Hard Drive Solution for Macbook

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hohummelody

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Hello,

Second question I'm posting here. After my last post I went on and purchased a Firebox for my Penryn Macbook and have been having zero problems with the Firewire.
However, I've encountered a dilemma as to whether or not I should purchase an external Firewire Hard Drive for my audio content (recording, samples, etc.) and if I do decide on purchasing on, whether I should go for a 7200Rpm one, or stick to 5400?
I already have a WD 500GB My Book drive as a backup, but it's way to heavy and, frankly, fragile, as to service as a hard drive with which I'll travel constantly. Basically, I'm considering whether I should record and place all audio content on my Macbook's internal hard drive (meaning I'll be working with one hard drive and one backup) or opt for a external drive (Lacie 7200Rpm drives look excellent but are a bit pricey), leaving applications and the such on the mac's drive?

Thanks in advance,

Hohum
 
Have you been having any drop-out problems during tracking or mixing? Do you have enough hard drive space?

If all is working just fine and you don't need the space, no point in buying another external drive.
 
Thanks for the reply Santiu.

I keep encountering people (and companies, i.e. Sample Logic) who insist that recording should be done to a different drive than the drive applications and system files are located on. Are you saying that this consideration isn't really that important? There's so much information out there and so many different opinions that it gets rather difficult to decide...

Thanks,

Hohum
 
I'm not saying it doesn't matter. I'm just a big fan of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". If you're not having problems with your HDD, then why not use that money to upgrade something else that might actually result in better sound :D

On the flip side, nothing's worse than having a drop-out right in the middle of that "magic" take. External firewire drive is a good idea to record to, and is one of the steps you can take to help protect this from happening. Dropouts during play-back aren't that bad, just annoying. Since the macbook only has firewire400, it doesn't really matter what type of drive you get (although you'd be hard pressed to find a 5400rpm non-laptop drive these days)
 
I understand what you're trying to say, and I'd definitely rather spend the money on something cool and fun than something practical but I also feel strongly about what you said regarding having a dropout during that one take :)
Regarding the Firewire 400, do you mean that essentially, because of the speed of a FW400 port there will be no difference between a 5400RPM and 7200RPM hard disk?
 
hohummelody said:
Regarding the Firewire 400, do you mean that essentially, because of the speed of a FW400 port there will be no difference between a 5400RPM and 7200RPM hard disk?
Click to expand...

yup... and but like i said, you'll probably end up with a 7200 rpm by default. Unless you get a little external that has a 2.5" drive in it, it's probably gonna be a 7200.
 
Actually I am looking for a small portable external drive since I'll be pretty mobile during next year. I've been unable to find a cheaper 7200rpm hard drive... do you have any technical specs to backup the lack of importance whether it's 5400 or 7200 rpm through Firewire 400. I've been searching the net but haven't found any data on the subject.
Thanks again for your help!
 
I'd definitely rather spend the money on something cool and fun than something practical
Click to expand...

hard drives ARE cool and fun! hard disk rock.. don't stop..


check this one out : not as sexy as the lacie, but at least you get a chance to support your local small businesses!

http://www.pcpower.co.il/product_info.php?cPath=127_136&products_id=1132

Apparently the chipset is important when choosing an external HD. Personally, I'd advise you to get a good external drive, but only if you intend to work on projects with a heavy audio track count, which is almost usually the case with anything that has past the draft stage.

מה המצב אחי?
רוני
 
I just use the external drive as a place to keep a backup of my projects.

Just my .02 cents...
 
Thanks everyone for chipping in!

I'll be taking all your remarks into consideration and also ringing up my local business to get more details on that. :)

I'd still like to know if anyone has access to the "dry" data regarding the general performance difference between 5400rpm and 7200rpm Hard Drives when using Firewire 400. The suggestion santiu made earlier that 7200rpm is rendered virtually the same because of the FW400 bottleneck makes sense to me but I still haven't found any hard evidence for it.

Thanks again,

Hohum
 
I don't buy that FW400 bottleneck theory at all.

It makes a *huge* difference whether you are using a 5400 or 7200 rpm drive when it comes to streaming audio. I've used both with my laptop and a 5400 is only useful if you have very limited track counts and don't need heavy access to the drive.

I have one of those cute little 5400 WD Passport drives, but only use it for data transfers and backups. Good to have for that, but it isn't fast enough for real audio work. I've tried and it's just not up to it.

So if you are doing audio work and want to record and playback from an external drive, you *must* go with a 7200.
 
SonicAlbert said:
I don't buy that FW400 bottleneck theory at all.
Click to expand...

Ya know what... actually I'm mistaken. I was thinking of Sata vs IDE interface on the HDD end of things (as in if you put a SATA drive into a FW400 HDD enclosure, it's a waste). Definitely get 7200rpm.
 
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