Track count on USB 2.0 drives

[Gerax]

Hello.

What's the maximum track count you achieved on a simple USB 2.0 drive and external box? I mean, I have a portable setup based around a Dell XPS M1330 (core 2 duo) laptop, M-Audio Lightbridge/PTMP and external preamps. So far I've recorded low track counts with that system on a simple P-ATA drive (7200rpm 2mb cache) in an USB 2.0 drive, but I'm about to record as much as 18 tracks (@ 24/44.1 maximum PTMP limit). I'll be doing a few teste to see system stability , but I'd like to know your stats...

[NorseHorse]

18 tracks here on Western Digital MyPassports (USB 2.0, bus powered). No problems.

USB 2.0 is just as fast as Firewire (don't ask me the details - just repeating what I've read over and over). Drive speed is more important than whether it's USB or Firewire, and you don't even need the fastest drives for 18 tracks.

[d_fu]

I've recorded 64 tracks onto a 2.5" 80-gig Samsung drive from early 2005...
This was a test only, but it ran for quite some time without any problems.

[JEGG]

Originally Posted by NorseHorse

18 tracks here on Western Digital MyPassports (USB 2.0, bus powered). No problems.

USB 2.0 is just as fast as Firewire (don't ask me the details - just repeating what I've read over and over). Drive speed is more important than whether it's USB or Firewire, and you don't even need the fastest drives for 18 tracks.

I don't think so. USB2 has a theoretical advantage, and it may perform faster than FW400, but only for very short bursts of information. FW 400 is significantly faster than USB 2 for any sort of sustained transfer. FW800 is faster yet, but not twice as fast.

But there are other variables, among them basic implementation and chip sets, size and speed of memory buffer, etc.

Not to say that USB 2 won't work just fine for many, perhaps most. It does.

[d_fu]

Interface bandwidth or "speed" is of no real relevance here - even 64 channels at 48k/24 bit don't come anywhere close to these limits... It's only about 8 MByte/sec.

[JEGG]

Originally Posted by d_fu

Interface bandwidth or "speed" is of no real relevance here - even 64 channels at 48k/24 bit don't come anywhere close to these limits... It's only about 8 MByte/sec.

Thanks for providing some realistic context.

And you confirm/repeat all the very consistent advice/comments I've received from a number of manufacturers of interfaces regarding necessary speed of drives. Life is good when acquiring drives is easy.

(Long ago in the Dark Ages, I purchased a 1 gig SCSI drive for a real bargain at the time: US$625.)

Now I'm trying to figure out why I keep buying fast drives- And mostly for non "streaming" applications! I base drive purchases on the reputation (sometimes changing) of the drive, reputation of the whole package, the length of guarantee, the quality of the power supply, mechanical integrity of the case, effective fanless cooling, quietness, having the convenience of the multiple interfaces I desire (USB, FW 400, FW 800, SATA, etc.), and the number (preferably more than one) of ports for each of those communication types. I do use all those types, except SATA. Those drive packages end up being relatively high speed. I seem to end up with fast drives as a result of the other criteria.

I only realized this after this thread.

[hummer]

The fundamental problem with USB drives is that they are software-controlled. Firewire is a chipset, hardware controlled.

Meaning a large CPU/RAM hiccup can effect the performance of a USB drive.

All systems and DAWs are different, but I can tell you that I've definitely encountered issues with Pro Tools when using USB drives (even with small track counts), and as such, I stay away from them.

[nightscope]

Bandwidth stats

[huub]

I've done 64 tracks, but when pressing stop after an hour or three i had strange error warnings and although the files were readable, strange timestamp errors happened..
(back up system obviously, the main system was recording to internal drive)
48 tracks is fine though (although I personally will never record straight to external drives again)

[JEGG]

Originally Posted by hummer

The fundamental problem with USB drives is that they are software-controlled. Firewire is a chipset, hardware controlled.

Meaning a large CPU/RAM hiccup can effect the performance of a USB drive.

And inter-device communication is slower, and the converse of what you've said is also true-they load the processor.

And there's a lot more power available from a FW port.

The speed issue discussed above is more relevant to me when I'm moving huge files, doing backups, etc., rather than streaming.

[JEGG]

Originally Posted by nightscope

Bandwidth stats

Peak rates don't mean much. It's sustained rates that matter. Assuming you do need or want the speed.

It's been a long time since I've compared specifications of complete external drive "boxes," but manufacturers (sourcers?) in the past (such as LaCie) quoted meaningful rates. USB 2 was considerably under its "nominal" specification and also clearly under FW400, and FW800 was about 1/3 faster than FW400.

I'm usually moving files that are at least half a gig, and the speed of the entire transfer is much more important than the speed over the first few seconds.

[DCtoDaylight]

Originally Posted by JEGG

(Long ago in the Dark Ages, I purchased a 1 gig SCSI drive for a real bargain at the time: US$625.)

Hah! My first-ever hard drive was 100MB (*huge* for that time) and it cost $1200! Does that mean I'm pleistocene or something?

I'll stop disrupting the thread now.....

[Remoteness]

Hey, how many speakers can you run with one hard drive?

Click on the link below and see...

Hard Drive Speaker System