Speeding up SSDs

[Kim Olsson]

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

Thanks Kim. My installation was by the book, done it hundreds of times. I did not clone drive. I am using 6gb ports. Your advice was excellent but think I installed it properly.

I forgot I had HDTach. I installed it and benchmarked my OS drive is over 500 mbps, the other two SSDs are around 350. I think it's a controller issue, will have to rearrange things.

Leslie, good advice, I have Marvell Storage manager but my sytem boots up in like 10 seconds, but I'll unistall it. I am pretty sure I have it disabled anyway, but will double check.

Will report back!

Just so you know... alot of people have had slow speed on their
6gb/s marvell controller... just as you have. The Intel controller have never had any issues. Be sure to use your intel controller to the ssd's you want the best speed. And the marvell to the HD's, dvd and maybe if you have many ssd you can use it but at half the speed which many states it only give...
Somehow the 6gb/s marvell is only running in 3gb/s. (maximum 350mb/s)

Check your motherboards manual to see what kind of 6gb/s ports you have so you can locate where they are placed. I use my three intel controller to my systemdisk, scratch disk and media disk. They are indeed reliable.

[Jeff Harper]

Thanks Kim. I tested the dirves on the different controllers and I have moved my two video file drives to the faster controllers. In my case the Marvell are slower, strangely.

I have three sets of controllers. The first set of Intel 6GB ports are the fastest by far, according to my tests. Then there are two 3gb ports, then there is the set of two Marvell 6gb ports, and they are slower than the Intel by 150mbps.

Has not resolved my issue but at least I know the video drives are on the fastest controllers!

Now if I can figure out why I lose my overclock when I disable Turbo Boost on my MB I'll be set.

[Edward Troxel]

Jeff, open Vegas, go to File - Properties, and change the temporary folder. Make sure you check to box to make this the default for all new projects. By default, it is inside "My Documents" which is probably the worst place it can be. Before you change it, make note of where it is so that you can check that folder and remove all the temp files there.

[Jeff Harper]

Thanks much Edward, I'll try it!

[Jeff Harper]

Tried it Edward, no change. I am sorry, I should have specified it only happens with Ultimate S multicamera undo action. I switch cameras as it plays and very often see it was a mistake so I stop and hit undo and then the wheel spins. This did not seem to happen in the past except when I used slow hard drives. This is really adding time to my workflow.

[Kim Olsson]

Originally Posted by Edward Troxel

Jeff, open Vegas, go to File - Properties, and change the temporary folder. Make sure you check to box to make this the default for all new projects. By default, it is inside "My Documents" which is probably the worst place it can be. Before you change it, make note of where it is so that you can check that folder and remove all the temp files there.

Jeff, why would you like to disable turbo boost?

[Jeff Harper]

Kim, I would prefer a constant, set cpu speed rather than variable. It seems with my MOBO very difficult to achieve an overclock without Turbo Boost.

It might be of no benefit to disable Turbo Boost, but I would like the option and to try it. When I disable Turbo Boost on my mobo I lose my overclock, it's very weird. When I go to set up the overclock again then Turbo Boost is automatically reactivated. It's just a control issue of mine, I guess!

[Kim Olsson]

When your CPU is given instructions, it will use it full power when turbo boost is activated. But as soon you are in idle, it will clock down to save on your electric bill and also give it a longer lifetime...
Your CPU cooler will also need to run full at power constant to cool it down, which gives your more noise 24/7 and also a shorter lifespan on the cooler itself.
Having the function turbo boost activated, does not neglect the full speed of your CPU you want, when you really need it.

A question: How did you OC you system Jeff? Did you OC in your BIOS? or did you use your motherboard software to OC it?

Have you find any solution on your wait time when editing?

you stated the problem occur when using "Ultimate S multicamera undo action"...
That for me sounds like the software is the reason for the problem. I never used Ultimate S, but I guess its a plug-in for Vegas...
Have you tried doing something similar in Vegas without the plugin?
Sorry if I ask you a question you might not can do likewise, but as I said, I dont really know how Ultimate S is working.

[Jeff Harper]

Kim, OC in BIOS using settings.

The software is certainly most of the issue, but with slower hard drives or processor speed it is much worse. I have experienced the issue while using many different hard drives and CPUs so I know the faster my system the less the issue it.

I have asked Vasst about the cause a couple of years ago and I did not get a response. They have always been great with support, but on this issue they did not respond.

I think I just might go to Vasst and ask them about it again.

I appreciate your help, Kim.

[Jeff Harper]

Well, I might have found the cause of my problems. I am currently editing a project where I did not use a particular camera that normally I do use, and everthing is flowing much better. It would seem the 60p footage from that camera really bogged things down.

I am currently doing a three camera edit and it's all 60i and the difference is like night and day. My undos are instant and the whole project is more responsive.

[Kim Olsson]

Glad to hear it wasent a hardware problem. Sometimes a clip can be corrupt. It is not usual but can happend when the camera is written data to a faulty media card or to a bad harddrive.
Glad you sorted it out Jeff!

[Jeff Harper]

Thanks Kim. I still do prefer the performance of my SAS drives. Maybe it was the controller that made the difference. It was an Adaptec hardware RAID controller, so I don't know.

Regardless, aside from my OS booting much faster since I removed the SAS controller, I've certainly seen no improvements. I do enjoy the quiet of the SSDs and in knowiing that I'm using much less power. The fast bootups are SO nice. Bootups using the old controller took an eternity!

[Kim Olsson]

Actually Jeff, you will not notice better performance using SSD's as media disks, what I know of...

The only time you will need the speed of a SSD when using it as a media disk, is when you have different videoclips on the same SSD in multiple video/audio tracks at the same timecode...

An regular harddrive will have to change the position of the acutator arm and head back and forth like crazy trying to catching up with reading the media which is spread out on the platter...

When reading data from a singel track on the timeline in your NLE, the NLE will only read the amount of data which is being played at time. Lets say you have a 40mbit/s clip on your timeline, the harddrive/SSD is only reading 5 Megabyte (MB) per seconds while its playing on the timeline. Thats no problem for even a lower ends harddrive.

Heavy VFX, when using many tracks (audio & video) at the same time, is the only way I can think of when you can benefit that kind of setup.

But I could be wrong, Im not really an expert, just an philosopher =)


Hard for me to explain corretly because as you already know my native language is Swedish. But I hope you got my point Jeff.

[Jeff Harper]

Well, my philosphical friend, as you say, I did notice an improvement with faster drives (SAS) when using for 4 lines of 1080p footage. When editing from slower SATA drives, like 7200, things would drag. For single or two lines of video not much if any difference.

I spend money on these SSDs that I did not need to, but overall I do like having them.