Laptop with Focusrite 18i8 External HD

[Tracy Lowery]

Originally Posted by mesaone

After seeing the laptop specs, I second Dave's recommendation... WD Black 7200 RPM drive with an external USB 3.0 enclosure. Preferably an enclosure that comes with a Y-cable (2x USB for extra power)

Going to Tiger Direct today for WD Black...Any recommended USB 3.0 HD Enclosures?

[Tracy Lowery]

Originally Posted by mesaone

After seeing the laptop specs, I second Dave's recommendation... WD Black 7200 RPM drive with an external USB 3.0 enclosure. Preferably an enclosure that comes with a Y-cable (2x USB for extra power)

Any recommended Hardrive Enclosures for Sata or SSD USB 3.0

[mesaone]

If you're getting a 2.5" WD Black: http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-2-5-In.../dp/B005EIGUD4

If you go with a SSD, you'll want to get a different enclosure that has an internal SATA III connection.

[Amack]

It is 2105! Why then does Pro Tools still recommend (need?) more than one hard drive? Is this really necessary for even basic tasks with modern 7 core processors running at speeds greater than 3 GHz with more than 16G byte RAM. If so, why? Will that ever change?

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Nope run away. Utter crap WDC Caviar Green drive. You get what you pay for.

It's 2015 not 1995. Go get a SSD, they are much better performance wise and don't mind begin dropped/abused as much as an old spinning hunk of rust.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Portab.../dp/B00RWXV8FE

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Amack

It is 2105! Why then does Pro Tools still recommend (need?) more than one hard drive? Is this really necessary for even basic tasks with modern 7 core processors running at speeds greater than 3 GHz with more than 16G byte RAM. If so, why? Will that ever change?

And why would the speed of the CPU or amount of memory in a computer have any effect on how fast data is written to a physical disk drive? And actually putting audio data on a physical disk is the core of what a DAW does. If you are using spinning disk drives then you better follow Avid's advice... but which yes has not kept up with modern SSDs, especially PCIe SSDs.

[mesaone]

Originally Posted by Amack

It is 2105! Why then does Pro Tools still recommend (need?) more than one hard drive? Is this really necessary for even basic tasks with modern 7 core processors running at speeds greater than 3 GHz with more than 16G byte RAM. If so, why? Will that ever change?

It doesn't matter if you have a dual core or a 12 core, or 1 GB RAM or 32 GB RAM. Hard drives can only read and write so much information simultaneously. Hard drives are not expensive, and having a dedicated session drive is the best practice for all DAWs, not just Pro Tools.

[Tracy Lowery]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Nope run away. Utter crap WDC Caviar Green drive. You get what you pay for.

It's 2015 not 1995. Go get a SSD, they are much better performance wise and don't mind begin dropped/abused as much as an old spinning hunk of rust.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Portab.../dp/B00RWXV8FE

I have had an SSD in my own rig for 3 years.....This is for a friend and am trying to help her. Thanks

[Darryl Ramm]

You may help them more by getting them a robust SSD. Saving $50 or $100 or so seems a weak trade off vs. better performance, portability, robustness and less power use.... Especially robustness when used with a laptop, lugged around, dropped etc.

[Tracy Lowery]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

You may help them more by getting them a robust SSD. Saving $50 or $100 or so seems a weak trade off vs. better performance, portability, robustness and less power use.... Especially robustness when used with a laptop, lugged around, dropped etc.

Samsung T1 Portable 250GB USB 3.0 External SSD (MU-PS250B/AM)

Going to go with this one you suggested....Ill be going to Tiger direct Outlet here in Florida....

[Amack]

My Dell 8700 has an internal 256G SSD and a SATA 6GB/s 2TB 7200 RPM hard drive. Which should I use for my session files?

Originally Posted by mesaone

It doesn't matter if you have a dual core or a 12 core, or 1 GB RAM or 32 GB RAM. Hard drives can only read and write so much information simultaneously. Hard drives are not expensive, and having a dedicated session drive is the best practice for all DAWs, not just Pro Tools.