I use an internal Hard Drive right now, but I want to get an external for the sole purpose of my recording.
Is a USB 2.0 connection going to be fast enough if I'm recording several tracks at once. I have an 8 pre interface and I often use all of them at once.
The internal is a SATA drive and never gives me any probs, but like I said I would like a dedicated external just for my music.
Any suggestions anyone has on types of Hard Drives, RPM speeds, amount of Cashe, and connection type would be great!
I've also been told that sometimes for the price of a smaller external I could get a larger internal and put it in an enclosure.
Any thoughts are appreciated!
Isaac
Comments
It is a Desktop. So I should get an extra Internal HD and connec
It is a Desktop. So I should get an extra Internal HD and connect it to the extra SATA connection on my Motherboard?
Now will I have to turn my PC off unplug one HD, then plug in the other HD and turn it back on?
I actually have 2 Hard Drives in the pc now. One is the original IDE HD that came with the computer, but when I noticed that I had 2 SATA connectors on my Motherboard I added the new SATA drive and left the old one in its place, but unplugged.
If there is a way to leave them both plugged in and just restart the computer and choose which to boot up that would be great.
Sorry if I sound like an idiot...I'm much better with audio than my computers lol.
You aren't an idiot. If the goal is portability then you have e
You aren't an idiot. If the goal is portability then you have external options like USB or Firewire (again provided the drive is 7200rpms).
A third option would be an eSATA "card" which would either fill one of your PCI/PCIe slots or just fill the blank on the case and connect directly to the SATA port on your motherboard. There aren't too many eSATA drives available commercially but enclosures and bare drives are cheap.
Is this for a laptop or desktop? If it is a desktop then you
Is this for a laptop or desktop?
If it is a desktop then you should get a second internal HDD and put it on it's own SATA or IDE cable.
If this is a laptop then you have a couple of options. A USB external HDD is plenty fast enough (with decent enclosure) to handle 16 tracks at 96K. It can likely handle more but for intensive use Firewire is always best.
An option for some laptops is to replace the optical drive with a special HDD SATA enclosure. I say 'some' laptops because only the newest ones have a SATA connector on the optical bay. If the laptop does not have SATA for the optical drive then skip this idea and return to the external USB/Firewire idea.
In any of the above scenarios, only a 7200rpm or faster HDD should be utilized with the possible exception of some of the newest and fastest SSD's.