suitable external hard drives for sound library?

LJN · Post by **LJN** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 2:35 pm

firewire? 5400 or 7200? what's your experiences with either one?

3dot... · Post by **3dot...** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:01 pm

usb2 has faster rates than firewire...
if you have eSATA on your comp then that's tha shit...
but there isn't a laptop that I know of which has one...
I don't think it really matters if it's 5400 or 7200 when it's connected through a fw/usb...

hh69 · Post by **hh69** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:54 pm

i would like to have some advice as well...

Im working part time on a studio computer / part time Macbook and is transfering samples & drumkits etc forth and back all the time....ending up with 3 copies of everything.
So

I want to keep all my small drumhits/samples/homemade loops on a small moveable eksternal disk...only working /pointing at that.

Is that a bad idea ?

Looking at this one:

http://www.glyphtech.com/products/portagig800.html

or this one
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11135

5400 or 7200 ?

are they fast enough to stream from ?
Do they fall "asleep" ?
Anuthing else to consider ?

Thanks JJ

LJN · Post by **LJN** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 7:07 pm

unfortunately esata is not an option. we're talking macbook here...

darkcatt · Post by **darkcatt** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:31 pm

Lacie Fire wire all the way. USB maybe a faster transfer rate but you will notice a substantial difference in IO on the drives. I like USB sound cards, not HD's

ESATA obviously is the SHIT but you poor Mac user cant access it.

kibbels · Post by **kibbels** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:07 pm

I would recommend firewire all the way. Comparing theoretical speed numbers between usb 2.0 (480Mpbs) and firewire 400 (400Mbps) would make you think usb is faster but it is not (google it for proof). Because of the peer to peer, interrupt basis of firewire it can be anywhere from ~30% - 70% faster than a usb 2.0 drive when transferring files. Since usb is host based and in a "master/slave" configuration, if another usb device hogs up the data flow it can cause the other devices to have to basically wait there turn. Not something you want happening.

Of course usb drives will probably work fine all the time and you may never have a problem, but since our mac books support firewire and it doesn't have the potential issues usb could, I'm sticking with firewire on mine.

hh69 · Post by **hh69** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:23 am

OK thanks, I really appreciate your help !

So firewire is the way to go !

-how about 5400 vs 7200 !?!
is it necessary with 7200 ?

Is it a stupid idea (to run all small drumhits etc from an eksternal disk)

Thanks

JJ

crumhorn · Post by **crumhorn** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:32 am

Firewire sound card plus USB drive

or

USB sound card plus FW drive

to avoid conflicts.

I've had a lot of problems sharing the same interface for sound card and external drive.

This is based on my experience on PCs - YMMV

hh69 · Post by **hh69** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:36 am

OK...I should have a look at that.

In the studio, I´m using a Rme FireFace 800 (firewire)

I guess I should borrow a Laci rugged and do some real life studies...

JJ

crumhorn · Post by **crumhorn** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:49 am

hh69 wrote:OK...I should have a look at that.

In the studio, I´m using a Rme FireFace 800 (firewire)

I guess I should borrow a Laci rugged and do some real life studies...

JJ

Try recording from the sound card to the external drive at the same time as playing back tracks from the same drive. That's where mine always screwed up, with the sound breaking up in horrible ways.

It was only a problem for small audio buffer sizes, but that's important for my application.

hh69 · Post by **hh69** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:53 am

I´ll try to get my hands on the small lacie

will report back...

JJ

mkelly · Post by **mkelly** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 12:09 pm

Buy something like a Free Agent Pro which comes with FW/USB2/eSATA interface options in one package. That way you've got options now and for the future.

hh69 · Post by **hh69** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 12:14 pm

it should be (very) small

I´m travelling a lot and counting every gramme...(flights)
No eksternal power etc

Willing to pay for the right solution

JJ

mkelly · Post by **mkelly** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 12:16 pm

hh69 wrote:it should be (very) small

I´m travelling a lot and counting every gramme...(flights)
No eksternal power etc

Willing to pay for the right solution

JJ

I've used Formac Mini drives for portable solutions. They have USB2 and FW interfaces and are bus powered in both cases. 5400rpm only. I think 7200 rpm is too much to sustain from bus power.

hh69 · Post by **hh69** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 12:20 pm

nice !

Thanks