Do You Use A Separate Hard Drive For Audio

[tuttlem]

Yes, I've got a MyBook Studio edition (it comms over FW800).

You know, the only reason why I got an external drive is because the ProTools guide told me to. Prior to moving to PT, I used Cubase and didn't notice any problems recording to the system drive using it.

So long as your internal system I/O bus isn't constantly saturated, I don't see what the problem is..

 

[dkelley]

just wanted to say, I have tried both ways and seen no issues either way with any computer made in the past ten years. these days with sata drives it matters even less since there isn't the backup of the controller data between devices on the same ide controller.

but in theory a different drive for audio recording should be better.

so I probably will do it one day....

would make backups easier to. Obviously there are times though when working for certain clients that I use an external drive for portability reasons and archiving reasons. That's different though... performance is actually worse since I'm in that case using a USB interface (which still works plenty fast enough I'll admit).

 

[deadletter]

I'm ordering a new Laptop with a 500GB 7200 rpm HD and wondering if I should partition the HD. The company I am ordering from gives the option of how you partition the HD with a maximum of 3 partitions. I am pondering something like...
Partition 1) 200GB (OS and programs etc)
Partition 2) 150 GB (Samples, VST plug-ins etc)
Partition 3) 150 GB (Projects)

On top of that, I am thinking it might be a decent idea to buy an external Hard Drives such as this: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/iomega-prestige-portable-hard-drive-320gb-03868768-pdt.html

I would use this to backup finished projects from Partition 3 then I can delete them from Partition 3, and keep them on the external HD for storage. I would also back up projects on DVD. As I will be using a USB interface I would only connect the external HD at the end of a days session so as to avoid potentially draining USB resources from my interface whilst recording.

Any thoughts on any of this? I'm new to all this so any advice is much appreciated!

Cheers!

 

[Dr. Varney]

Same here except two are removable (not counting C drive); One for primary tracking, the second for back up. (The 'It doesn't exist until it's in two places..' theory. The trays are pretty cheap too.
Wayne

I believe it's the: 'It doesn't exist unless it's in three places...' theory.

Dr. V

 

[superspit]

I'm ordering a new Laptop with a 500GB 7200 rpm HD and wondering if I should partition the HD. The company I am ordering from gives the option of how you partition the HD with a maximum of 3 partitions. I am pondering something like...
Partition 1) 200GB (OS and programs etc)
Partition 2) 150 GB (Samples, VST plug-ins etc)
Partition 3) 150 GB (Projects)..............

Cheers!

Man, that's getting pretty close to over-kill....

I like (and use) the idea of a parted main HD (O/S-Programs on a side and Projects on the other)...then back-up your project material onto your ext. HD....very neat and simple, and safe (as safe can be).

On a side note, I believe that even modern HD's rely on one Control-board (PCB) and one Read/Write head attached to one servo and a spindle with one motor......'partitions' can mean nothing in a HD hardware failure, but can serve well for some corruption issues (OS/program issues).

Just my shit...but hey..

I like the Hawker Harrier concept...

 

[tc4b]

Kinda. I have a 1TB external I use to store a lot of data, including recording sessions. When I'm working on a project, I move it to the internal drive, and when I'm done, and move it back to the "warehouse" drive.

 

[deadletter]

Yeah superspit, especially as I have limited knowledge with this kinda thing I've gone with your suggestion - I ordered a 300GB/200GB partition. I'm sure there will be those that favour a 3 way partition but at least this way I'm keeping things pretty simple!

Thanks for the input!

 

[frederic]

I use an external "NAS" appliance - a Buffalo Terastation "Live" as my data hard drive. It has four 500 gb drives arranged as a raid-5 array, so it's about 1.5 tb of usable space.

My desktops has the OS and applictions installed, and my c:\users\frederic directory is mounted on the Terastation as if it were local, so all the applications, including Sonar, saves my data there.

If the PC dies all I have to do is reload windows and the applications. I make that easy by using clonzilla to boot the PC and back everything up to an image I store on the Terastation as well.

Here is the neat thing - I have a 1TB USB drive hanging off the terastation, and it backs itself up weekly (can be set for daily, or every other day, or whatever you want) and all the data on the terastation is mirror/copied to the 1tb USB drive.

Actually, I have two USB 1TB drives and swap them the day after the backup, just to cure my above-average paranoia.

Because it's a shared, NAS device, that terastation can be used by the other PC's in the house as well - for music data, or for something entirely different, or both!

 

[izman]

Get a new external. what if your computer crashes and loose everything and that means re-recording every piece of your hard work u recorded. but if you have a hard drive, youhave a back up of your files and you get evn more space to use.

 

[kelhard]

I record with a laptop and my apps drive is separate from my storage drive.
I have 2 HD's on my laptop, and the first primary drive is also partitioned. When I get back home from a session, I'll fire everything off onto an external. The laptop drives are used only for tracking. It seems to work for me.