Hard Drive Performance Dual Processors and Dedicated Audio Drive

[j_jayzatuc]

Hey Everyone,
I'm extremely new to the Macintosh platform and am questioning the performance my new computer will have with Pro Tools LE. I am planning on purchasing Digi 001 but am wondering if I should have purchased a computer with a faster rpm speed and scsi connection...anyway here's what I have-
Power Mac G4 Dual 500 Mhz Processor
40 GB Ultra ATA drive
384 Mb Ram
DVD Ram
Anyway I am trying to understand what a dedicated audio hard drive actually entails. Will it be possible to use the hard drive on my computer now as a dedicated audio drive or will it be rather lacking in performance? Also could I use DVD-Ram as a dedicated audio storage media? Just trying to find out if it will be necessary to have multiple drives and should apply SCSI data transfer. Everyone in this forum seems to be extremely helpful and generous so any correspondence would be greatly appreciated.
Digi 001 KICKS
Thanks
Jayson Dean Hazelbaker

[zavijah]

Dude, you're so money.


Seriously, lots of folks would envy that setup. But here's the thing: you can use the stock 40 GB drive as your only audio drive. It should deliver plenty of performance. Most folks, though, like to have a second drive as an audio-only drive, and keep their applications and system on the stock drive. This is so that if one drive crashes, at least the other will be intact and you won't have lost everything. Also, disk fragmentation will be more likely to happen on a drive with lots of small files scattered around, which is how your boot/application drive is likely to be. Fragmentation can degrade performance.

If you're sticking with the 001 and have no other use for SCSI, I wouldn't bother. The ATA/IDE drives are cheaper and more than adequate for what you'll be able to do with the 001.

You can use the DVD-RAM as a backup solution, but you can't use it to store and work with sessions. It won't be fast enough.

Anyway, the 500 MHz dual-CPU machine will serve you well.

[ThomCat]

I read this somewhere on the DUC, that a guy had a similar rig and was only getting 3 or 4 tracks until he added a second drive (both IDE I think) and his track count went up to 24. That was apparently the only change he made to get that dramatic an improvement, but I can't confirm. Try searching the threads for the last 6 weeks or so.

[net4chuy]

I read in General Info thread of people having problems with their MP G4's and 001. You might want to check it out.

Net4chuy

[ThomCat]

AppleInsider reports that MP macs are shut down due to software problems. Supplies are short already, and the MP G4 500's aren't even in the pipeline. Few if any of those are out there yet, and they may have problems.