New late 2015 iMac coming and I need to buy all new external storage: What is the optimum external hard drive setup?

[8trakbeat]

After not recording for 6 years, and in anticipation of recording a new album, I am completely replacing my outdated computer setup.

 

I will be buying a new late 2015 iMac for music production:

27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display

4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz

8GB 1867MHz DDR3 SDRAM - two 4GB

1TB Flash Storage

AMD Radeon R9 M395 with 2GB video memory

 

and I will be buying Omnisphere 2

 

Please comment on my external storage setup:

 

system drive: 1TB SSD

audio/session/recording drive: 500 GB SSD Glyph Blackbox Plus 512GB $230

sample library drive (just for Omnisphere at this point): 500 GB SSD Glyph Blackbox Plus 512GB $230

backup drive: either OWC Mercury Elite Pro with +1 Port 4.0TB 7200 RPM USB 3.0 $230 OR G-Technology G-Drive USB 4TB Desktop Hard Drive $180

 

I want to make a smart decision and would appreciate your help.

 

I am a singer-songwriter and will be recording myself on vocals, guitar and MIDI keyboard. Modest track counts.

Edited May 22, 2017 by 8trakbeat

[triplets]

I would grab more ram. You can never have enough.

Unless you wanna fill up the internal HD with pics and movies, get the 500 gig SSD and save 600 bucks.

Are you gonna go Thunderbolt SSD for the external drives?

For backup get the Mercury Elite Pro USB 3 enclosure and separately get the Toshiba 6TB x300 drive, all from OWC.

You can even record all your sessions there if need be.

[8trakbeat]

I would grab more ram. You can never have enough.

Unless you wanna fill up the internal HD with pics and movies, get the 500 gig SSD and save 600 bucks.

Are you gonna go Thunderbolt SSD for the external drives?

For backup get the Mercury Elite Pro USB 3 enclosure and separately get the Toshiba 6TB x300 drive, all from OWC.

You can even record all your sessions there if need be.

hi triplets,

I was going to go USB SSD for the sample library and audio recording drives, and then USB HDD for the backup.

The iMac does have 2 Thunderbolt ports so I could go Thunderbolt SSD, but they are more expensive. Is Thunderbolt SSD worth it?

Are you also suggesting that it is advisable to write audio to a HDD rather than SSD?

[triplets]

USB is the bottleneck on SSDs. Not getting the max out of it.

Spinning 7200 rpm on USB 3 is fast as well for audio purposes.

[Wolfie2112]

SSD's are overkill for what you're doing. Personally, I'd just get an external powered drive (7200rpm)....like this LACIE

 

Sink the saved cash into a good audio interface and more RAM, at least 16GB.

[8trakbeat]

SSD's are overkill for what you're doing. Personally, I'd just get an external powered drive (7200rpm)....like this LACIE

 

Sink the saved cash into a good audio interface and more RAM, at least 16GB.

I will get more aftermarket RAM, like you suggest.

I am inclined to go SSD for the sample library since I will be using Omnisphere and I've heard that it's snappier to have the samples on SSD.

Backup drive will be 7200 rpm

So in my case the audio recording drive, you're saying, it's OK to be 7200 rpm HDD?

[triplets]

So in my case the audio recording drive, you're saying, it's OK to be 7200 rpm HDD?

Unless you're recording everything at 192k sample rate, traditional 7200 rpm HD should be fine.

[Wolfie2112]

SSD's are overkill for what you're doing. Personally, I'd just get an external powered drive (7200rpm)....like this LACIE

 

Sink the saved cash into a good audio interface and more RAM, at least 16GB.

I will get more aftermarket RAM, like you suggest.

I am inclined to go SSD for the sample library since I will be using Omnisphere and I've heard that it's snappier to have the samples on SSD.

Backup drive will be 7200 rpm

So in my case the audio recording drive, you're saying, it's OK to be 7200 rpm HDD?

Yes, I record audio to 7200's and also have Omnisphere on a 7200...no issues. I only run demanding libraries from SSD, like Hollywood Strings/Brass.