I need convincing to get a 2nd hard drive

[jim jedlicka]

I'm thinking about getting a second hard drive. What I want to know is how much better is my performance going to be? Is it going to be dramatic? Or is it not going to be that much of a difference. Right now I'm running a coppermine 1gig pIII ,intel ep815epfv chipset motherboard,512 of ram,and a 20 gig western dig. hard drive. I just want to know what's going to be different besides having more room for audio.

[jim jedlicka]

also,which is a better drive.Western dig. or maxtor? And why?

[Bluesdude]

I'm a Mac user but check out the IBM Deskstar 7200rpm 60 gig drive, they are inexpensive now around $170.00.Quiet and quite fast. Warranty backup is good, I returned one and it was replaced and in my Mac 10 days later thru the mails.

[Mark_Knecht]

Jim,
I'm a big advocate of a second drive, but I also believe that if a system is broken, don't fix it.

If you're having absolutely no issues running everything off of one drive, then I would not go to the expense and trouble of putting in a second. By this I mean that you can record and play back as many tracks as you need to, using what ever plugins you want, then your system isn't broken.

Have you checked your relative performance under the PT Performance thread and convinced yourself that you're getting the performance you want/need/deserve?

Regards,
Mark

[Roy Howell]

My 2nd HD is a 40GB/7200rpm WesternDigital($130), and it's worked like a charm for several months.

To my knowledge, another HD won't vastly improve your performance , but to me, it's great to have so much room.

rh

[Allen Hallada]

I didn't gain any track counts or plugins by adding a second hard drive. I agree with Roy, it is just nice to have that extra storage and I will occasionally back up finished projects to the second hard drive for added security in case my data drive goes. I'd spend my money on good plugins first or a good mic. Just a thought.
Allen [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Cinemafixer]

Blues - Ive had 2 deskstar 60 gig 7200 RPM drives crap out due to mechanical defects...Ive switched to Western Digital...got a 40 gig 7200 ATA-100 with an additional promise ATA/100 controller for $170...no more problems.

[jim jedlicka]

ok,thanks for the info everyone.

[KenB]

I would totally disagree. Second hard drives are a big boon.

1. Keep all OS/file cache/executables on one drive and keep your data on its own drive and you will see performance increases simply because you have less seeking for the different files.

2. You put less wear and tear on your drive, especially your music drive because music files are sequential, so the heads don't need to move around as much.


If you are serious about music, get as much as you can afford, because you will use it. Check the faq for compatibility.

[nny]

I got a 60 gig WD for backup purposes, and upon installation it crashed my system. Luckly, 3 weeks and $300 later, a computer repair/data recovery guy got me out of the mess, but I guess the lesson here is if you are going to upgrade, back your stuff up. And if it's backups you're interested in, look in to a DVD burner. 4.7 gigs per CD sounds pretty good to me.....