Outboard memory & heat buildup

[David Emm]

I have a 500 GB SSD and a 128 GB flash drive holding my Logic libraries, connected via Thunderbolt port extenders. They're getting rather warm. Not hot, but still notable and moreso on the SSD. I'm all about near-OCD backups, but the steady use of outboard storage in real-time is new to me. Thermal buildup can eventually cause a kaboom. If all of this is standard operating procedure, great, but I'd like to feel more certain.

 

Anyone having issues with such things sputtering or even failing? Is the heat issue less of a concern by going with something like an NVMe into USB 3.2 Gen 2 enclosure? I want to set the right standard for configuration.

[DeltaJockey]

I find the temperatures depend on what drive is used, and what you are doing with it. Lots of sustained writing will lead to any SSD getting warm to hot. Reads, not so much.

I have some Crucial 1TB X8's which get almost too hot to hold when writing GB's of data to. But my Samsung T7 2TB's only get warm in that situation.

 

I've not had a drive fail yet due to sustained high temps, but they do lose performance when they get hot writing large amounts of sustained data. I often try to write in smaller chunks with a rest in between. Reading has never been a problem for me. And backup SSD's are ideal for active libraries, as once written, (apart from occasional incremental write updates or adding to), they are mainly used for only reading from, as their main application.

 

This is in contrast to using one as an operating system drive where it's being hammered in both directions.

If I remember, that's why good OS SSD's cost more, apart from speed there is a technology difference to the cheaper run of the mill backup SSD's.

[David Emm]

Good points. I'm only reading the libraries of Logic-based instruments, so that's a plus. I may also shift my M-Tron library outside, which is 4.5 GB of skeery. I'm about to do some Autosampling of my Mininova. I'll be tucking the results into Sampler, but that's the only other writing in my future. I should add a couple of Samsung drives. Variety seems like an added safety measure under the new paradigm.

[Reezekeys]

My external SSD experience is mainly buid-it-yourself - the latest being a bare NVMe gumstick in an enclosure I got at Amazon. These SSDs are designed to generate heat as part of normal operation, otherwise the enclosures I've seen wouldn't come with either aluminum heatskinks, thermal pads, or both. If the enclosure feels warm, that's good - it means the heat is being carried off the chips on the SSD!

 

For peace of mind I do prefer an aluminum enclosure with both a heatsink and thermal pad included. I got the one linked below last August and put a Crucial 3P 1TB NVMe SSD inside. (Wow - the SSD was $40 when I bought it back then, now it's almost $70!)

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BXSY5GZH/

 

My samples are all on this drive and so far, no issues at all. The enclosure feels barely warm when in use.