Why a second hard drive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter dobro
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dobro

dobro

Well-known member
I'm going to get a second hard drive very soon, in my case because my drive's so very small I can't store much stuff on it. But people with loads on main hard drive space also do this. What's the reason? Also, why not install your OS on BOTH drives? - that way all your apps and browser and stuff wouldn't impinge on your musical projects. Why not put the OS and the sound recorder/editor and the storage files all on the same second hard drive?

Yours in ignorance

dobro
 
dobro, them main reason for having a second drive dedicated for your audio files is to keep the drive head consentrated on the audio only. If you have applications on the same drive, the system will have to interupt the audio to access other things. When you have the dedicated drive, it doesn't have to get interupted. This gives the system less chance to have glitches in your audio files.

Hope this helps.
Joe
 
What JC Lives said.

Another advantage is being able to use removable hard drive brackets. Buy 3 of these. One stays in your machine permanently. The second one you can put your new drive in, the third one you can put another drive in when the first gets full. Sounds expensive, but cheap compared to tape.

You should consider dual or triple booting your system, it's like having a seperate computer for recording, and another for internet, word, graphics whatever.

Dobro, since your now an expert at installing OS's, maybe you want to take the leap and install a dual boot?

http://www.masterbooter.com
 
JCL - that makes sense, thanks. I'm wondering now if some of the pops and clicks I've suffered up to now have been because of the drive head having to do more than just audio.

Emeric - expert at installing OSs, yeah, right. :D To me, dual booting is what you do to your feet before going hiking. Okay, I'll check it out in your link and past threads, because I like the sound of the advantage you describe. Thanks for the nudge.

Just when some new songs are coming through. Just when I want to re-EQ that last CD. Just when I need to play with the envoice more to make it my friend. Damn. Like Gomez says: "There's not enough hours in the day."
 
According to an article I read, the main reason for putting audio files on a seperate drive is Windows Virtual Memory function, which constantly accesses the OS drive to augment the system RAM, thereby causing random disk access during recordings.
 
Dobro,

I'm building a DAW today for a customer, and happen to be doing a triple-boot thing. I'm going to put together some kind of step by step documentation on the process. When I'm done I'll post it.
 
Emeric, I also would be very interested in your post. I am realy hoping to get a computer soon and want to make sure that i set it up correctly.

We patiently await your post.

Joe
 
backups

dont forget the WONDERFULNESS of being able to merely COPY your MyDocuments, Favorites, Cookies, and OutlookApplicationInfo files to your second hard drive before you format your first one.

xoox
 
Faster throughput, write dedicated audio files to the outer tracks of the HD yielding faster throughput "more better" audio with less clicking, popping etc. U could partition 1 HD to write to outer edge, but @ today's prices and seeing how much space audio files can eat up (1968775633568 KHz sampling is right around the next turn, 1 bridge and 1 verse per 500 Gig HD) why not buy a dedicated AUDIO HD?
 
My only gripe aimed at the multiple boot idea is the boot itself. My PC goes from Internet to audio with the click of a mouse, and while not completely reliable when done simultaneously: so what. Alt-F4 what you don't need before recording. When I wanna do both I don't want to wait for the boot between these "sessions". I just wanna do it NOW!
Multiple drives are cool because you can copy all the system files you'll need to the second drive, wipe and reinstall your O/S much more conveniently. But it's never convenient enough for me, so I only have one HD right now.
 
Here is a repeat of an answer I gave a month ago to the same question:

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 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 Comp Useless is selling Maxtor 40 gig U100 5400RPM drives for $99 ($150 - $50 rebate). Or if you prefer one big fast drive, several places are offering the new Maxtor 80 gig U100 7200 drive (with free controller card) for $279.
 
RWhite - that's a cool system. Everyone - I hate to harp on this, but as a professional paranoid (read, system admin), I just wanna remind you all - backup, backup, backup! And keep a copy of your stuff offsite.

Disasters happen and you wanna minimize damage. If you can't afford a safety deposit box, stash a box of CD-R's or tapes at a friend's, your folks' or at work.

Backup solutions can be expensive, but, geez, if the worst happens, wouldn't it be nice to know you at least still have that great jam you did last year that you wanted to use on your album? Or, for that matter, your whole album?
 
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