Hi all,
I just got my laptop the other day (P4M 1.8gHz, XP, 2 firewire and 2
USB2 ports, 512 ram, typical built-in sound, pcmcia slot, etc.). I'm
looking to get a (probably new) external hard drive, as 4200 rpm
internal C: drive won't cut it. I don't need a huge drive at this
point, 40-80 megs should be fine. I do want a fast drive, however. I'm
using Sonar 2.2 and sound forge 5.0. I also plan to pick up an external
preamp/converter like the onyx or firepod or similar down the road,
unless I can find a way to use my Apogee AD16 (not x, darn it) with the
laptop.

But first things first. I saw a Maxtor 80 gig external for $80 new at
best buy, but a tech support friend disses maxtor external dives. So
any brand preferences? Any bus preferences - firewire or USB? I see no
need to spend anything over $100 at this time.

thanks a load,

Mikey Wozniak
Nova Music Productions
this sig is haiku

Hi Mikey,

I have recently changed my internal HD to a 2.5in Hitachi Travelstar
60Gig, 7200RPM which has been -so far- behaving flawlessly.
Have it in mind... You can then buy a small 2.5 external enclosure
(USB2/FW) for the old drive and use it for backing up data at the end
of the recording.

Good luck,

Evangelos


%
Evangelos Himonides
IoE, University of London
tel: +44 2076126599
fax: +44 2076126741
"Allas to those who never sing but die with all their music in them..."



Oliver Wendell Holmes


%

novamusic wrote:
Hi all,
I just got my laptop the other day (P4M 1.8gHz, XP, 2 firewire and 2
USB2 ports, 512 ram, typical built-in sound, pcmcia slot, etc.). I'm
looking to get a (probably new) external hard drive, as 4200 rpm
internal C: drive won't cut it. I don't need a huge drive at this
point, 40-80 megs should be fine. I do want a fast drive, however. I'm
using Sonar 2.2 and sound forge 5.0. I also plan to pick up an external
preamp/converter like the onyx or firepod or similar down the road,
unless I can find a way to use my Apogee AD16 (not x, darn it) with the
laptop.

But first things first. I saw a Maxtor 80 gig external for $80 new at
best buy, but a tech support friend disses maxtor external dives. So
any brand preferences? Any bus preferences - firewire or USB? I see no
need to spend anything over $100 at this time.

I would definitely recommend getting a Firewire drive as opposed to a
USB2 drive. Firewire just handle the streaming of large continuous files
more efficiently than USB does. Make sure it is a 7200rpm drive. As for
your friend dissing Maxtor, I wouldn't worry too much about it. You can
easily find plenty of people to diss every drive that is out there. If
you're finding a good deal on Maxtor, go with it.

--
Eric

Practice Your Mixing Skills
www.Raw-Tracks.com
www.Mad-Host.com

"I would definitely recommend getting a Firewire drive as opposed to a
USB2 drive. Firewire just handle the streaming of large continuous
files
more efficiently than USB does. "

Could you elaborate on that a bit?

Joe

novamusic wrote:
Hi all,
I just got my laptop the other day (P4M 1.8gHz, XP, 2 firewire and 2
USB2 ports, 512 ram, typical built-in sound, pcmcia slot, etc.). I'm
looking to get a (probably new) external hard drive, as 4200 rpm
internal C: drive won't cut it. I don't need a huge drive at this
point, 40-80 megs should be fine. I do want a fast drive, however.
I'm
using Sonar 2.2 and sound forge 5.0. I also plan to pick up an
external
preamp/converter like the onyx or firepod or similar down the road,
unless I can find a way to use my Apogee AD16 (not x, darn it) with
the
laptop.

But first things first. I saw a Maxtor 80 gig external for $80 new at
best buy, but a tech support friend disses maxtor external dives. So
any brand preferences? Any bus preferences - firewire or USB? I see
no
need to spend anything over $100 at this time.

thanks a load,

Mikey Wozniak
Nova Music Productions
this sig is haiku


And while I'm at it, is there any diference between an "external" drive
and a "portable" drive - except maybe marketing?

Mikey
Nova Mobile Productions

Joseph Meditz wrote:
"I would definitely recommend getting a Firewire drive as opposed to a
USB2 drive. Firewire just handle the streaming of large continuous
files
more efficiently than USB does. "

Could you elaborate on that a bit?

Joe


I am by no means a technical expert on this subject, I am a user. It has
been explained to me something like this: Although USB2 can achieve a
higher burst rate (480Mbps) as opposed to Firewire's (400Mbps), Firewire
can achieve a higher "Sustained" transfer rate. Sustained transfer
rate is much more important for applications such a s digital audio and
video.

USB2 can be fine for many digital audio applications, but once you get
into higher track counts, you will really want Firewire.

--
Eric

Practice Your Mixing Skills
www.Raw-Tracks.com
www.Mad-Host.com

novamusic wrote:
And while I'm at it, is there any diference between an "external" drive
and a "portable" drive - except maybe marketing?


