Update Advice for Notebook

D

doncolga

New member
Hi,

I have a Macbook, Intel Core Duo, 2.0 Ghz, 1 GB RAM, 60 GB SATA 5200 RPM running OSX and Windows XP 2. I'm running Sonar 4 Studio right now on Windows and it runs really, really well, but I've got Sonar 6 Producer right now that I want to install. I'm currently recording audio to an external USB 2 drive (250 GB 7200 RPM). I believe I'm taking a performance hit for USB 2 throughput relative to SATA, but I'm also not recording straight to the system drive, which I would like to avoid if possible, so there are tradeoffs for using or not using the external drive.

If I had to pick an upgrade, which do you all think would be the most beneficial?

1. Get a 100 GB SATA 7200 RPM drive and record to this instead of the external USB 2?
2. Go to 2 GB RAM (keep my drives just the way they are now)

Thanks!

Donny
 
doncolga said:
I'm currently recording audio to an external USB 2 drive (250 GB 7200 RPM). I believe I'm taking a performance hit for USB 2 throughput relative to SATA
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Do you think you are taking a performance hit while recording?
 
Unless you're mixing upwards of than 30-40 tracks I can't see any benefit in getting another hard disk. The ram would be a better bet
 
sync said:
Do you think you are taking a performance hit while recording?
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This is because the sustained throughput of Firewire and USB is lower than IDE or SATA. My track counts are typically pretty low...never more than 30, so it may not be an issue anyway in that case.
 
doncolga said:
This is because the sustained throughput of Firewire and USB is lower than IDE or SATA. My track counts are typically pretty low...never more than 30, so it may not be an issue anyway in that case.
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Your throughput is either fast enough or it isn't when it comes to music applications. You would definately know if it isn't.
 
sync said:
Your throughput is either fast enough or it isn't when it comes to music applications. You would definately know if it isn't.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Thanks for the message. What would likely happen if I were actually having throughput issues?

Since I probably don't have throughput trouble now, I'd probably be better off sticking with my current 5200 RMP internal drive and external 7200 RMP USB 2 audio drive and moving the RAM up to 2 GB right?

Thanks again,

Donny
 
doncolga said:
Hi,

Thanks for the message. What would likely happen if I were actually having throughput issues?
Click to expand...

Audio dropouts/artifacts.

Your DAW software would give you a warning message.
 
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