If you are already on the subject what's the difference for HDD.
At the moment I have one nvme 256 gb, 1 small ssd 120 gb and 2tb sata drive.. obviously I don't have enough space on any fast drive to move my library.. 250 gb already..
For example if I load a scene without any enviroment but with 5 6 figures placed.. like
this one for example it takes like 5 minutes to start the render, geometry size i think it's like 600mb if I remember for this one and get a preview for it.. another maybe 5 mins (if there's an enviroment placed like a bedroom or something more rich) to get a decent one.. I mean the render not the nvidia Iray.. for the iray thing it's a bit faster but sometimes I need to see a biger picture and check for problems.
Checked the task manager and the only thing stressed was the sata drive.. 100% of course..
Anyway... I do understand it would faster on the SSD (d'oh).. my question is how much faster will it be? After the render starts the drive is coming back to normal so obviously it won't help much for the actual render time.
Is the SSD/nvme a must have? I read a quite a few posts here and daz forums or whatever.. everyone was saying gpu, cuda, memory, less about cpu nothing about the hdd.
I was thinking to test that these days like to copy the figure library on the ssd on load the scene from there and test it out.. but if you're already on the subject why not to ask as well?
I've been using a mix of HDDs and SSDs on my last couple of systems, and will continue to do so.
Besides file copy speeds, the biggest advantage to a SSD is faster boot times if your OS is on an SSD. That being said, a number of Daz3d veterans recommend placing your Daz Library files, and maybe your Daz install as well, onto a separate drive, or at least a separate partition. The reason for this is that, should your OS fall apart or your OS drive crash, your Daz files will be safely tucked away elsewhere.
There have been a few instances reported where people lost their Daz data after a Windows update. In some of these cases, the Windows Update installer moved the files into a temporary folder, and the users were able to reconstruct their Daz directories on their C: partition.
This doesn't happen often, but it's happened often enough to keep in mind. Plus, by putting your Daz install on another drive, you can easily transplant it to a new build when you upgrade your system, without having to worry about copying your Daz files over to your new OS partition or trying to make the old OS install work on a new system, etc...
Anyways, back to your point, since Virtual Memory is essentially hard drive space being used as memory, well a fast SSD used for Virtual Memory can speed things up a bit over a HDD. Also, your Daz files may load a bit faster if they are on a SSD, but since Daz installs grow quickly, putting your 'data' files on a HDD may not be all that bad, depending on your budget.
SSD's used to be a bit less reliable a number of years ago, but these days they are about as reliable as a HDD, particularly if you have a larger drive where you aren't writing to the same bits as much...
So really, it comes down to budget. Myself, I keep my 'game' files on a HDD, and my Daz product files on a SSD. At one point, I had some of the Daz 'directory' data on a RAM disk (8 GB out of 64 GB, that system bricked itself though), but these days my ram disk handles the Daz temp files mostly. After having a few issues with the CMS database getting corrupted a few times, I moved it back to my C: drive... I'll probably put it on my 'D' drive when I finally build my dedicated rendering system.
Huge HDDs are awesome for backups of course. My HTPC has a 6TB drive installed, which is mainly just to allow me to back up my Daz files onto a separate drive, without having to sweat attaching an external drive. The External backup drive might be bit safer from Viruses though, as it will only be vulnerable when it's actually plugged into your system. Multiple backups good!
Hope this helps. I'm rocking a couple of 2 TB Samsung 970 EVO SSDs, although there wasn't room for the second one in my HTPC system. The EVOs are nice drives. The PCIe 4 drives are a thing now, so when Threadipper 7nm finally rolls around I'll be looking at those.
I think we've discussed this a few times in the Programming and Development section of this forum. More pics less hardware Blah Blah says the Pot to the Kettle...