Those are 2 ways of saying the same thing.


--
Eric

Practice Your Mixing Skills
www.Raw-Tracks.com
www.Mad-Host.com

EricK asked:
And while I'm at it, is there any diference between an "external" drive and
a "portable" drive - except maybe marketing?

External firewire drives come in two basic "flavors":
- 3.5" drive, 7200rpm (in most cases), generally requires an external power
supply or else comes with the power supply built into the drive enclosure.
- 2.5" (laptop type) drive, mostly 4200 or 5400 rpm, which can run on firewire
bus power. These are often referred to as "portable", probably only in the
sense they're smaller and easier to carry around.

Also, the 2.5" portable drives are more limited in capacity, at least right
now. 3.5" drives can be much larger (important for audio/video storage).

For audio/video work, the laptop drives may be a little too slow (due to
rotational speed) to keep up with the software. Not always, but more likely
than not. This is why most DAW applications suggest a rotational speed of
7200rpm or higher.

And, priced per gigabyte, the 2.5" drives are somewhat more expensive
(although the cost differences are coming down).

If you want to use a firewire external for audio, you're best bet is to get
one of the 3.5" ones, 7200rpm or faster, I would think...

- John

John Albert wrote:
EricK asked:
And while I'm at it, is there any diference between an "external" drive and
a "portable" drive - except maybe marketing?

John, you've got my name on a quote from the original poster,
"novamusic". Not a huge deal, but try to be more careful when quoting.

Thanks,
--
Eric

Practice Your Mixing Skills
www.Raw-Tracks.com
www.Mad-Host.com

novamusic wrote:
novamusic wrote:
Hi all,
I just got my laptop the other day (P4M 1.8gHz, XP, 2 firewire and
2
USB2 ports, 512 ram, typical built-in sound, pcmcia slot, etc.).
I'm
looking to get a (probably new) external hard drive, as 4200 rpm
internal C: drive won't cut it. I don't need a huge drive at this
point, 40-80 megs should be fine. I do want a fast drive, however.
I'm
using Sonar 2.2 and sound forge 5.0. I also plan to pick up an
external
preamp/converter like the onyx or firepod or similar down the road,
unless I can find a way to use my Apogee AD16 (not x, darn it) with
the
laptop.

But first things first. I saw a Maxtor 80 gig external for $80 new
at
best buy, but a tech support friend disses maxtor external dives.
So
any brand preferences? Any bus preferences - firewire or USB? I
see
no
need to spend anything over $100 at this time.

thanks a load,

Mikey Wozniak
Nova Music Productions
this sig is haiku


And while I'm at it, is there any diference between an "external"
drive
and a "portable" drive - except maybe marketing?

Mikey
Nova Mobile Productions


And to further complicate things, I just saw an "internal HD to USB2.0
converter", new, for about $40 after rebates. Do these actually work?
Is there any big slowdown or bottleneck of data? Has anyone used one?

Thanks again and still,

Mikey (OP)

novamusic wrote:
And to further complicate things, I just saw an "internal HD to USB2.0
converter", new, for about $40 after rebates. Do these actually work?
Is there any big slowdown or bottleneck of data? Has anyone used one?

They work. It's basically a USB2 port talking to a standard disk
controller with just enough of a brain to respond to the protocol and
push the data back and forth... ie, the same as any other USB-attached disk.



Thanks again and still,

Mikey (OP)

On 4/18/2005 5:15 PM, novamusic wrote:
novamusic wrote:

novamusic wrote:

Hi all,
I just got my laptop the other day (P4M 1.8gHz, XP, 2 firewire and

2

USB2 ports, 512 ram, typical built-in sound, pcmcia slot, etc.).

I'm

looking to get a (probably new) external hard drive, as 4200 rpm
internal C: drive won't cut it. I don't need a huge drive at this
point, 40-80 megs should be fine. I do want a fast drive, however.

I'm

using Sonar 2.2 and sound forge 5.0. I also plan to pick up an

external

preamp/converter like the onyx or firepod or similar down the road,
unless I can find a way to use my Apogee AD16 (not x, darn it) with

the

laptop.

But first things first. I saw a Maxtor 80 gig external for $80 new

at

best buy, but a tech support friend disses maxtor external dives.

So

any brand preferences? Any bus preferences - firewire or USB? I

see

no

need to spend anything over $100 at this time.

thanks a load,

Mikey Wozniak
Nova Music Productions
this sig is haiku


And while I'm at it, is there any diference between an "external"

drive

and a "portable" drive - except maybe marketing?

Mikey
Nova Mobile Productions



And to further complicate things, I just saw an "internal HD to USB2.0
converter", new, for about $40 after rebates. Do these actually work?
Is there any big slowdown or bottleneck of data? Has anyone used one?

Thanks again and still,

Mikey (OP)


If you are going to be streaming video off it then go with firewire
drive as USB wasn't designed to sustain the high data transfer rate that
video needs.