What are you using to store your stuff from SampleTank?

[supanorton]

Hi, folks. Hoping you’re well and staying safe.

After several years recording with Auria on iOS, I recently got a 2016 MacBook Pro refurb with 256 gigs of space running Logic Pro X through an iRig Pro Duo. I picked up Studio Max and now I realize I’m going to need an external hard drive. My Mac has 2 Thunderbolt ports. One for my interfaces and one for charging. Can I charge the Mac while working with an external hard drive? Also looking for recommendations for external hard drives. This is new territory for me, and I’m hoping you all can steer me in the right direction. I think a 2 TB drive will suffice for now. Thank you.

I've searched for external drives that charge. I've only been able to find one 2 TB drive, which is NOT an SSD and only spins at 5400. I've been told that spinner is not going to cut it when working with SampleTank and to get an SSD. I'd like to keep all the SampleTank content on the external drive and work in Logic Pro X on the MacBook.

Any recommendations for what I'm trying to accomplish would be appreciated as well as recommendations for making my setup work as best it can would be greatly appreciated.

Please forgive me for posting in two places. I tried to get the other thread moved from "General Discussion" to here, but I didn't get a response. Thank you.

[garfy]

Hi supanorton

I'm afraid I can't be of much help regarding anything USB-C/TB3 as my Macs pre-date it (just) so I have no experience. Saying that, I would think that there must be some hubs that can take care of charging, as well as extending the number and types of ports available.

As regards to the external drive for sample content, I use a Samsung EVO860 500GB SSD in a caddy. It has all SampleTank 3 & 4 MAX content, as well as the MODO Drums sample content on it, with just under 100GB to spare. All of my SSD (internal and external in caddies) are the same and (so far) have had no issues with either read/write speeds or mechanical defects. YMMV.

You would almost certainly run into problems with a 5400rpm spinning drive, although I use a USB3/FW800 500GB 7200rpm to record/playback audio in Logic projects. Saying that, I couldn't find anything larger that ran at anything higher than 5400. I would almost certainly be buying SSD from now, except maybe for backup drives where speed isn't critical.

Hope that helps a bit. I've locked your other thread and have directed forum users to this thread.

[supanorton]

Hi supanorton

I'm afraid I can't be of much help regarding anything USB-C/TB3 as my Macs pre-date it (just) so I have no experience. Saying that, I would think that there must be some hubs that can take care of charging, as well as extending the number and types of ports available.

As regards to the external drive for sample content, I use a Samsung EVO860 500GB SSD in a caddy. It has all SampleTank 3 & 4 MAX content, as well as the MODO Drums sample content on it, with just under 100GB to spare. All of my SSD (internal and external in caddies) are the same and (so far) have had no issues with either read/write speeds or mechanical defects. YMMV.

You would almost certainly run into problems with a 5400rpm spinning drive, although I use a USB3/FW800 500GB 7200rpm to record/playback audio in Logic projects. Saying that, I couldn't find anything larger that ran at anything higher than 5400. I would almost certainly be buying SSD from now, except maybe for backup drives where speed isn't critical.

Hope that helps a bit. I've locked your other thread and have directed forum users to this thread.

Thanks very much,Garfy. I’ve been looking at dock options. That seems like another piece I’m going to need to get this as close to right as I can. One more question, if you don’t mind. Do you record your projects on the Mac or do you only keep the software on the Mac and record to an external drive? Thanks, again.

[garfy]

That seems like another piece I’m going to need to get this as close to right as I can.

It's a bit of a minefield I guess, but there must be solutions out there.

Do you record your projects on the Mac or do you only keep the software on the Mac and record to an external drive?

Apps and data on the OS drive, record/playback audio on the external 7200 HD and samples on external SSDs. I have two systems, one in the studio and a mobile rig so it's nice just to be able to move whatever I need for a particular job. It's kinda old school (like me) and I tend to like data spread out over a number of drives in case of hardware failure.

[supanorton]

Apps and data on the OS drive, record/playback audio on the external 7200 HD and samples on external SSDs. I have two systems, one in the studio and a mobile rig so it's nice just to be able to move whatever I need for a particular job. It's kinda old school (like me) and I tend to like data spread out over a number of drives in case of hardware failure.

You've been very helpufl. Thanks so much, and I apologize; I see that you mentioned your Logic workflow in your original post. Embarrassing! As a high school English teacher, I get paid to read carefully! Thanks, again. Stay well.

[garfy]

No problems supanorton.

As an ex-FE/HE lecturer I know that, sometimes, skimming is the fallible time-saving device

Hopefully someone will chime in with a solution to your 2-port problem.

[PPH]

I have all samples in an external SSD drive. It works perfectly.

[supanorton]

I have all samples in an external SSD drive. It works perfectly.

Thanks. What SSD drive are you using and how much storage have you got on it?

You don't happen to use a dock, do you?

[PPH]

It's a Samsung T3, with 250 GB of storage. More storage would be better, but that's what I have, and it's enonugh for the SampleTank samples I have, which are the ones that come with Total Studio MAX, i.e. Miroslav Philarmonik 2, SampleTank 4 SE, Syntronik, SampleTank 3 and all of the libraries made for SampleTank 3 (American Acoustics, Cinematic Percussion, etc). So, not bad, in my opinion. I don't use a dock. The computer connects to the SDD through a USB C cable.