Quick question, I use an external HD for all my audio and live library.
Is it crucial that it has 7200 RPM? The one I am currently using is only 5400 and I am getting dropouts. I have optimized my macbook in every other way (or at least I think I have)
Also what are the "typical" settings for buffer size and drive error compensation in Lives preferences?
Thanks In Advance!
External Hard Drive Question
I won't speak for macs, but generally speaking, with an external drive, you have a couple of issues:
1. There is lag time, no matter if you use USB or Firewire - it takes a bit of overhead for the drive to work over the interface.
2. Most external drives go to sleep after some time of non-use.
You can counter the above by getting the faster 7200rpm Sata drives, that have their own power source, preferably the larger 3.5 inch drives (not running off USB power alone) and have 8-16mb of cache. That should give you lots of speed and no dropouts. If you keep accessing the drive via samples or library elements that you trigger a lot, it'll keep spinning, and you should have no issues.
1. There is lag time, no matter if you use USB or Firewire - it takes a bit of overhead for the drive to work over the interface.
2. Most external drives go to sleep after some time of non-use.
You can counter the above by getting the faster 7200rpm Sata drives, that have their own power source, preferably the larger 3.5 inch drives (not running off USB power alone) and have 8-16mb of cache. That should give you lots of speed and no dropouts. If you keep accessing the drive via samples or library elements that you trigger a lot, it'll keep spinning, and you should have no issues.
+1 for SATA.
USB / Firewire will be your biggest bottleneck. 5400 rpm --> 7200 rpm increase will give you big boost on an internal or SATA drive. Maybe it will also boost performance on your external drive, but probably not by much. An intrenal / SATA 5400 rpm drive will give you better performance than an external 7200 rpm USB/Firewire drive.
USB / Firewire will be your biggest bottleneck. 5400 rpm --> 7200 rpm increase will give you big boost on an internal or SATA drive. Maybe it will also boost performance on your external drive, but probably not by much. An intrenal / SATA 5400 rpm drive will give you better performance than an external 7200 rpm USB/Firewire drive.
Using a benchmarking app on my PC, my 5400rpm internal HD is about 12% faster Read/Write speeds than my External 7200rpm HD over Firewire 400. Using the USB 2.0 interface, the int 5400rpm is 2.4x faster than the 7200rpm.
Generally speaking, an ext 5400rpm HD of the same family as your internal will NOT be performing anywhere near the same as your internal. Approx 2/3 performance. A 7200rpm drive will only get you close to the 5400 rpm system drive, depending on your choice of interface.
Generally speaking, an ext 5400rpm HD of the same family as your internal will NOT be performing anywhere near the same as your internal. Approx 2/3 performance. A 7200rpm drive will only get you close to the 5400 rpm system drive, depending on your choice of interface.