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Post by lpedrum on Sept 13, 2014 11:00:59 GMT -6
Due to large track counts, multiple edits, and plug ins such as Slate and Izotope RX I'm for the first time experiencing audio dropouts while tracking. My computer knowledge is somewhat limited so I emailed OWC, gave them my Mac Pro specs, and asked them what upgrade(s) would give me better performance. I expected them to suggest upgrading the RAM (currently at 12) but they came back with this suggestion. Mercury Accelsior
Do any RGO members have experience with this sort of thing? Would it really help recording performance or just load up programs faster? Or maybe the Mercury solid state drive combined with a RAM upgrade would be best? I'm actually thinking of replacing my operating drive anyway since its over four years old and I don't' want to tempt fate. Any and all insights are welcome. |
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Post by Johnkenn on Sept 13, 2014 12:05:09 GMT -6
Adding an SSD (as my main HD however) was the single biggest improvement I've done for my Mac.
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Sept 13, 2014 12:55:37 GMT -6
The way I work these days is SSD system drive, SSD "work" audio drives a single 7500 RPM TB backup drive and I import export to a FW removable project drive using 7500 RPM drives plus back up to the cloud haven't had to use either backup and all I can say this his how PT HD was supposed to be!
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Post by jcoutu1 on Sept 13, 2014 13:09:54 GMT -6
Solid state drives are killer. You can use "carbon copy cloner" to clone your current drive to the new one too. It's free and works great.
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Post by lpedrum on Sept 13, 2014 14:01:48 GMT -6
So, are you all saying that a SSD would improve performance relating to dropouts etc? Also, the Mercury Accelsior is not a drive per se, but a PCI card that acts as drive if I understand things correctly. Check out the link in my original post. I'm really intrigued by it because I'd like to get 5 more years out of my 2010 Mac and this might be one way to "hot rod" it as one reviewer said. Or maybe it's overkill.
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Post by tonycamphd on Sept 13, 2014 14:04:36 GMT -6
yes, and they also make much less noise if you're working in proximity to them, SSD's are indeed killer.
That thing looks way cool, but i think just using SSD's in your drive and storage positions would solve your problem.
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Post by lpedrum on Sept 13, 2014 14:05:11 GMT -6
Solid state drives are killer. You can use "carbon copy cloner" to clone your current drive to the new one too. It's free and works great. I use CCC and I was hoping I could do that! Any chance you're doing sound at Chan's on Sept. 20? I'll be playing there and perhaps we could talk gear. |
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Post by jcoutu1 on Sept 13, 2014 15:28:34 GMT -6
Solid state drives are killer. You can use "carbon copy cloner" to clone your current drive to the new one too. It's free and works great. I use CCC and I was hoping I could do that! Any chance you're doing sound at Chan's on Sept. 20? I'll be playing there and perhaps we could talk gear. Nope, only Thurs and Fri next week. Off Saturday. You're playing with Dan Moretti and Duke? Are you local? Did you play on the CD that they recorded at Chan's? |
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Post by lpedrum on Sept 13, 2014 15:36:06 GMT -6
I use CCC and I was hoping I could do that! Any chance you're doing sound at Chan's on Sept. 20? I'll be playing there and perhaps we could talk gear. Nope, only Thurs and Fri next week. Off Saturday. You're playing with Dan Moretti and Duke? Are you local? Did you play on the CD that they recorded at Chan's? Yes--it's a live CD party at Chan's to promote a Live CD recorded at Chans! -- a little surreal. I live in CT. If I make the move to a SSD I may contact you about cloning the drive it that's OK. |
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Sept 13, 2014 18:37:06 GMT -6
The Owc Mercery Extreme Pro 6gs are awesome, haven't known anyone to use the card based ones.
Everybody I know who uses SSDs has been floored by the improvement in performance !
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2014 18:51:08 GMT -6
SSDs are "the" huge overall performance improvement that surprised me the most in the last decade.
