I need advice on a 2nd hard drive for recording

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jant

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Hello

I'm a PC user about to purchase a 2nd hard drive to dedicate to recording audio. I have never done this and was wondering if I needed partitioning software to go along with it? I'm looking for any suggestions on hard drives or software. thanks in advance jant
 
Hi,

Nope, you shouldn't have to partition your disk. As long as the only files you are planning on putting on the disk are audio files, things should go extremely smoothly.
On the other hand, if you wanted to put Windows2000 on this disk, so you had the choice of booting to it, things would get a bit more complicated.
 
My 2 cents

Speed! Make sure you get the fastest HD your computer can support and your pocketbook will allow. DMA66 is the bottom highspeed drive but if your computer wont support it, get DMA33 with the DMA66 ribbon connector. SCSI is going to be the fastest but your run into money. I have a dedicated 30 gig DMA66 drive that seems to do up to 24 tracks depending on the length. Thats the best I can get with my hardware for now.

Good Luck
TC
SINTZ
 
There are a few DMA100 drives starting to come, but only if you have a VERY new motherboard will your computer be able to support it.
As long as the drive is either DMA33 or DMA66 or DMA100, it will be fast enough. Those numbers actually only refer to the interface that the drive uses - and as there are NO drives that can sustain above a 45Mb/Second transfer rate, DMA33 is all you really need.
The most important thing is the speed of the drive itself. IBM drives are considered by most to be the fastest, quietest, and most stable non-SCSI drives out there. Look for a 7200RPM drive, as they are MUCH faster than 5400RPM drives. An average seek time of under 10ms is also something to look for.
If I were you, I'd just go with a mid-range IBM drive. They are no more expensive than other drives, and MUCH faster. You can't go wrong with new IBM drives...

Good luck!
 
One more thing:

You can buy a DMA100, DMA66 or DMA33 drive and it will work no matter what your computer supports. It will just fall back to the highest transfer speed that your computer will allow.

So, I'd have to disagree with SINTZ on this one - Get the fastest drive you can afford, and pay no attention to the DMA speed, as it will work at the highest possible speed no matter what.

Cables are also relatively unimportant. You only need a special cable if your computer supports DMA66 or higher, AND you're getting a DMA66 or higher drive.
If either your computer or drive can only support DMA33, then a normal IDE cable won't cause any performance degredation.
 
Das said it all.

RPM's. That's all that really matters at this point. Christ, it took 3 years for UDMA 33 to become a reality. How long are you going to wait for UDMA 100?

Get the faster hard drive.

Sintz: I don't know what you mean here. The ribbon for ATA/66 is the same thing, only double the wires. It isn't going to make any difference on an ATA/33 drive. It's the controller that matters. Need that on your mainboard, or a ATA/66 controller... i.e. promise, ASUS, ABIT.. they all make the same flavour of controller. But the result is the same. No big difference.
 
Hmmmm

The DMA66 ribon with the double wires offers a large percent less interference and a better throughput whether it be DMA33 or DMA66, though not necessary for DMA33. My DMA33 Windows drive benchmarks over 10% faster with the new cable. I've seen other benchmarks that did better.

I do agree on buying the most you can afford as Das said, it will fall back and when you upgrade you will have that capability.

I haven't heard of the DMA100 but you can bet I'm going to be checking into them. Fast is good. :)

TC
 
Interference. Yes, among other technical things. I've never tried using a double conductor ribbon on a UDMA 33 drive. But, I really don't think the benchmarks you are getting, or have heard of, reflect the cabling in any way.

In other words, i think that's bullshit. Double conductors are a electronic spec that is required for ATA 66. I guess in audio land you need to optimize every cable... is that a Monster ATA/66 ribbon?
 
OK, I see we have a pesemist

Its true whether or not you choose to believe it. And its cool, everyone has an opinion. Below is a quote relevent or not. I've seen the difference, you have chosen not to believe it, OK. :)

At its fast burst data rates, Ultra ATA/66 will go farther than Ultra ATA/33 in removing bottlenecks associated with data transfers, especially during sequential operations. Ultra ATA/66 also delivers heightened data integrity to the EIDE interface through use of a 40-pin 80-conductor cable, and CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) error detection code. The 80-conductor cable reduces crosstalk and improves signal integrity by providing 40 additional ground lines between the 40-pin IDE signal and ground lines. The connector is plug-compatible with existing 40-pin headers, and the incremental cost for the cable should be minimal. As with Ultra ATA/33, CRC ensures the integrity of transferred data.
Click to expand...

TC

[Edited by SINTZ on 08-27-2000 at 17:10]
 
Yeah!

Emeric, I checked out your projects. Enjoyed the tracks quite a bit. Just an FYI. You should have a page on MP3C and make some extra cash with that music. Good stuff!

TC
 
Ok, lets try to make things clear.

ATA/33 and ATA/66:


Your quote makes no sense. You stated that an ATA/33 drive would work better with a double conductor. This is not true.

but....

Your quote is referring to the difference between ATA/66 and ATA/33. Not the differnce between using an dual or a normal IDE ribbon cable.

Do you fully understand the difference between
ATA/66 and ATA/33?


Not being a prick here, just offering info.



[Edited by Emeric on 08-27-2000 at 17:29]
 
heheh...

I'm glad you liked the music, and thanks for checking it out.

I'm only trying to clarify things.
 
Hey

Thanks for the replies and info. A local computer store has ultra DMA ATA/66 drives on sale. Anybody have opinions about the brands Western Digital or Maxtor? Both are 7200rpm. Also, will I need to re-install all of my audio software onto the new drive? james
 
Well, since you ask, heh

No, Im not a hardware tech. DMA-33 (ATA-4) in mode 2 has a transfer rate of 33mb per second and DMA-66 is 66mb per second. Can't tell you the specifics of the ATA/ATAPI-4 desing though. I do mainframe for a living (far from this world) and did networking all through the 80's. But by far an expert in any fashion.

I guess my point was muddled and not technically politically correct. All I was trying to point out was that with the added grounds the CRC was more error free therefore a better response and throughput. I did notice a substantial access and throughput increase and it did benchmark higher as I previously mentioned. I run quite a few cards in my machine and I'm sure there is clutter and the 80 pin did improve performance. What can I say, its a simple fact. :)

Really though, your should put a page on mp3.com.

TC :D
 
One quick thing... a lot of networking people pay close attention to the burst trasfer rate. In standard networking situations, the burst rate makes a huge difference. But with digital audio, we're not opening a bunch of little files... just a few huge ones. Burst rates don't mean a whole lot in this area. Sustained transfer rates are where it's at and that's why SCSI doesn't really offer a big benefit for audio.
 
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