Which HD Specs to Consider when Buying Hard Drives for DAWs?

Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:38 pm

Dear Readers,

Just recently, I came across a couple of comparative tests regarding fast Hard Drives.

And I was wondering, if anyone with a relative experience on DAW Recording, could tell me which Hard Drive Specs to look for, when considering buying Hard Drives to build a DAW System.
In other words: Which Hard disk performance specs are the most important to us "music guys", to perform better on a DAW?

More case-specifically, I'm Using Nuendo 3 and Pro Tools software, and I'm Trying to Choose the best performing SATA Hard Drives for:

1) System Disk
2) (3X) VST Instruments Disks
3) (2X) SATA RAID Audio Recording/Playback Disks

Which of the HD Specs (like Average Random Access Time Read/Write, Maximum/Minimum Trensfer Rates etc., etc.), are the most important to look for, in each of the above 3 uses?

I open-call anybody who might interestingly concern, and I appreciate your input!

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:19 pm

You didn't include noise level or heat levels.
Most 7200 rpm drives are fine. I picked a single platter drive because it was quieter and ran cooler than the rest. If you need more storage than a single platter can deliver then a multi platter drive will have to do. There is a pretty good performance chart of hard drives on Tom's Hardware website that could help you decide which one to use.

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