Neverever i will go back to a serious system for audio without at least 240gig for system and audio programs. Not only for dropout prevention but for the perceived improvement in all parts of the workflow.
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Post by mulmany on Sept 13, 2014 18:55:16 GMT -6
There can be an issue when cloning a HDD to a SSD drive. I had a big issue with my windows desktop. I switched from the OWC to Samsung since they give you the software for cloning the drive correctly and fixing the indexing issues.
SSD are the best upgrade you can make!
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Post by lpedrum on Sept 13, 2014 19:28:02 GMT -6
Wow…it's rare that you see a consensus like this--can't think of a reason why I wouldn't make this upgrade. I guess the PCI SSD route is a rather new way to upgrade vintage Macs. Reading reviews of the OWC Mercury Accelsior I came across this bit of info:
One of the handicaps of the 2010 and earlier Mac Pro (still current as of May 2012) is that the SATA ports are limited to 300MB/sec, even if a 6G SSD SATA III is used. The OWC Mercury Accelsior neatly sidesteps that performance limitation by installing in a PCIe slot, which has up 1000MB/sec bandwidth (actual performance doesn’t hit that level, but it is far faster than the SATA ports).
So I'll continue to investigate whether the Accelsior is an even better/faster option, or if there's a downside.
My thought was to use a SSD as my boot drive but still continue to write to SATA drives. But are some of you using SSD for project drives also? This thread is really helpful.
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Sept 13, 2014 20:27:10 GMT -6
Both
Think about what happens with your audio drive! You are constantly changing the data ! That's what making changes is ! While the system drive will improve system performance, I have to say for audio and video the work drive is the one you need the high performance from.
In the early days We had to specify 7200 RPM, select drives for audio!
Others may disagree but man I remember rebuding systems where guys couldn't get the basic performance because they used a awesome high dollar system drive and a crap work drive ( sound designer for one of the last Star Trek flick with the original cast comes to mind).
Your work drive is the one where your asking it to read data in a stream that can be scattered all over the place !
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Post by tonycamphd on Sept 13, 2014 23:13:38 GMT -6
Wow…it's rare that you see a consensus like this--can't think of a reason why I wouldn't make this upgrade. I guess the PCI SSD route is a rather new way to upgrade vintage Macs. Reading reviews of the OWC Mercury Accelsior I came across this bit of info: One of the handicaps of the 2010 and earlier Mac Pro (still current as of May 2012) is that the SATA ports are limited to 300MB/sec, even if a 6G SSD SATA III is used. The OWC Mercury Accelsior neatly sidesteps that performance limitation by installing in a PCIe slot, which has up 1000MB/sec bandwidth (actual performance doesn’t hit that level, but it is far faster than the SATA ports).
So I'll continue to investigate whether the Accelsior is an even better/faster option, or if there's a downside. My thought was to use a SSD as my boot drive but still continue to write to SATA drives. But are some of you using SSD for project drives also? This thread is really helpful. there are a few cheater ways to get your older mac to accept 5,1 firmware, i believe that will get you faster SATA speeds(i cant remember the details right now, so don't hold me to that), my 2009 nahalem mac pro has 5,1 in it, i have a pair of 6 cores here waiting for me to find the time to install. let me know if you're interested in that, i'll dig up a link for you. |
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Post by Johnkenn on Sept 14, 2014 9:53:20 GMT -6
I've had a lot of success with my having the SSD as boot drive and then using a USB3 connection to a standard 4 TB HD (knock on wood). Often wondered how much speed I would gain if both were SSD's. I guess it would be noticed in the buffer size I could achieve.
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Post by wiz on Sept 14, 2014 16:55:40 GMT -6
what sort of computer are you using @johnkenn ?
cheers
Wiz
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Post by Johnkenn on Sept 14, 2014 18:55:46 GMT -6
2012 Mac Mini 16gb RAM. It was the middle model...And the thing is fantastic.
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Post by Johnkenn on Sept 14, 2014 18:56:52 GMT -6
btw - to tag me, I think you have to do @ admin (except no space)...
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