Recording on external drive

[kb1200]

I have a mac book pro, and I do not have enough space on it to record pro tools sessions. If I bought a firewire 800 external drive, would it be fast enough to record pro tools sessions on it while my mbox is plugged into the fire wire 400 and pro tools is running off my main drive?

Another very important concern I have is this. If I used an external drive that required a power supply, would I get noise coming through my monitors?

Thanks.

[Sparky1]

All you ever wanted to know about hard drive compatability - but never searched for

Sparky1

[jrtme]

Originally Posted by kb1200

I have a mac book pro, and I do not have enough space on it to record pro tools sessions. If I bought a firewire 800 external drive, would it be fast enough to record pro tools sessions on it while my mbox is plugged into the fire wire 400 and pro tools is running off my main drive?

Another very important concern I have is this. If I used an external drive that required a power supply, would I get noise coming through my monitors?

Thanks.

It will work fine. In fact the way your asking is how it's done even at big recording studios.

[JrummerJ]

Originally Posted by jrtme

It will work fine. In fact the way your asking is how it's done even at big recording studios.

Ummmm. No. The macbook Pros and imacs have issues when you use an interface at 400 speed and a drive at 800. They share a bus and this causes all kinds of cpu errors. Your best bet is to either get a drive with a 400 port and daisy chaine the 2 or get an expresscard to connect the drive.

Personally, I like the expresscard option because it puts the interface and drive on 2 totally different busses. That is how I run my setup.

J

[docbop]

Most important is to get a external hard drive that is 7200 RPM. Many of the small drives are only 5400 RPM, the full size drive most are 7200 RPM.

[JrummerJ]

Originally Posted by docbop

Most important is to get a external hard drive that is 7200 RPM. Many of the small drives are only 5400 RPM, the full size drive most are 7200 RPM.

Yes, should have added that you want a 7200 rpm drive with a decent buffer, and the drive needs to be in a firewire enclosure with an Oxford chipset. Some of the best bang for the buck drives can be found here:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-...te-al-pro-quad

J

[ajastudios]

Originally Posted by JrummerJ

Ummmm. No. The macbook Pros and imacs have issues when you use an interface at 400 speed and a drive at 800. They share a bus and this causes all kinds of cpu errors. Your best bet is to either get a drive with a 400 port and daisy chaine the 2 or get an expresscard to connect the drive.

J

This is correct if there are conflicting speeds on the bus it will automatically step down to the lower speed. This could potentially cause errors!

[jrtme]

Originally Posted by JrummerJ

Ummmm. No. The macbook Pros and imacs have issues when you use an interface at 400 speed and a drive at 800. They share a bus and this causes all kinds of cpu errors. Your best bet is to either get a drive with a 400 port and daisy chaine the 2 or get an expresscard to connect the drive.

Personally, I like the expresscard option because it puts the interface and drive on 2 totally different busses. That is how I run my setup.

J

I have my setup at home like that and I have had ZERO problems.

[Rob0214]

Originally Posted by ajastudios

This is correct if there are conflicting speeds on the bus it will automatically step down to the lower speed. This could potentially cause errors!

Really? Then why do iMacs have a 400 and a 800 mbps firewire port for? Unless you used just one.

Also, can't really expresscard on an iMac

[ajastudios]

Originally Posted by Rob0214

Really? Then why do iMacs have a 400 and a 800 mbps firewire port for? Unless you used just one.(

Apple has been designing it all on the same bus up until the newest generation of MBP and such.

I have a really interesting article for you to check out.

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/...m/983007706931

One of the engineers I work with always talks about the 800 to 400 drop down. It does kinda suck, that is why they are phasing out 400 ports.

There is a lot of discussion of this design "flaw" around the web, especially in pro audio.