Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

I am running Pro Tools 8LE on a macbook Pro intel core 2 duo 2.4Ghz with 4GB RAM.
I will be updating soon to Pro Tools 9 and i was wondering which external Hard Drive will be best to Record.

I looked mainly at Lacie 1TB D2 Quadra, G-tech G-Drive 1TB(Seems to be the best option for the price), OWC and of course Glyph but it's out of my price range.

My Main question is whether G-tech or Lacie are good enough Drives to be used safely with Pro-Tools and which one is the quietest.

Thank you, :-)
Manu

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

I've never liked Lacie, poor build quality

G-Tech, we've been having problems with of late. Growing pains from being bought by Hitachi?

OWC, have not used personally but a very good rep

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

I see, i guess any drive at some point dies. Though G-drive seems a bit better than Lacie.
What have you been mainly using? Glyph?
Thanks
Manu

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

mostly push/pull off server space for storage going room to room for sound

our picture department has been the ones having problems with the G-Tech drives
they have been good about replacing as needed (but not Glyph level)

Rocstor have been good for several people I know
http://www.rocstor.com/products/prod...le-Hard-drives


YMMV

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

Would you recommend the Rocstor 850? Its price is very attractive. Is has a different chipset Oxford but i can't find anywhere what drive it is using. Seagate?

manu

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

UP?

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

Just wanted to say I returned my Lacie D2 Quadra today because it made a really annoying noise. It was like a low frequency noise that made my whole desk vibrate!? Recording acoustic guitars or vocals? Forget it if you cant put it somewhere isolated!

I just ordered the OWC Mercury On the Go with the 750Gb (7.200rpm) drive for about the same price with shipping to Sweden included. :cool:

Don't know about the Rocstor but if choosing a smaller OWC disk you might get a great disc for a reasonable price.

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

I've heard lots about OWC they seem to be very quiet and reliable. !
Where did you order it from... My other option is Glyph but here in Helsinki it's extremely over priced. 399 for the 500gb hahaha

Manu

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

Same thing here.. I have read nothing but good stuff about the OWC enclousers. So I figured I you can't go wrong with that.
I ordered mine with the 750 Samsung drive from here..
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go

There is also a pretty nice looking alu case in about the same size but I think the acrylic one is looking cooler. :cool:

I placed my order on wendsday last week with Express Mail International... went through customs and is on its way to my door today. :-)

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

Would you guys mind posting your general level of satisfaction with your new drives after you've got them installed? Looking for some feedback since there's no response to a similar thread I posted.

Thx

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

Have just done some testing and believe it or not, Im having some issues with my Mercury On the Go! Don't know whats causing my -9073 errors since my whole system is updated. (New Mac, new 11r etc..) So I really have little to compare with since my last setup was completely different.

Woldn't wanna say that there is something wrong with the drive itself. It seems to be working just fine but my sessions plays far from flawlessly!

I have done everything right I guess so it kind makes me wonder what the hell is going on. Avid approved firewire chipset, approved Macbook, 11r interface (from Avid of which you manually have to import the I/O settings from every new session you create. But thats another story. Just extremely wierd that they don't have a fix for this on one of their own interfaces).

Im a bit frustrated since having alot of work ahead...

You can see my thread here:
http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=302156

Hoping someone from Avid will get in touch.

I'll report back!

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

Did some more testing...

I had to finish a session with a short deadline so the further I got in to the mixing part the more DAE 9073 and sudden crashes was going on. More strain on the cpu -> more errors!

My cpu only reached about 25% but at that time is was impossible to work.

I simply moved my whole session to my internal 5400rpm drive and that solved it! My initial guess is the lack of external power supply for the OTG.

So if you are thinking about OWC, go for the ALU Pro which is approved by Avid. I ordered one just now and am crossing my fingers for it work better.

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

I bought a power supply today and the on-the-go is working just fine. Will do some more testing but it seems ok.
The heavier the session the more strain on the Cpu so I guess there was not enough bus power left after maxing out with plugins.

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

Don't get the acrylic one. It's a piece of ****. Screws strip. Stick with OWC aluminum. Here is the link for Dulce Systems (hardware raid is ok, but spanning should be turned off, and if using PTs round robin, turn raid off). http://www.dulcesystems.com/html/products.html (don't know why B&H stopped carrying this brand, they now only sell CalDigit). Anyway B&H doesn't ship overseas and OWC does.

I've been using Firewire since the Oxford 911 chipset came out. IOWs 1.5 amps @ 5 volts (these are the 110/220 volt rectangular power supplies not the infamous wall wart) on the original aluminum OWC enclosure -- some of the newer OWC units have a direct AC input. (sorry 'bout my blurry vision it' mixed in with a ton of spaghetti) not .7 amps but 1.5 amps is suitable with the older and faster (more heat) WD drive I use frequently. The newer ones are above 7 in seek times, closer to 9, but require less power/produce less heat.

For location work I intend on using a 5,400 buss 1394a powered unit (the latest Seagate which I think may still be vs 12, but not sure as I only know about the 3.5 inch 7,200 rpm versions). Only need 4-7 channels at 48k. Vrs 12 Barracudas are low noise, low heat from my experience. Only buy from a reputable dealer if not in the retail box.

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

Oua this is an old post but the OWC i ordered worked great.
but now i use mainly a Western digital Usb powered drive. works like a charm !!

M

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

To clarify, OWC just make enclosures, not the drives themselves, they'll sell whatever brand they choose.

I got the OWC thunderbay IV, a 4 bay thunderbolt interface.
It shipped with 7200rpm toshiba brand drives.

My personal experience is it's awesome. I have one at work and one at home personally. It's fast, quiet and so far reliable.

Much less expensive than some competitor options.

Note: Drive arrays are done as software arrays, there is no hardware array manager in their enclosures.

Awesome product, would recommend it.
Good luck in your choice.

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

Right. Important point.

List of current hard disk drive manufacturers:
Seagate Technology including its subsidiary brands Maxtor and Samsung.
Toshiba.
Western Digital including its subsidiary brand HGST.

Subject to change!

OWC, Glyph and Lacie don't make drives they make enclosures. So you can buy the drive you like and buy an enclosure from say OWC.

I like the WD Black and Hitachi drives.

Re: Which External Hard Drive to Record with Pro Tools (Lacie, G-tech, OWC?)
 

Map of hard drive consolidation