Migrating VI's from old Mac Pro to Mac Studio Ultra

[glasswing]

Oh - I see your Blackmagic Multi Dock. Not cheap here. And I'm not sure the SSDs are worth it. Hummmm. Have to ponder this one

[glasswing]

Dave - I now see your reply about the Blackmagic SSD DOck. DUH! Looks cool. I wonder if it's worth it? I think for the same amount I could buy another of the Sonnet 2 NVMe boxes for just a bit more $$$. I only have four SSDs - a couple 2TBs and 2X1TB. But I suspect SSD is fast enough for pro tools data. What do you think? And OOPS on the double post. Too much going on here. I also have an organic blueberry farm and it's spring fever here - as happens every spring.

[Marsdy]

Originally Posted by glasswing

Oh - I see your Blackmagic Multi Dock. Not cheap here. And I'm not sure the SSDs are worth it. Hummmm. Have to ponder this one

No not cheap I’m afraid but super high quality and importantly for me, it doesn’t have any fans.
When I went NVMe I repurposed my SSDs as backup drives with one of these: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/exte...owc-drive-dock

Drives are a little wobbly in their socket but it has worked reliably. Again no fans.

[Marsdy]

Originally Posted by glasswing

Dave - I now see your reply about the Blackmagic SSD DOck. DUH! Looks cool. I wonder if it's worth it? I think for the same amount I could buy another of the Sonnet 2 NVMe boxes for just a bit more $$$. I only have four SSDs - a couple 2TBs and 2X1TB. But I suspect SSD is fast enough for pro tools data. What do you think? And OOPS on the double post. Too much going on here. I also have an organic blueberry farm and it's spring fever here - as happens every spring.

Ha ha! Posts crossing. I certainly found SSD fast enough for PT sessions.

Yes I would be tempted with a second Sonnet NVMe box but I had a lot of SSDs to repurpose.

One thing to bear in mind is how many actual Thunderbolt busses the Mac Studio has. Not seen info yet but it makes a big difference!

[glasswing]

Mac Studio Ultra has 4 discreet Thunderbolt busses!
Do you now use NVMe for Pro Tools sessions? Sorry to keep bugging you.

[glasswing]

Just to confuse things more - here's Andy from Sonnet. They designed the AVID HDX PCIe box I was going to buy:

"I would recommend using the NVMe SSD’s on a single chassis/port (port 1 or port 2), and then using both the HDX card/chassis, and the SATA SSD’s/chassis on ports 3 and 4.

Although the HDX card is in use at the same time as SATA drives, audio data, even when editing dozens of voices at high density (192kHz) in real time, tends to only use a small fraction of Thunderbolt bandwidth total.
This should leave plenty of bandwidth available for SATA SSD’s, and Audio throughput for the HDX, while dedicating another Thunderbolt controller to the NVMe SSD’s, and give you the best overall performance.

Let us know if this makes sense, and helps to clarify."

[Marsdy]

Originally Posted by glasswing

Just to confuse things more - here's Andy from Sonnet. They designed the AVID HDX PCIe box I was going to buy:

"I would recommend using the NVMe SSD’s on a single chassis/port (port 1 or port 2), and then using both the HDX card/chassis, and the SATA SSD’s/chassis on ports 3 and 4.

Although the HDX card is in use at the same time as SATA drives, audio data, even when editing dozens of voices at high density (192kHz) in real time, tends to only use a small fraction of Thunderbolt bandwidth total.
This should leave plenty of bandwidth available for SATA SSD’s, and Audio throughput for the HDX, while dedicating another Thunderbolt controller to the NVMe SSD’s, and give you the best overall performance.

Let us know if this makes sense, and helps to clarify."

That is a bit confusing because it seems to imply there are two TB busses with two ports each. It certainly makes sense that you’d but HDX with plenty of bandwidth left for SSDs on one buss and NVMe on the other. Is he specifically talking about the Mac Studio?

[Marsdy]

Originally Posted by glasswing

Mac Studio Ultra has 4 discreet Thunderbolt busses!
Do you now use NVMe for Pro Tools sessions? Sorry to keep bugging you.

Yes. I have the Sonnet NVMe PCIe card for samples and for PT sessions a single NVMe on a dumb adapter card, one of these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[glasswing]

More info from Sonnet vis a vis the 'thunderbolt 3 and 4' which I'd noticed too and asked if there were two tbolt ports on the Echo III

I said, On ports 3 and 4? I'm confused. Are these Thunderbolt ports you're talking about?
Sonnet said, No worries, this can be confusing without a good reference point.
Yes, I am referring to Thunderbolt ports.
I said, And you mean while using the Echo III?
Sonnet said, Yes, or similarly, with an HDX chassis (port 3) and Echo 3 (port 4)
I said, Is there more than one thunderbolt port on the Echo III? Sorry to be so stupid.
Sonnet said, No worries, this is esoteric information!
Yes, there is a second passthrough port on the Echo III. You can connect other Thunderbolt devices to this, but they will all share the same bandwidth from the original thunderbolt port.

The 'but they will all share the same bandwidth' seemed like inviting trouble or bottlenecks at the port. BUT! They know more than I do.

[glasswing]

Well, the fog of war seems to be clearing in my mind. Much of that fog was due to my irrational eco-thrift about my SATA SSDs. But using them for fast backup is a good solution.
I guess now my question is whether I buy the Sonnet Echo III PCie to host my HDX card or the Avid HDX single PCIe? The Sonnet is a bit more $$$ but has more card options. I can service the VI data with the very affordable Sonnet Echo Dual Dock with two 2TB NVMe's (Samsung 970 Evo Plus) in it. And buy a second one for Pro Tools sessions data. That would take up three TBolt ports.
I have money but I'm thrifty. And there are a few more VI libraries I need to get for a project.