Graphics Editing Stations Slow HDD Speeds

[talksr]

Just looking for some advice on a suite of Lenovo P3 Tower Systems with Adobe Lightroom and Premiere Pro.

OS SSD 1TB G4 Perf

Data HDD 6TB Seagate ST6000VN006 IronWolf HDD 5400RPM 6Gb/s 256MB Cache - Used to store media files.

32GB RAM

Intel i9-14900K

 

The systems are i9 and run very nicely but users are reporting a lot of lag when using the Adobe software.

I must admit, when I ran Lightroom and went to Develop tab and simply browsed the library of photos, the system was really struggling to display the media. The HDD was working really hard as can be seen here:

The CPU was spiking at times.

 

 

I have had a look at the specs for the P3, it seems like it is still a current model.

I have taken a look at the Storage Support for the system, and it looks as though 6Gb/s is the max it can support:

 

 

Can anyone suggest anything else I can do to speed these up? I was going to look at faster HDDs but the ones in these are already 6Gb/s so unless I can find equally sized ones with larger caches, not sure what else can be improved on these. A second SSD could work but they have TBs of data so not viable given the cost of SSDs. These are independent stations, not on a server or network so can't use a NAS.

[DalekSec]

Adobe recommend SSDs now, i wouldn't use HDD for anything other than data storage now days.

 

SSDs or ideally NVMes are the only answer to this. (Or a NAS raided correctly)

[talksr]

Adobe recommend SSDs now, i wouldn't use HDD for anything other than data storage now days.

 

SSDs or ideally NVMes are the only answer to this. (Or a NAS raided correctly)

 

Thanks, was not aware of that Adobe recommendation. Gahhhh, I can see this being an expensive fix:)

I feel like we have a set of high performance Ferraris lined up ready to go but with square wheels (HDDs) to pull away in.

[3s-gtech]

6Gb/s is the SATA maximum speed for it, but with an NVMe drive that will absolutely blow that away. That’s also a 5400rpm drive - these were considered unbearably slow for desktop use 15 years ago (obviously there are other performance factors).

Not going to be cheap, and certainly not like-for-like, but 1TB NVMe drives will be affordable enough and will transform it. Then use the HDDs in a NAS or to weigh down the body of the next person who shuts their laptop with a pen on the keyboard.

Edited October 21, 2024 by 3s-gtech

[PotNoodleTech]

Sorry you should be running SSDS on any graphics/video/audio workstations now as HDD are so totally completely and utterly outclassed by modern NVME drives.

 

Maybe get a 2tB NVME/SSD in there for editing workloads and use the SATA drive as longer term storage not for editing.

[talksr]

Sorry you should be running SSDS on any graphics/video/audio workstations now as HDD are so totally completely and utterly outclassed by modern NVME drives.

 

Maybe get a 2tB NVME/SSD in there for editing workloads and use the SATA drive as longer term storage not for editing.

 

Thanks, yes that is the plan…it’s just if I ask for anything that involves spending money, it isn’t going down well. These systems were not ordered by me, I have inherited this school. Nice systems, didn’t know Lenovo did these kind but what you have suggested is exactly what I was thinking, higher speed SSD for working on files and then archive off to HDD when finished working on them. I had a look yesterday and thankfully the MB has a spare M.2 but you need to get a fixing bracket from Lenovo. I was going to push for a 4TB SSD for each one but let’s see!

 

Thanks for everyone’s advice. Much appreciated.

[synaesthesia]

A good compromise would be to invest in (or build) a NAS with the HDD's you gather from those machines for long term storage, dedicated to that department. Then whack some SSD's in for general usage - if it's just scratch discs, you can pick up cheap 512GB SSD's dirt cheap.

[DalekSec]

A good compromise would be to invest in (or build) a NAS with the HDD's you gather from those machines for long term storage, dedicated to that department. Then whack some SSD's in for general usage - if it's just scratch discs, you can pick up cheap 512GB SSD's dirt cheap.

 

We do that here, but Adobe recommends a 10Gb connection to the NAS so have to throw in all the 10Gb NICs and switch also! If you're doing 4k Footage on a NAS a 1Gb line will not do

[synaesthesia]

But if it's just for storage surely that wouldn't matter? All the workload is being done on the scratch disk.

[DalekSec]

But if it's just for storage surely that wouldn't matter? All the workload is being done on the scratch disk.

 

Depends on workload, 4K footage is a beast to edit. Even with 64GB of RAM scratch disk soon fills up.

 

Ideally id stick it all on a NAS as easier to control access data limits of users etc. Did this in last place with Macs and Logic files.

 

But is the more expensive of the options! plus factoring in wiring if needed.

[talksr]

Depends on workload, 4K footage is a beast to edit. Even with 64GB of RAM scratch disk soon fills up.

 

Ideally id stick it all on a NAS as easier to control access data limits of users etc. Did this in last place with Macs and Logic files.

 

But is the more expensive of the options! plus factoring in wiring if needed.

 

Was going to say, this sounds like an ideal solution but very costly.

[synaesthesia]

Ah I see - I must admit not having had the pleasure of 4K yet (don't do media in my current school). Might have to sweet talk the media dept, it's not a cheap curriculum with software & hardware requirements

[Brixy]

SSD's are a good shout, but you can go further. If possible M.2 drives are much more reasonably priced now and might be worth considering (the read/write rates are quite impressive). If you do go down this route you may find that you have two slots on your motherboard that can be used, if the drive is able to run on the faster slot that may help too.