Originally Posted By: Jim Fogle
…An external storage drive, be it a SSD or HDD, can only be as fast as the computer port and the drive enclosure interface card.


No… unless you're referring to USB 2 and then accurate enough.

A SATA III SSD is almost as fast as a USB 3 port — SATA III being the limiting factor but not by a noticeable amount. An HDD is a lot slower but fast enough for BIAB — that is correct.

USB 2 is a lot slower for data transfer. With most systems, still ok for BIAB, I guess, as long as I'm not the end user.

Last year (year before?) I tested this and posted the results but I don't recall where. I run BIAB Audiophile on the System drive of my iMac Pro with Real Tracks and Real Drums streaming from a SATA III SSD over Thunderbolt (though no faster than USB 3, the connection is rock solid and never goes to sleep on me). For kicks and giggles, I compared it to running BIAB from the HDD supplied by PG Music and running it from my System Drive while streaming the libraries from the HDD.

Both other ways were slower—as expected—but not by as much as could be and that was a pleasant surprise. Running BIAB from the HDD was the slowest but not unacceptably so. Then I swapped in a USB 2 cable—yikes!

Originally Posted By: Jim Fogle
A USB memory stick or SD card will also work.
It depends on the speed which varies greatly. Many of those don't even run at USB 2 speeds. Those newer, high capacity sticks rated at USB 3 should be fine but I've not tested them.

BIAB 2023 Audiophile, 24/60 Core M2 Mac Studio Ultra/8TB/192GB Sonoma, M1 MBAir, 2012 MBP
Digital Performer 11, LogicPro
Finale27.4, Dorico5, Encore5, SmartScorePro64, Notion6, Overture5