Setting up drives

[djmoss]

I've run into some money and done a quantum leap in hardware upgrade.
I've gone from an Imac 2.0 (3gb ram) to a Mac Pro with 4 hard drives.

My question is - how do I best use the drives? And where do i put my PT applications, plugins etc?

I have large sample libraries (BFD2, Miroslav Philharmonik, Akoustic Piano...and I wonder why my Imac complained alot..), and also what is the safest way to regularly back-up sessions (I've previously inadvertently saved audio to one place and sessions files to another - nightmare).

Actually, i also have a recently bought Hardbox external firewire drive (7200rpm), which could be used for back-ups.

All advice gratefully received.

David
(Byron Bay, Australia)

[joe.cavers]

As far as I'm aware, you should have one drive for PT itself, one drive for sessions and audio, and one drive for all your sample libraries.

I could be wrong though, I'm sure other people will chip in soon enough.

JC

[pguy]

That sounds about right to me.

Also, try to keep one drive specifically for Pro Tools only. Try not to load it up with other programs and stuff.

Use your 4th drive for all of the other stuff like .... iTunes, word & spreadsheet files, internet, etc,.

I've heard Pro Tools likes a clean fresh drive without a lot of other clutter so that it could function at its best.

[Premo]

joe.cavers was closest.

Pro Tools loads into Ram after launching just like any other program. So it can be installed to the Main Mac HD drive into the applications folder.

As a general rule its best not to run drives over 60% full as they will start to slow down.

Secondary drive can be used for all your sessions. Start and finish sessions here.

Third Drive just sample libraries. They will stream from this drive. Movie files could also be saved here if you work with video.

Fourth Drive could be either a backup image drive which is highly important. Use something like Super Duper and make a bit for bit image of important drives. Or you could just save media here, like music and downloads and stuff. I use external drives to image my data that I can turn off and place on a shelf for save keeping.

[flommer]

One extra item... My understanding is that BFD likes to have it's samples on it's own drive, not shared with other samples. It creates LOTS of concurrent streams and pushes the bus pretty hard.

You would benefit from having something really fast for your boot drive, where PT must be installed. A 300gig Velociraptor is the fastest thing out there.

I would not worry about not installing other programs on the boot drive, as long as you don't go too far past 50% full. But all your program data can be on other drives (iTunes library, etc..)

Plus, I think external drives are the way to go for backups.. They are portable by nature, and say the inside of your Mac starts on fire (happens all the time), then what good is an internal backup?

[Craig F]

OS, Pro Tools, Plugs and all other apps on the boot disk
1-2 drives dedicated to session/audio
1-2 drives dedicated for samples
1 drive for video if you go that way

I talking physical disks not partitions