G
Got Soul? ©
New member
I am unsure of the current specs of my recording hard drive (not on it atm) But if I was to upgrade anything in order to have a cleaner record take, what would it be?
Seafroggys
Well-known member
If its an IDE drive, you could go SATA. If its a 5400 RPM drive, you could go 7200 RPM (but you're looking at a HD at least 10 years old if that's the case). You could even go 10,000 RPM but those are rare and never really took off, and are quite expensive.
You could also go for a larger cache size as well.
You could also go for a larger cache size as well.
dgatwood
is out. Leave a message.
RAM or CPU. Upgrading your hard drive shouldn't make *any* difference in recording reliability. Your average modern 5400 RPM ATA or SATA *laptop* drive (2.5") can handle near-triple-digit track counts at 24-bit, 96 kHz. If you're running into a performance bottleneck, it's pretty safe to say it isn't hard drive performance (unless you're paging constantly, in which case, again, more RAM).
BTW, AFAIK, every HD manufacturer still builds 5400 RPM drives, so no, a 5400 RPM drive is *not* "at least 10 years old".
BTW, AFAIK, every HD manufacturer still builds 5400 RPM drives, so no, a 5400 RPM drive is *not* "at least 10 years old".
D
dintymoore
Guest
Not enough RAM is where I've run into problems, not hard drives.
My take on Hard Drives:
It's like hiding too much money in one place - you don't want to do that. So having a 500 GB hard drive is great until it crashes and you lose everything.
So I bought an external hard drive case for like $20 off of eBay. I don't even put the hard drives in it, I just use the part that plugs from the hard drive to the computer.
I got 20+ hard drives - some 40 GB, some 80 GB, some 10 GB. I only paid for one, the rest were scavenged from throw away Gateways and Dells. And I just plug one into the part from the external drive case and download a project on it, then put that hard drive in a zip lock bag and store it.
That way you can have multiple backups and if one crashes you don't loose everything, and like I said, they've all been free except for one I bought by mistake before I figured this out. In audio, you shouldn't need more than 40 GB in one place... actually more like 10 since a CD is only .8 GB.
My take on Hard Drives:
It's like hiding too much money in one place - you don't want to do that. So having a 500 GB hard drive is great until it crashes and you lose everything.
So I bought an external hard drive case for like $20 off of eBay. I don't even put the hard drives in it, I just use the part that plugs from the hard drive to the computer.
I got 20+ hard drives - some 40 GB, some 80 GB, some 10 GB. I only paid for one, the rest were scavenged from throw away Gateways and Dells. And I just plug one into the part from the external drive case and download a project on it, then put that hard drive in a zip lock bag and store it.
That way you can have multiple backups and if one crashes you don't loose everything, and like I said, they've all been free except for one I bought by mistake before I figured this out. In audio, you shouldn't need more than 40 GB in one place... actually more like 10 since a CD is only .8 GB.
Seafroggys
Well-known member
You have to remember I live in the desktop world, I have never paid attention to laptops. I have not seen a 5400 RPM DESKTOP hard drive on sale new since the beginning of the decade, if not earlier.
dgatwood
is out. Leave a message.
While it's true that Hitachi and Seagate have both dropped 5400 RPM drives from their line (I *think*), the WD Caviar Green series runs at roughly 5400 RPM. That's a current drive model that came out within the last year, with capacities up to a TB. Same with some models of the Samsung SpinPoint series.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15769
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152175&Local=y
And there are very real advantages to the slower drives from a cooling perspective. Either way, you're likely talking about the difference between 100 tracks at high sample rate versus 140 or something. It just isn't likely to make a difference unless your drive is a fossil.
gcapel
boom box recordings
I pretty sure you will not hear and sonic qualities in upgrading the hard drive or ram. It will improve stability, which is very important.
To improve the audio you will have to upgrade the front end (mic, pre, or interface).
To improve the audio you will have to upgrade the front end (mic, pre, or interface).
dgatwood
is out. Leave a message.
Unless, of course, the hard drive is loud and whining and is in the same room as your mics. In that case, any of the newer fluid bearing drives should be a welcome improvement in your noise floor.
D
dementedchord
Psychotic State alumni ch
a little niggle... i seem to have noticed a diff when i upgraded due inpart i believe in larger on-board buffer... YMMV...
Bristol Posse
Okey Dokey
A faster hard drive (read write speeds) will impact how many tracks you can record simultaneously as well as how fast the system boots and apps load
RAM will affect how well sample based softsynths and such work (more RAM = more space to store samples and less need to pull direct from HDD which is a slower call, Faster RAM means it can pull the samples fasterl)
CPU how many complex VST/VSTi calculations can be handled at the same time.
None of these will affect quality of recorded sound, as mentioned earlier this is a factor of the basic inherent quality of the actual live sound (musicianship, instrument quality, room treatment), Mic choice, Mic placement, Preamp choice, converters. If you are looking at better quality of sound this is where you need to focus not on the computer.
In much the same way that a word document will not be any better written or more attrictive on a faster HDD, audio will be no different on a 10 year old EDI 5400 rpm drive than it will be on a brand new, hyperfast solid state drive from intel. The HDD is just the receptical for the recording once it has been converted in zeroes and ones by the outboard gear. How fast it spins reads and writes do not effect those ones and zeroes in the slightest (except possibly a placebo effect because one has just upgraded the machine so one is looking for a change)
RAM will affect how well sample based softsynths and such work (more RAM = more space to store samples and less need to pull direct from HDD which is a slower call, Faster RAM means it can pull the samples fasterl)
CPU how many complex VST/VSTi calculations can be handled at the same time.
None of these will affect quality of recorded sound, as mentioned earlier this is a factor of the basic inherent quality of the actual live sound (musicianship, instrument quality, room treatment), Mic choice, Mic placement, Preamp choice, converters. If you are looking at better quality of sound this is where you need to focus not on the computer.
In much the same way that a word document will not be any better written or more attrictive on a faster HDD, audio will be no different on a 10 year old EDI 5400 rpm drive than it will be on a brand new, hyperfast solid state drive from intel. The HDD is just the receptical for the recording once it has been converted in zeroes and ones by the outboard gear. How fast it spins reads and writes do not effect those ones and zeroes in the slightest (except possibly a placebo effect because one has just upgraded the machine so one is looking for a change)
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Jeff_D
New member
The Seagate drives sound really open and warm to my ears. They really add a nice sparkle to the top end of my recordings. I like the 7200rpm because it captures more of the low end too.
The Western Digital drives sound too "digital" and thin.
The Western Digital drives sound too "digital" and thin.
Jeff_D
New member
On a totally serious note, back up your data often. Hard drives are inexpensive now and there really is no excuse for losing data anymore. Add a second internal hard drive and some free back up software and you can have your computer back up automatically every night without even thinking about it. 
suprstar
It aint ez being green
I can write a 1gb file to a hard drive in appx 1 minute. 44.1k/24 tracks are appx 15 megs per minute, so I estimate I can safely record up to 66.66666666666666667 (roughly) tracks at once. That's a limit I'm not going to run into any time soon, not until I buy 58.66666666666666667 more mics anyway..
Hard drives are never your bottleneck, I dont care how old it is..
Hard drives are never your bottleneck, I dont care how old it is..