External HDD question

[LSW]

I added an external USB drive to my new laptop, LE-Mbox system. Western Digital 120 Gig. Works great so far.

I know that USB drives are not supported and that the current thinking is that FW drives are the best option - but is this because USB drives simply have not been tested to be supported?

The data transfer is about the same as FW400. Also, Windows has an option to enable wrtie-caching on the disk which should improve performance, but my end up in data loss if there's power outtage. Is this necesary and does it make that much of a difference? Thanks.

[LSW]

oops - did I say something bad, "USB?" : )

[spkguitar]

The old argument used to be that firewire drives have a better sustained transfer rate, which is better for streaming audio. USB drives have better burst transfer rates, but fluctuate drastically between the highest and lowest tranfer rates; good for transfering data, but not very conducive to streaming audio.

I only use firewire drives for my external audio drives (I would hate to get one of those "dips" in transfer rate right in the middle of the "magic" take), but if it works for you, go with it.

[LSW]

Ah - that's a logical rationale. I'll have to do some more research on the topic.

So far it's working fine, but I've yet to stress test it in any way.

[doogler]

Can anybody tell me the recomended best hd's, internal external etc cheers.