Some Questions about External Hard Drives

[fooloof]

Here is my set up:

24" iMac 10.5.6
project mix
PT8
Glyph Gt 050q and Rocstor 850 (external hard drives. both are fw 400 and 800 capable).
Mackie 1402 mixer

My questions:

1. Is it normal to hear noise from the drive in the actual pro tools audio? I don't hear it while a session is playing, because the music obscures it; but when I hit "stop", I can hear this continuous white-noise type of sound that resembles a helicopter that is far away. It is definitely noticeable; and if I play the track but mute all the tracks, I can still hear it. With my Rocstor, the sound is barely perceptible, but with the Glyph (which is supposed to be a top-notch drive), it is pretty loud.

Here's how the firewire devices are hooked up: Since the project mix is 400, I use a six-to-nine cable to hook it into the iMac's 800 port. Then I use a six-to-six cable to hook up the the Glyph's 400 port and the iMac's 400 port. This was suggested to me as a way to keep the speeds the same for all devices. Since both the iMac's FW ports run off the same bus, it isn't a good idea to mix them (which was causing me major problems before). Any help is greatly appreciated.

[DigiTechSupt]

Try connecting the ProjectMix to the FW400 port and the FW800-400 cable to the drive and see if anything changes.

[fooloof]

I needed a ground lift for the Glyph. I bought a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter, which fixed the problem. I was told to do this by Glyph support.

Thanks for replying.

[Craig F]

Originally Posted by fooloof

I needed a ground lift for the Glyph. I bought a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter, which fixed the problem. I was told to do this by Glyph support.

Thanks for replying.

you know those thing can kill

[chrisdee]

I thaught Glyph was THE "reccomended" external drive for PT ?

[Craig F]

3 to 2 prong adapters was what I was talking about

[kontra152]

i had that problem it was my laptop power cord seeing how you don't use a laptop you can go to www.ebtechaudio.com they sell the humx i had to do a process of elimination to get to the problem before i found the solution. there products are very inexpensive and they work. hope it helps i use a rain drive its ultra quiet.

[DigiTechSupt]

Originally Posted by fooloof

I needed a ground lift for the Glyph. I bought a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter, which fixed the problem. I was told to do this by Glyph support.

Thanks for replying.

That would indicate a ground loop problem. Rather than using a 3 to 2 prong adapter, it's better to fix the actual problem, which is that you most likely have two paths to ground, one with higher potential than the other. Usually connecting all power to the same circuit will take care of this, however if that's not possible, getting an electrician in to make sure you have a good ground at all outlets is the best way to go.