Recording to external HDD?

[miyarakira]

Hello,

Today I did a recording through mic -> audio interface -> macbook, with
Ableton running just a few instruments tracks. Throughout the recording
there are light crackles and occasional pops.

I'm wondering if this is because I was recording to an internal HDD, 5600 rpm.
In the Activity Monitor, there were spikes in disk activity.

I have an external firewire HDD, 7600 rpm. Is there a way to specify Ableton
to record to that drive instead?

I've heard that people often use one HDD for samples, another for recording.
Is it possible to set up Ableton to do this? I'd appreciate any feedback on
how to optimize the system for recording.

Thanks for any help!

[invol]

Just move the project folder to the drive and open it from there. Live puts recordings in the same folder as the .als file.

[miyarakira]

Hi invol, thanks for the tip! It makes sense.

But if the project folder is on the external HDD, wouldn't
sample files also be external? I don't know whether it makes
such a difference to have separate HDDs for samples and for
recording purposes.

[invol]

Samples from the Library, etc, will be where they are until you Collect All and Save, and then they will be in the project folder.

[miyarakira]

I see, so that's how I can use separate HDDs for samples and
recordings.

Thank you, invol, for the good info. I hope this will solve the
problem that I'm having with getting a clean recording.

----

I noticed that you're the owner of the Ableton Training Center in
Brooklyn. Much respect!

[invol]

No problem, and thanks!