External harddrive for recording (and samples)?

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 2:31 am

Are there any external harddrives that would be adequate for recording to them (and probably also storing heaps of samples)? The LaCie Big Disc Extreme 500GB should probably be fast enough due to the internal raid 0 array, but I heard a few bad stories about it's reliablity (due to it's lack of a cooling fan) and the price tag is pretty high. Do you guys have any suggestions? An extra internal harddrive is not an option as I am using a laptop.

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 10:32 am

I'm using external NexStar 3,5" USB 2.0 enclosure (aluminium, no fan, very cheap, around 20$). You can put any hard-drive inside and it works for me with my Siemens Amilo (2.4Ghz) laptop. I use Seagate Baraccuda 160GB 7200rpm, 8mb cache drive. If you need more speed maybe you can try 10000rpm drive or a firewire external enclosure but I'm not sure how much faster is it. I think your laptop is the main thing when it comes to speed.

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:41 pm

It seems like there's lots of harddrives made just for the audio recording/sampling industry. I just can't see the difference between them and any other external hard drive.

There are systems where the drive a hot swappable and have RAID setups and those are definitely better than (or more functional than) your average add-on external drive.

I've been using A Seagate external 260 gig drive with my laptop system for a couple years now without any problems at all. It offers both USB 2.0 and Firewire connections, so it will work with just about anything.

Unless you want SCSI or a 10,000 speed drive or some sort of SAN, your average external drive should be fine.
Bowman's recommendation is also good. You can choose a classier looking case and put whatever size drive you want in it. And if you want, you can replace the drive in the future.

Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 12:43 am

I would look out for two things on an external drive: 1) 8mb cache (vs. 2mb), and 2) assuming you're going firewire, the 911 chipset (or 922 for fw800).

These conditions are usually satisfied by drives calling themselves "a/v" drives. I've had great luck with my LaCie d2. Also like my Rocstor. Hear good things about OWC.

Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 3:14 am

TRY GLYPH MY FRIEND...

Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 11:57 am

I am not convinced that anything about a Glyph drive justifies paying 3 times as much for it.

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