Do I need an external hard drive?

[adrianbnd]

I have just purchased an Mbox with Pro Tools Express and have an iMac.

I only have one internal hard drive on my iMac and was wondering if it is encouraged to record audio files onto an external hard drive just as it is with Pro Tools 10. Thanks!

[albee1952]

For good performance, the answer would be yes. For small projects that don't have many tracks or VI's you might get away with the system drive for a while, but its gotta be 7200 rpm. Your best bet is a good FW or Thunderbolt drive, but there are videos on youtube that show how to open an iMac and swap the optical drive for another internal drive(USB optical drives work pretty well).

[adrianbnd]

Thanks for the reply!
I'm looking to get a OWC Mercury Elite Pro as suggested by Avid. Should i get FireWire 400 or 800? Will there be any difference in my case?

Thank you for the help.

[adrianbnd]

Please reply albee1952 if you are not busy, as I would like to buy this hard drive ASAP!

[justus1900]

One Word? Yes....

[adrianbnd]

Do you suggest FireWire 400 or 800? Also do you suggest 500GB or 1TB?

[albee1952]

Those(OWC Mercury) are my favorite balance of price and quality As for which, gotta ask a question first. Do you plan on using a FW interface? If you DO, then I would get the version with dual FW400 ports as it makes for easy daisy-chaining. Otherwise, either will be fine

[adrianbnd]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Those(OWC Mercury) are my favorite balance of price and quality

They seem really awesome!

Originally Posted by albee1952

Do you plan on using a FW interface?

I won't be using a FW interface.

I just noticed my iMac only supports FW800, so I will be getting the FW800 Hard Drive.
Do you suggest 500GB or 1TB? There is only a $23 difference.

[CME]

Fwiw fw800 ports are backwards compatible with fw400 devices. However if you won't be using a fw interface definitely get the fw800 version. It will be faster. As far as size goes, I always get the biggest compatible hd I can afford. . As long as its a 7200 rpm drive you will be in business.


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[adrianbnd]

Yeah I noticed that you can by a small cable to connect a fw400 device to a fw800 port but the price is around $30, so it seems pointless in my case!

I'll be getting the FireWire 800 with 1TB storage space for $158 + $42 shipping -.- (I live in Australia)
So $200 all up.

Thanks to everybody for the help!