USB support with Pro Tools 9 Laptops

[moldenke]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a laptop with win 7 and install Pro Tools 9. I notice on the AVID website:

http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/self...p?DocId=380551

that they list a number of supported laptops but most say (no USB 2.0 support). Does this mean I can't hook up an external USB drive? It also says firewire is not supported. How then am I supposed to connect an external drive? Almost all forum messages suggest that a separate drive for OS and samples is a must have to achieve necessary performance.

Also any successes running PT 9 on a win 7 laptop? If so what model?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[crizdee]

Originally Posted by moldenke

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a laptop with win 7 and install Pro Tools 9. I notice on the AVID website:

http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/self...p?DocId=380551

that they list a number of supported laptops but most say (no USB 2.0 support). Does this mean I can't hook up an external USB drive? It also says firewire is not supported. How then am I supposed to connect an external drive? Almost all forum messages suggest that a separate drive for OS and samples is a must have to achieve necessary performance.

Also any successes running PT 9 on a win 7 laptop? If so what model?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi,

You can use any USB or Firewire drive! within reason! the really cheap boxes might not work as well as the more established one's. USB is quite slow and not recommended for large track counts. firewire is much better. or SATA with a laptop card to sata. the internal drive works quite well, but you'll soon use up disk space and need an external drive for backup.


Chris

[albee1952]

Your link doesn't work. In any case, the winds they are a changin'. I took a look thru the compatibility grids(top of the page0 and was surprised about 2 things that are new; USB 2 drives okay for Windows only, and firewire drives NOT okay for Windows!?!?!? This is news. In any case, I would check with laptop manufacturer's own websites as I would expect EVERY laptop made in the last 5 years to have USB2 ports.

[Obsidian Dragon]

Is there any issue with Windows 7 and Firewire? I switched to a Mac a couple year ago so I have not kept up on the Windows side. Back in the Windows XP days, Firewire was the preferred way to go with the Oxford chipset and 7200 RPM drives. I also was surprised that for Windows, USB2 was supported and Firewire was not. Anyone have the facts?

[moldenke]

Sorry about the link in the original post. Here's the Avid web page detailing supported laptops:

http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/self...p?DocId=380551

It looks like the webpage may have been updated to clarify: The laptops that don't support USB 2.0 can use eSATA connections for external drives.

Still looking for any success stories with win 7 laptops and PT 9.

Thanks.