ras52 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Given the best practice of having separate system and audio drives, I was wondering how you other DAW-ers had this set up. I may be replacing my current system - single-drive Windows PC with the current project's audio files on a USB stick (!) - later this year. I'm considering PC and iMac/Mac Mini. As I see it internal is only an option if I go the PC route, and although this makes the setup nice and tidy, it precludes taking a project with me for laptop "field recordings" (my piano is in another room). Supplementary question: if you use a lot of samples/virtual instruments, where do you keep those? Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 On PC, I use two external USB 3 drives (spin speed 7200 RPM). One for my Kontakt Sample libraries and my VSTi libraries (3TB), and one for my Project files (2TB). Spin drive speed of 7200 RPM is your best bet. I use WD Caviar BLACK, (but a second choice would be the BLUE version). Don't buy ANY hard drive with the word "green" in the title, from what Audio folk say, you don't want power management features slowing or stopping your DAW hard drives (Green). I suppose if you turn off all power management (I do) it might not make any difference. But that may be rubbish, someone will be along who might know if that is bull feces or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurksalot Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I am no expert and probably should investigate this if it is an issue , but all my stuff is on my PC on the same drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockfordStone Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 i believe it has been found that the computer runs better when drawing files from a drive that is not the same as the system drive. i have all my samples and project files on a different drive to my main drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 [quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1420725821' post='2652615'] i believe it has been found that the computer runs better when drawing files from a drive that is not the same as the system drive. [/quote] It's true, it's true. If you're going to use an external drive for audio (recording or samples) then I'd recommend connecting them via firewire over USB2 - there's less chance of the files 'bottlenecking' due to transfer speeds. As far ago as ProTools 8 (we're now on 11) Digidesign were advising against using USB for external drives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 USB 3 should be quicker than firewire though I think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ras52 Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 [quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1420654763' post='2651808'] Spin drive speed of 7200 RPM is your best bet. I use WD Caviar BLACK [/quote] Are those "portable" or "desktop" drives, or internal drives housed in an external case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 [quote name='ras52' timestamp='1420731808' post='2652750'] Are those "portable" or "desktop" drives, or internal drives housed in an external case? [/quote] You can have them anyway you want. My externals are portable. Might be worth checking out on their site all the variations. Then Google for various shop prices. http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=870 USB3 is quicker than FireWire 800 (not sure about Thunderbolt). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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