Separate Harddrive for audio??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Leolubin
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Leolubin

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Just got a PC with a 30GB hard drive. I got this so I can store some audio data (live concerts and such) on the hard drive (for later burning). Now I think I want to plunge into digital recording on it ( I am also a musician), and I need to know opinions on whether I should have a separate hard drive altogether for audio data. Thanks in advance, Peace, Dan
 
the way I have mine setup is I have a 4.3 gig harddrive with my os and basic programs i use every-so-often...my twenty gig drive has all my audio files and all my audio programs....to tell the truth I really don't know if this is better or worse...but I can record up to 32 tracks with no hic ups :) and I'm sure I can do more
 
From what I understand, the best way to go is to have your audio files on one drive. Keep your programs (music programs included) on a separate drive.

I'd like to hear if anyone is using a RAID setup and what kind of results they get. I am probably going to be getting another hard drive, and I wondering whether it is worth it to go with RAID.
 
Thanks for the responses. The consensus seems to be having a separate hard drive for audio files only. I have a 30 GB hard drive.....that now contains my OS, and minimal other files. I think I may want to just get a 5 GB HD for the OS, and then use my 30GB HD for audio files. Anyone know if it is "easy" to transfer my OS to another HD. A newbie needs to know. ANy help or advice is appreciated, although I am pursuing some other computer friends I have for advice. thanks again! Dan
 
I wouldn't bother trying to *transfer* the OS and programs to another hard drive, just reload from scratch. I'd put another hard drive low on the list though. I'm getting along just fine for now with one hard drive doing multi-track recording. If you've got a good, fast hard drive I wouldn't worry about it for now, you'll be spending enough money on multi-channel sound cards, mixer/preamp and stuff if you really dive into this. Everybody's right though, you'll probably get better performance with two drives seperating your audio files and OS/apps.

I looked into RAID a bit, too. There's no way I'm going to blow a pile of cash on a top-of-the line 10000rpm SCSI RAID setup, and the articles I've read indicate that IDE RAID doesn't seem to do much for performance overall. I'd just get an IBM GXP drive and plug it in. That's what I'll do when I feel constrained by my hard drive performance, which hasn't happened yet and I'm using a Maxtor UDMA66 7200rpm 20GB drive. Those GXP's are supposed to pretty much blow away other IDE hard drives.
 
I'm sure in an ideal world that a seperate hard drive for audio is the way to go. However, I agree with Diragor. I am currently using a single 7200 RPM, 30 gig hard drive for all my files without any problems. I would put off the purchase of a second drive (unless you've got the money).

I would strongly recommend frequent defrag's though. I defrag each and everytime I record.
 
Another reason for 2 HDs

I agree that you can survive perfectly well with one hard drive. But having two IS a plus. In my case I have a 10 gig drive for the OS, and a Maxtor 40 gig U66 drive just for recording audio data. So my audio writes benefit from a bit faster speed.

The other nice thing about a second drive (and this gets back to Leolubin's question) is it makes system back ups easy. I use Norton Ghost to back up the C: drive periodically. It can write the entire C: drive to one big compressed file on D:, or (better yet) span it to multiple 650 meg files which I can then burn onto CDR. If my C: went completely dead, I could put in a new drive (any size as long as it was big enough to hold the image), boot up via floppy w/CD driver, and have my whole system restored exactly as it was in just minutes. You can use the same procedure to move your entire system to a new bigger drive.

Since my audio data files are just that, data, I write them out individually to CDR.

Incidently, if anyone is looking for a new system drive I see that Circuit city is selling Maxtor 15 gig 5400 drives for $75. Or if you prefer one big fast drive, several places are offering the new Maxtor 80 gig U100 drive (with free controller card) for $289.
 
Thanks to all!!

IF I can find a HD cheap enough I may split into 2 (I just want to do something right from the start for once!!), but I am leaning towards just stickin' with one (its 30GB 7200rpm for sakes!!). You have all been most helpful!

Happy recording this holiday season and HAPPY SOLSTICE!!
 
I'm a computer technician and I also record. TWO IS THE WAY TO GO. Why, because the way hard drives read from the disks FAT table. The more files that are on a hard drive the slower the performance goes. Also deleting and moving files causes a disk to become fragmented. Basically information gets scattered around a disk. Get yourself a dedicated drive for music that you should try to keep with as little files as possible, and defragmenting your drive regularly would help alot. I use two Baracuda 9.1 gig drive with a non fault tolerance RAID. And I have no problems. I also have an IDE that works just as good. So I don't know if the RAID makes a difference. I do know that recording on my main drive that holds my programs is a bitch. That is due to the fact there are a lot of programs on the disk.
 
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