Laptop question...5400RPM drive ok for o/s?

[TREMORS]

Got a notebook, but it has a 5400rpm internal drive.
Pretty standard, or used to be.
This is an older, refurbished model.
Anyway, as long as I use an external 7200rpm F/W drive, is it ok to run the DAW software on the 5400? (PT M-powered, and LIVE! specifically)

The digi support docs imply as long as the recording drive is 7200, should be fine, but just curious if anyone has any first hand experience or things to be wary of.
Never had a laptop before.

I intend to get the M-Audio transit and M-powered just so I can transfer files back and forth from my desktop/LE setup and edit/scratchpad ideas when away from home. Wont use any plugs, most likely, as I have them on the desktop computer.

If I record, it would be prob be a two mic setup, tops.
(if I add a new M-Audio interface)
At least for now.
Thanks in advance.

-D

[J Twin]

You should be able to run the DAW itself on the internal drive, but you should run your audio files off the 7200 external. I have a 1.7 GHz Pentium M laptop with 2 GB RAM, and the internal 5400 HD will do fine up to about 10 tracks of audio, depending on the length of the audio clips. I am currently working on a 12 track song with long audio clips, and the 5400 drops out after about 5 seconds. It's unplayable. So make sure your audio files are on the external and you should be okay.

[TREMORS]

Thanks, that's encouraging, as mine is a 1.7ghz Pentium M, as well, though only with 1GB ram.

Thanks for the answer, I shouldnt have any trouble, though may want to add RAM.
I dont ever record to the internal drive, anyway, on any PC/MAC.
Just the way I learned it, though I know it can be successful.

Thanks for the answer, my friend, and good luck with the song

-D

[Detuned6]

Originally Posted by TREMORS

Thanks, that's encouraging, as mine is a 1.7ghz Pentium M, as well, though only with 1GB ram.

Thanks for the answer, I shouldnt have any trouble, though may want to add RAM.
I dont ever record to the internal drive, anyway, on any PC/MAC.
Just the way I learned it, though I know it can be successful.

Thanks for the answer, my friend, and good luck with the song

-D

I have a 4200 Rpm drive in my lappy, with a few XP tweaks and I can record 12 tracks( in PT LE w/ plugings-dave c test) on the system drive for over 5 minutes.

Is there any huge diferance in having a 5400 or 7200 rpm for your system drive (i need to replace my 4200 rpm)

[J Twin]

Originally Posted by Detuned6

Is there any huge diferance in having a 5400 or 7200 rpm for your system drive (i need to replace my 4200 rpm)

If you work with audio samples, yes. The problem that I posted about above is due to my drive not being fast enough for the the audio information to get my DAW in real time. You get dropouts. If you only do MIDI or very light audio sequencing, a 5400 would work. However, I see no reason to upgrade to a 5400 when 7200's aren't that much more. When it comes to computers, faster is always better.

[TREMORS]

Originally Posted by J Twin

If you work with audio samples, yes. The problem that I posted about above is due to my drive not being fast enough for the the audio information to get my DAW in real time. You get dropouts. If you only do MIDI or very light audio sequencing, a 5400 would work. However, I see no reason to upgrade to a 5400 when 7200's aren't that much more. When it comes to computers, faster is always better.

Almost all DAW software I have seen recommends 7200rpm.
It's the seek time it takes the drive to locate and playback the files.
Slower speed=slower playback, less reliablity.
I am not the most technical guy in the world, I'm a "concept" guy..if that makes sense.
And, conceptually, I believe even an internal SATA drive or whatever still has a limited bandwidth, in a sense, just like a USB, PCI or firewire bus.
Like a highway...too many cars in one place, trying to exit/enter the same road, and you would have congestion.

Whether loop-based, or live recording, I've always been taught NOT to use the internal drive, period. Too much data going to/from the same spinning disk.
And, I do believe the drive speed makes a significant difference.
A single drive has to run the O/S, the DAW software AND read/write to the disk.


-D