I have a Windows 10 PC running AB Professional 64 bit Version 6.30.5 with NorgateData as my data provider through the plugin. The computer has both a SSD and a HDD, and I currently have AB and Norgate Data Updater installed on the Solid State Drive. I have a feeling this is a really stupid question, but if I move everything from the Solid State Drive to the Hard Disk Drive, I assume I will see a significant decrease in speed and performance, is that correct?
Apologies for such a rookie question, it's just that I've noticed that some things have a huge speed decrease and for some things it doesn't seem to make that much difference. For example the old Premium Data Update script would take 15 minutes or more on a HDD and 30 seconds on a SSD. Other programs I barely notice a difference.
That depends. Large data files on defragmented HDD show smaller differences in speed vs SSD because HDDs are fast on sequential data access for larger files. HDDs are slow on random access / small file access.
I switched to SSD from HDD in 2017 and noticed a substantial speedup in reads/writes in amibroker which was most noticeable upon 1) opening the program and loading price data (under a second from the SSD) and 2) writing imported data after updating with AmiQuote when I close Amibroker.
#2 was where I saw the most improvement - closing the program now only took 2-3 seconds max where before it took a bit longer to write a US stock universe of about 7000 symbols. There was the rare lag in occasional accesses from the HDD which I never experience with the SSD. I won't go back.
Thank you. Knowing your experience is helpful, very much appreciated. After considering the responses to this thread, I'm going to leave Amibroker on the SSD, I'll create some space on the SSD by moving other less important programs. Cheers.
Don't forget to exclude Microsoft Defender Antivirus from your AmiBroker database (and your data folder, if applicable). This provides a significant performance improvement.
In Windows 10:
Settings -> Update & Security -> Windows Security -> Virus & Threat Protection -> Virus & Threat Protection Settings -> Manage Settings -> Exclusions -> Add an exclusion
I have the following folders excluded:
C:\Program Files\AmiBroker\Databases
C:\ProgramData\Norgate Data
Thank you Richard. I have Avast web protection, but I have carried out the equivalent. For completeness and to aid anyone else with Avast, I include this link for quick reference on how to add exclusions with Avast.
Probably not relevant to here, but wanted to say thanks for the latest bulletin on the market breadth methodology change. I remember a different change was made to the market breadth methodology a few years ago and there was no bulletin, so I'm very grateful that you guys now provide the bulletin.