Hard drive options for MacBook

[vanbrad604]

Firstly, I'm glad to have found this forum. I've been browsing around for a few days and it seems quite informative and nicely lacking the ego-bashing of a lot of other sites out there.

 

Anyway, I'm finally making the jump from my old Pismo powerbook (G3 400 processor) to a new white MacBook and Logic Pro 7.2. I can't believe it been 7 years since my last computer purchase! Obviously I don't make my living by recording audio.

 

Any suggestions on a good upgrade for the internal drive? I'd rather not carry around an external one since I'm already pretty loaded down with instruments when I travel.

 

Any advice would be appreciated. Really looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and digging in to Logic.

[dmitry]

In a nutshell, pick the fastest and the largest

 

That would be 100/120/160 GB SATA drive, at 7200 RPM, by any of the drive manufacturers. They got their production straightened out, so nowadays there is no difference in speed or reliability (unless you get the bad series; you won't find out about it any time soon though will you=).

 

A firewire drive for recording/backup is also preferred. In case of the MacBook, like me, you're limited to the firewire 400 drives. Anything from LaCie D2 drives based around the Oxford chipset to any IDE/SATA in a no-name enclosure will do. Judging from what you do, I wouldn't think the fastest or best enclosures would be crucial. Do some price researching, I don't think the LaCie drives are that much more expensive compared to buying the enclosure and the drive separately, and putting it all together.

 

I personally just took the 200 GB IDE Seagate that used to live in my PC tower, after the main startup 120 GB drive crashed in it (with all my work on it - a fresh start I suppose), and bought a $50 USB2/Firewire enclosure for it. Works just fine it seems. Need another one now... To back up the back up... I don't trust firewire enclosures for some reason..

[dmitry]

Oh, and hello Vancouverite .

[vanbrad604]

Thanks for the info. You mention that an external drive is preferred for recording/backup. I assume that the internal 7200 drive would be suitable for recording as well?

 

Thanks, hope you are surviving the storms today.

[dmitry]

Hi,

 

Yeah, the internal drive is more than suitable for recording, It's just that you have your OS on there, plus the swap file, PLUS the data. So you'll wear the drive out much faster than it normally would on its own, plus the performance won't be fantastic (compared to a dedicated internal drive that is - the intertnal startup SATA drive is still faster than Firewire). It all depends on the kind of music you make, and how much audio data you plan to use in a given track, but I would definitely get an external drive at some point, for back up, if nothing else.

 

As to the weather, we never got affected by the power outage (South Burnaby). The water does look like urine though.

[skylark]

You mention that an external drive is preferred for recording/backup. I assume that the internal 7200 drive would be suitable for recording as well?

 

My 2 cents... I use the LaCie Little Big Disk 200GB 7200RPM external. Love it! FireWire 800 bus-powered AND FireWire 400 bus-powered AND USB 2.0 or 1.0 (OR wall-wart powered). And NO FAN, so it's dead quiet for audio work. Tiny enough to fit in the accessory pouch of my laptop's backpack.

 

Pricey, but... Well worth it, IMO. Glad I found it...

[dmitry]

The LaCie d2 drives also come with the Oxford chipsets which are recommended by a lot of audio companies (Digidesign to boot). So yes, they're a great deal for the buck.

[leighke]

Hi there

Jut a little added info on recording audio on the new MacbppkPro (2.33Core2duo with 5400rpm 160GB internal drive).....

I know it's a little bit more powerful machine than you have but thought that a comparison might be relevent

I just did an audio recording test using;

Motu8Pre 8 analogue, 8 ADAT,

Motu828 10 analogue, 8 ADAT, 2 spdif

Sounflower 16 channels.

I'm slowly working upwards, and so far have successfully recording 40 mono 24bit 44KHz tracks for 20 mins with absolutely no glitches! (Got bored after 20mins!)

The audio performance meter never went over 50%.

This, all on the standard internal drive.

Next test, all 52 inputs....I'll let you know my results.

I shall also be carrying out some test with audio instruments and fx soon, but as I don't use logic's midi/sequencing at all (I use Max/MSP to do all midi notes and control), I guess the results won't be so relevent for other users.

regards

leigh

[leighke]

Has anyone else taken delivery of the new 'MacbppkPro' by the way? It's a special model for dyslexic yousers Merry Christmas all!

leigh

[vanbrad604]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Guess I'd better get out there and take advantage of the post-Christmas sales eh?