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SSD storage - I need help choosing the right option

windhoek

windhoek

The Phoolosopher
I need to buy a couple of SSD memory things but it seems there are newer options beyond a straightforward USB drive. Apparently, you can get these Extreme portable SSDs and these, less extreme-looking SSDs. I'd be looking at buying 500gb memory per thing so it seems I can go for regular USB drives or these fancy-looking SSDs.

As for usage, I'll be loading music onto both of them and plugging one into my Nvidia Shield so that it becomes the library for PLEX Server, while the other one will be plugged into my OPPO blu ray player so that I can play multichannel content as well as albums that simply must be heard gapless, like live concert albums and Dark Side of the Moon, etc (the OPPO plays gapless flawlessly and as my music computer isn't hooked up to my hifi, it's the simplest and best gapless solution; especially as I can navigate and play media using the OPPO music app).

So what's the best option - regular USB drives, or these fancier SSDs?
 
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For me go for the Samsung, usb 3 is faster hence more usefull than usb 1.1 price is the same, I have found Samsung to be reliable inthe longish term. Transfer times should be faster. Not an expert opinion, just a general user!!!
 
For playback it doesn't matter since transfer rates are way more than what is required for even hi-res files. If you do a lot of transferring, the higher speeds might make your life easier.

If the drive will be in the listening room, you might prefer the ssd because it's silent. My usb HDD annoys me with its spinning noise.

Although this is true no matter which way you go, with ssd make doubly sure that the files are backed up elsewhere in case of drive failure.
 
I got the Samsung one (2TB). Similar use case I think - media library for Apple Music (iTunes replacement) in place of a CD player, plus a bunch of video. The only downside I've encountered is that being bus powered, the drive will eject when the USB port goes to sleep. This can be annoying - but I think it's a general issue for SSDs.
 
I’ve been using the Samsung T5/T7 SSD’ for a few years now, no problems using them for rips via Pi/Aries Mini, seem very reliable.
 
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Just home from work and some good comments and suggestions, grazie :)

I can't see myself spending £200 - or considerably more - on a 2TB SSD drive so that's out straight away; I mean, I've already got a 1TB, 2TB and 4TB HDDs so capacity isn't quite the sole issue. I suppose the concern I now have about using an external SSD is that it might eject itself. The 128GB USB drive that's plugged into my Nvidia Shield (the PLEX Server library) has never ejected itself or, for that matter, been ejected by the device. I don't know whether that means it's never gone to sleep or whatever, but what I do know is that it's never ejected itself or been ejected by the device and well, I can't have that.

And yeah, as noted above, I'm keen on SSD storage because it's perfectly silent. I actually don't know whether my Nividia Shield or OPPO can play music via an external HDD that draws power through the USB cable that handles data as well, but I think I'd prefer SSD for silence and longevity. I expect to copy lots of music to the device at first but then it could be months if not years between updates so I'm pretty sure once I get the right storage option, it'll last a long time indeed!

Time for a bite to eat then I'll look into things a bit more later on.
 
Oh, and as the memory will be used primarily as a read device, I guess transfer speeds aren't that crucial, so that means I probably don't need the fastest memory when it comes to transfer speeds. Normal/basic USB 3 speeds will suffice.
 
Best advise for an ssd is get double the size you need then allocate half leaving the rest for longevity.
 
I'd like to know can you just copy music from a HDD to an SSD, and how much better is the sound quality? At present I am using an external HDD into a mini pc, but have purchased a 2nd hand Auralic Aries and will be again using an external drive.
 
@Salamander As far as I am concerned, an SSD is simply an HDD with no moving parts. I can't see how there can be any difference in sound quality if connected to the same device. Even when using Hi-res files the data transfer rates should be well within the capabilities of the storage devices.
 
windhoek said:
I need to buy a couple of SSD memory things but it seems there are newer options beyond a straightforward USB drive. Apparently, you can get these Extreme portable SSDs and these, less extreme-looking SSDs. I'd be looking at buying 500gb memory per thing so it seems I can go for regular USB drives or these fancy-looking SSDs.

As for usage, I'll be loading music onto both of them and plugging one into my Nvidia Shield so that it becomes the library for PLEX Server, while the other one will be plugged into my OPPO blu ray player so that I can play multichannel content as well as albums that simply must be heard gapless, like live concert albums and Dark Side of the Moon, etc (the OPPO plays gapless flawlessly and as my music computer isn't hooked up to my hifi, it's the simplest and best gapless solution; especially as I can navigate and play media using the OPPO music app).

So what's the best option - regular USB drives, or these fancier SSDs?
Click to expand...

I have the Samsung T5 (2 TB) and it's great - absolutely tiny, and fast.
 
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I've heard (i.e. read) many times that SSD is better than HDD storage when it comes to sound quality. I've never done any sort of comparison so I can't say for myself. But I can see why it might as SSD read times are so much faster. Plus they're non-mechanical so totally silent in operation and I think SSDs require less power to operate than HDDs so that might be a factor as well.
 
windhoek said:
Plus they're non-mechanical so totally silent in operation and I think SSDs require less power to operate than HDDs so that might be a factor as well.
Click to expand...

They are indeed physically quieter though a modern hard drive is also pretty quiet so I doubt it's a major factor. Otherwise, same data, same sound!

Tim
 
windhoek said:
I've heard (i.e. read) many times that SSD is better than HDD storage when it comes to sound quality. I've never done any sort of comparison so I can't say for myself. But I can see why it might as SSD read times are so much faster. Plus they're non-mechanical so totally silent in operation and I think SSDs require less power to operate than HDDs so that might be a factor as well.
Click to expand...

An average 5400 RPM spinning-platter hard drive can read around 250Mb/s. Assuming we're talking about external storage, presumably connected via USB 3.0, the bus has a transfer rate of over 600Mb/s. So, unless you are listening to files with ridiculous sampling rates, you will have read the entirety of a song into memory in less than 1 second even with an external HDD. But anyway, that's just for reading it into memory. From there on, the path for audio data read from a SSD or from a HHD will be the same (roughly, RAM -> CPU cache -> bus -> DAC). What happens way upstream of those doesn't really matter. The data is read with error correction, unlike USB audio. Also, the USB 2.0 that your DAC uses in fact has even lower bitrates (60Mb/s), so your hard drive is 100% not a bottleneck.

I am 100% happy to be corrected on any of the above, but that's the overall gist anyway.

The only advantage is that SSDs are silent in operation. The downside is that when they fail, they just fail, whereas HDDs fail slowly over time and give warning signs of impending doom.
 
I was thinking of USB 2.0 when suggesting SSD memory is faster than HDD; that's how far back I was thinking. I wouldn't presume to know but sure, a modern USB 3.0 HDD might well negate read speed issues. All I know is, is that I read countless posts online by people claiming that SSD memory is better than HDD memory and read speed and mechanical noise were the main issues.

Here is the present, a USB 3.0 HDD might well be up to the job.
 
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