Hard drive buffer

HumanDown

HumanDown

New member
I'm finally getting a second hard drive for my system. I want to run the same manufacture so looking into what I have, I found that the disk buffer is 2mb. Will this matter at all running the OS along with Home Studio XL or am I just thinking too much?

This is the current drive that's in right now (the one that came in it)...

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-148-015&depa=0

...and this is what I'm looking at for a second drive. This drive will be for audio files only...

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-148-022&depa=0&manufactory=BROWSE

When I do get the drive...do I need to do anything to the drive to get it ready or just plug the thing in and power up?

Thanks

Intel P4 2.66GHz
512MB DDR SDRAM
Audiophile 2496
XP Home Edition
HS 2 XL (for now)
 
Last edited:
HumanDown,
I'll try to help, allthough I am not much of a computer person.

The buffer size on the hard disk does make some difference, particularly when using it for an Audio drive. It allows the disk to keep spinning and loading in audio at a slightly faster rate than you stream it off. A larger buffer size should allow you to stream more simultaneous tracks while putting a lower load on your CPU.

That being said, your audio software may make a lot more difference than the buffer size. I was using Cakewalk / Sonar on a P-3 700 mhz machine having a heck of a time streaming 18 or more tracks with a lean built win 98 se audio only Computer (7200 rpm Western Dig drives with 2 MB buffers).
With the same exact set up all I switched was software, I went to Samplitude Producer and have been easily able to stream upward of 30 tracks without a hitch.

As far as what to do with your new drive, I believe you will have to format the drive once it is installed.
 
Thanks for the reply tmix. Well...I guess I'll give it a shot and see how the system reacts. I've trimmed all the fat from XP so I hope this makes some difference. I was running the Sonar 3 demo (one hard drive) and everything's fine really until I start adding tracks with FX. (Not fine then huh) :D The cpu meter doesn't even move but the disk meter sits between 6 to 8 and then spikes to 18 or so and drops out. This is after adding only six or seven tracks. I thought adding a second drive for audio only would fix the problem. The audio drive will have an 8mb buffer with an 8.5ms seek time....so I hope this helps.

Thanks
 
Human

I have heard numerous folks say that staying with the same brand is the way to go...

That being said...

I have a (I think) Hitachi 40 gig (not sure of the rpm, probably 5400, buffer size is probably lowest you could get 4 years ago when the no-name computer builder down the street built this system for me--mainly for internet at the time--I've pretty much rebuilt the thing to be a DAW since then, but I've kept the Hitachi hdd, since it has worked fine) for programs and an 80gig Maxtor with an 8mb buffer for audio.

I used this on an AMD duron 700mb system, 383mb ram, Delta 44 with 'few problems' for a couple of years.

Recently upgraded to an AMD 1.8 Athlon, 512mb ram to fix those 'few problems'.

When I rebuild again, I will probably keep the maxtor, ditch the hitachi, and be searching for a maxtor or WD (I'm not that concerned with having 'the same' manufacturer hard drives in my DAW, given my experience--maxtor and hitachi seemed to have played nice with each other for a while) with an 8mb buffer...8mb buffer seems to be important, according to those I've corresponded with (and my experience--the Maxtor seemed to fix many of the problems that I was experiencing prior to installing it).

Bottom line:
I would advise that you go with a 'large drive' (80gb/120gb/200gb) with an 8mb buffer, 7200rpm, 133(or 100)ata, attached as master to whichever ide drive is NOT currently using lots of ide bus--the ide drive that your software drive is NOT attached to...

Hopefully this made sense, and will help...
Let me know if you have other questions (that I may or may not make feeble attempts at answering...)
Tom
 
The buffer shouldn't make much difference in audio since there is so much changing data.

Staying with the same manufacturer doesn't matter either but the Seagate is probably the best choice for an audio drive - Nice and quiet.

You can get the same model for $75 here:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/default.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=04

They have the 200GB model for $97.

or go to

http://dealmac.com/

and search for "seagate"

I got a bad drive from newegg and they made me pay return shipping. They claim it's like paying for gas to return it to the store. I told them I get better mileage than a 36' RV and I can't enjoy the scenery while shipping. They didn't budge. It's in their policy on their website.
 
SuperSkyrocket said:
The buffer shouldn't make much difference in audio since there is so much changing data.
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the very reason one would want a larger buffer size in hdd on a DAW?

My understanding so far (someone more computer savvy than I please chime in before I make a total dweeb out of myself) of the advantage of having a larger buffer size on your hdd is that when recording onto, or streaming off digital audio to/from a hard drive the ide buss streams at a certain speed. If a 'chunk' of audio data is input or output that is larger than that which can be streamed in 'real time' (because digital audio is all about 'real time' streaming), the buffer can take that 'chunk' and 'hold it' while it is streamed to or from the hdd.

With a larger buffer size, the buffer can handle a bigger 'chunk' of data, resulting in fewer dropouts in audio, particularly for acoustically dense audio.

Am I way off base here?
Tom
 
Thom IV said:
If a 'chunk' of audio data is input or output that is larger than that which can be streamed in 'real time' the buffer can take that 'chunk' and 'hold it' while it is streamed to or from the hdd.
Click to expand...

The buffer is primarily for holding small amounts of data that have already been read from the disk and transferred to main memory. When it comes time to read it again, it's sitting there in the buffer ready to take without the time penalty of accessing the disk. Likewise with writing, we can write and read stuff to and from the buffer for a while before having to flush it to disk.

Huge amounts of disk data, say, 32 tracks of 20Mb wave files, will be transferred in little pieces to the buffer and then to memory, not likely to be read again. The buffer must be cleared and loaded with the next set of audio file data to be transferred, etc. until 640Mb of audio tracks are sitting in main memory (or main memory is full). The main memory will act as you suggest - a holding tank for large amounts of audio data effectively smoothing out the bumps. The disk buffer will not help here since it is not as big as the data being read or written and the read or write will take place only once before the buffer is cleared/flushed. (One might even argue that the overhead on an 8Mb buffer could cost more time than that of a 2Mb buffer or no buffer but that's just piddling).

As long as the drive's actual sustained transfer rate is faster than the rate of play of the audio data that needs to be processed, then we're ok.
 
I think, from the read, that buffer size of the HD makes little difference. I think SuperSkyrocket said it best..."As long as the drive's actual sustained transfer rate is faster than the rate of play of the audio data that needs to be processed, then we're ok." I'll just make sure it's a 7200 drive with enough space for the audio. As long as I have one drive for the OS and programs and the other for audio I think I'll be ok.

Thanks for the info guys!
 
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