a video card (but very rarely) your processor is not the poorest. This is strange… I pass! I don’t know, sorry bro!

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No problem, @CleanMagicAudio !! Thank you very much for your assistance.

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Hi @SR40

If you upgrade to SSD as your bootable system disk will certainly speed up loading your libraries ( if you put them on it ) and overall system performance. But it will not help you with CPU overload. By upgrading your cpu you will resolve this, but I am not sure can you that on Mac Mini. I think the older versions of Mac Minis are not good for music production, maybe except Mac Mini 2018 with i7 processor 8th generation. I am thinking to buy one, but I will wait for some data from someone who is using it for music.

For using more kontakt libraries RAM definitely helps, but you can’t upgrade them since your model is from 2012. Only on 2018 model you can upgrade RAM.

I think Lacie thru usb 3.0 is good, can you tell me what are write/read speed?
And I don’t recommend Fusion Drive, PCIe SSD is way better option, you get less memory but also you get speed. :slight_smile:

I hope this was helpful to you,
Regards

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Thank you again bro!!

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Thank you, @RainyAudio !

Very interesting… This changes a lot of concepts that i´ve had.

About the memory, that’s true. I cannot upgrade more than 16gb. And i kind of bought knowing that (I thought that with 16gb RAM i would need to buy another machine only in 2026! Lol).

Was really worthy to post here. I’m learning a lot!

Thank you, guys!!

You are welcome. :slight_smile:

I am on 16gb RAM, and I can upgrade it, but I have Mac Pro 2008 eight core, so I am waiting for the Mac Pro 2019 so I can buy Mac Pro 2013 ( better price when new one come out ) or Mac Mini 2018.

CPU is very important for plugins ( eq, reverb, delay… ), that’s why people buy UAD card, it uses itself CPU for plugins. RAM is important for libraries, when you open one in Kontakt you can read how much gb it uses for that channel. You can always check in Activity Monitor how much you use basically everything.

I really recommend SSD for system. Use external drives for storing files, there are some external on thunderbolt 2, example G drive. They have decent write/read speed.

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Hi @SR40
I have the same Mac as you. I swapped the internal disc with a 500gb ssd and use a Blackmagic multidock with 4x500gb ssd’s connected with thunderbolt. I don’t do very large projects but have never had any performance issues.

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