Hard Drive options?

dsound · 22nd August 2006

Just wanted to get some input on External Hard drive options besides Glyph and Lacie. Glyph is rock solid but pricey.

PhilE · 22nd August 2006

I use Lacie d2 drives.

Pasta4lnch · 22nd August 2006

oddly enough most of the ACTUAL drives in the boxes are usually one of a few brands. My buddy had an enclosure that was very EASY to swap the inner drive. It was made specifically for it (I forget the name

) but that would be my choice for a new external.

this way if the drive goes or you need a bigger one just get a new internal and pop it in. much cheaper IMOthumbsup

vibralux · 22nd August 2006

I am thinking about the external FW harddrive that would share the FW bus with my Fireface 800. Do You guys think it is a good idea? I was thinking about one of those Lacie Harddrives, 7200RPM ,that could get connected via USB and FW. I would keep all my samples and huge libraries (Scarbee Rhodes and that sort of stuff) on it. Is this a sensible solution? I dont want to invest in internal SATA drives, since no more drives will fit inside my comp, which I will pretty soon be changing anyway. Any thoughts ?

Cheers

Marty

nathanvacha · 22nd August 2006

Never had a problem with a lacie personally... and I'm partial to their rackmountability. Anyone ever seen something like a rackmounted enclosure that could hold internals? That would be a cool product.

vibralux · 22nd August 2006

I am mainly concerned about possible conflicts on the FW bus. Do You guys think the FW hardrive would work without any problems next to the FF800? Would it have any impact on the FF800 performance?

cheeers

MArty

**Reptil** · 22nd August 2006

That was EXACTLY my idea. So I went out and got me a D2.
I figured, well the 400 firewire bus on my G4 must be a different one than the 800 so I can hook my fireface and the D2 at the same time.

eeh no.
the firewire bus on macs is shared. by all the ports

and even on the intel machines this seems to be the case.
My D2 proved faulty and committed suicide. Lucky for me, it had a 2 year guarantee, so... I got a new one. And that has been ok.
Running the fireface and a firewire disk renders all kinds of crispy digital artifacts, pretty loud as well. unusable.

Solution:
get an external disk with USB2. and a USB card if you're also on a G4. downside: it supposedly performs a bit less good than firewire.
or get a firewire PCI card, so you can hook any firewire disk, or the fireface on a different bus. Because that seems to be the cause of the crispy digital junk.

What I did?
I got me a Seagate ATA for 50 euros. internal. no problems. faster than external firewire.
The Lacie I have to unmount (pretty easy as you know) before starting any audio.

Upside: when the inevitable moment comes I'll get a nice dual quad mac pro (8 CPU), probably in the spring, I can use the G4 as a node for Logic, as an office/internet machine, as a database server for the sampler, as a "portable" location recorder (racked), or as a standalone synth/sampler over the gigabit network. It is too soon to be retired IMO.

I guessed you use an apple but if not the shared FW bus is still something you have to look out for.

vibralux · 22nd August 2006

Fakk. I have a PCI firewire card, that has three FW inputs. As I understand they all share the same bus and connecting the FW HD to the other one's would most likely not work?

USB 2? Do You think it could work out without any hicckups with huge sample libraries like BFD or Scarbee?

Marty

**Reptil** · 22nd August 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by nathanvacha

Never had a problem with a lacie personally... and I'm partial to their rackmountability. Anyone ever seen something like a rackmounted enclosure that could hold internals? That would be a cool product.

expensive. (think 600 euros or more)
better get the massproduced desktop enclosures and one of these:
http://www.thomann.de/thoiw2_thon_ra..._prodinfo.html

(with a bit of cloth in between, to counter vibrations, it functions like a charm)

**Reptil** · 22nd August 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by vibralux

Fakk. I have a PCI firewire card, that has three FW inputs. As I understand they all share the same bus and connecting the FW HD to the other one's would most likely not work?

IME no, it won't. The Lacie tried to steal bandwith from the fireface.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vibralux

USB 2? Do You think it could work out without any hicckups with huge sample libraries like BFD or Scarbee?

Marty

dunno. never tried it because my D2 only has firewire. USB2 is a bit different. (I read)
if you are considering another PCI card, think about the PCI bus. can it take all the action, or is that another bottleneck?

22nd August 2006	#1
dsound Gear addict Joined: Apr 2006 Posts: 339 Thread Starter	Hard Drive options? Just wanted to get some input on External Hard drive options besides Glyph and Lacie. Glyph is rock solid but pricey.

22nd August 2006	#3
Pasta4lnch Lives for gear Joined: Nov 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 1,326	oddly enough most of the ACTUAL drives in the boxes are usually one of a few brands. My buddy had an enclosure that was very EASY to swap the inner drive. It was made specifically for it (I forget the name ) but that would be my choice for a new external. this way if the drive goes or you need a bigger one just get a new internal and pop it in. much cheaper IMOthumbsup __________________ myspace, youtube, facebook

22nd August 2006	#7
Reptil Moderator Joined: Dec 2004 Location: in a low orbit Posts: 19,390 1 Review written	That was EXACTLY my idea. So I went out and got me a D2. I figured, well the 400 firewire bus on my G4 must be a different one than the 800 so I can hook my fireface and the D2 at the same time. eeh no. the firewire bus on macs is shared. by all the ports and even on the intel machines this seems to be the case. My D2 proved faulty and committed suicide. Lucky for me, it had a 2 year guarantee, so... I got a new one. And that has been ok. Running the fireface and a firewire disk renders all kinds of crispy digital artifacts, pretty loud as well. unusable. Solution: get an external disk with USB2. and a USB card if you're also on a G4. downside: it supposedly performs a bit less good than firewire. or get a firewire PCI card, so you can hook any firewire disk, or the fireface on a different bus. Because that seems to be the cause of the crispy digital junk. What I did? I got me a Seagate ATA for 50 euros. internal. no problems. faster than external firewire. The Lacie I have to unmount (pretty easy as you know) before starting any audio. Upside: when the inevitable moment comes I'll get a nice dual quad mac pro (8 CPU), probably in the spring, I can use the G4 as a node for Logic, as an office/internet machine, as a database server for the sampler, as a "portable" location recorder (racked), or as a standalone synth/sampler over the gigabit network. It is too soon to be retired IMO. I guessed you use an apple but if not the shared FW bus is still something you have to look out for. __________________ CONVERTERS FOR SALE HERE: link

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22nd August 2006	#2
PhilE Lives for gear Joined: Jun 2005 Location: UK Posts: 1,260	I use Lacie d2 drives.

22nd August 2006	#4
vibralux Lives for gear Joined: Feb 2005 Location: Warszawa (Warsaw) Posts: 858	I am thinking about the external FW harddrive that would share the FW bus with my Fireface 800. Do You guys think it is a good idea? I was thinking about one of those Lacie Harddrives, 7200RPM ,that could get connected via USB and FW. I would keep all my samples and huge libraries (Scarbee Rhodes and that sort of stuff) on it. Is this a sensible solution? I dont want to invest in internal SATA drives, since no more drives will fit inside my comp, which I will pretty soon be changing anyway. Any thoughts ? Cheers Marty

22nd August 2006	#5
nathanvacha Lives for gear Joined: Dec 2005 Location: Orlando Posts: 1,231	Never had a problem with a lacie personally... and I'm partial to their rackmountability. Anyone ever seen something like a rackmounted enclosure that could hold internals? That would be a cool product.