Hard drive.. internal or external?
 

I have a macbook (2.4.. 4GB) and using pro tools m-audio

it's been working "fine".. sometimes i get the CPU overload with not many tracks, specially when using plug ins like eleven or ez drummer..

i read that is better to have all your audio files in an external hardrive, and let the internal handle the application... so when you playback.. is from the external hardrive

I've started to use more tracks.. and sometimes it wont support the plug ins so i have to print to audio the midi tracks... so I don't how many tracks can my external hardrive firewire 400 can handle..

Ultimately.. i end up with a session of 20+ audio trackas before mixing.. then i add eqs, compressors, gates, reverb if needed..

my question is... can an external hardrive handle 20+ audio tracks? or should i get another internal hardrive... so transfer time will be faster..

on the other side.. if thinking of buying one of the new imacs, they look nice... but i don't know if the firewire 800 port will support playback for 20+ audio tracks... also, the new imac doesn't come with sata, so fw 800 is my only choice

any comments? suggestions?
thanks in advance

Re: Hard drive.. internal or external?
 

Don't buy a new Imac till Snowleopard is certified by digi, I have a Imac 1.83 duo / 2gigs ram, running fine, (((YOU MUST)) get an external drive!!!!! it will fly

Re: Hard drive.. internal or external?
 

I don't think you can put another internal drive in your Macbook?

Re: Hard drive.. internal or external?
 

thats not true!

i have s.l. and migrated my protools 8 over from my old g5 and it works PERFECTLY.

the amount of tracks you can use in protools are mostly determined by the size of the external hard drive you get,
so go big or go home
for for a 1tb external!
make sure that it spins at 7200 rpms
and has an oxford chipset.

glyph externals are the best for recording in my opinion.

Re: Hard drive.. internal or external?
 

oh yeah to original poster go with a new imac! i got the 27inch i7 quadcore and everything runs like a DREAM, if you have any other questions regarding it let me know man

Re: Hard drive.. internal or external?
 

I thought of it, but im not quite sure.. maybe the "cheap" solution works

http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/

but then there's the ram issue.. i thought of eleven rack to have the plug in outside the computer.. as for midi (kontakt, ez drummer, reason) i was thinking of printing to audio if my cpu meter start to crank up.. and the last concern is the playback for audio tracks

couple weeks ago.. had my friend over.. we plugged in to the profire 610.. guitar and bass.. guitar eleven plug in, bass straight in.. then i added the ez drummer plug in.. after, had to increase buffer size and deal with latency... only 3 tracks is all it took :(

Re: Hard drive.. internal or external?
 

Im looking at the glyph externals drives right now... but correct if im wrong.. i should not expect the best perfomance if connecting via fw400 instead of 800 or even esata... my macbook has the 400.. that's why i thought of the optibay solution

Re: Hard drive.. internal or external?
 

Good for you. But you are offering some bad advice..

Snow Leopard IS NOT fully qualified with ProTools yet. Are you going to have solutions for the OP if he buys it and it doesn't work?

The number of tracks you can have in a ProTools session HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE capacity of the HD you are using:rolleyes:

Yes on 7200 rpm and the correct oxford chipset..

Re: Hard drive.. internal or external?
 

my question is... can an external hardrive handle 20+ audio tracks? or should i get another internal hardrive... so transfer time will be faster..


Yes an external drive will handle that with ease.

I don't think a Macbook has an option to install internal drive, I could be wrong ??????

flommer has a good and valid point!!!, hey flommer i remember you from VSPLANET right ?

Re: Hard drive.. internal or external?
 

Keep it at 400, it's plenty fast enough. Glyphs are way overpriced, IMHO. Have you looked here http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other.../MS4U7320GB16/