Avid Pro Audio Community

mmf78 · #1 12-12-2006, 10:34 PM

Hello, I bought the Mbox 2 studio bundle back in Nov. and as I get deeper into PT (first timer) I understand you need an external Firewire hard drive for optimal performance.

How would I go about setting the external drive up. What should stay on my Mac hard drive and what should be on the external?

I have the standard plugins like Amplitube LE and BFD Lite, but I am going to get the full versions so I need more GB. Should I throw the libraries from big apps onto the external HD? Should I get 2 external HD's? One for plugs and one for sessions?

So I guess all I need to know is what goes where.

Thanks in advance.

M.

Oh yeah,
MacBook Pro
1.5 RAM
2Ghz Intel Duo Core
PT LE 7.1
Mbox2

flommer · #2 12-12-2006, 10:59 PM

I've learned from other users that BFD will work best when it has it's own dedicated drive. I also have the lite version and am considering the upgrade (if I don't give Strike a try instead). During initial testing I had lots of trouble while using BFD (installed on the system drive) and recording to the system drive at the same time. After moving my recording output to an external firewire drive the problems went away. If I was to depend more on the full version I would also get another drive(probably internal SATA) just for BFD.

You definately want one drive dedicated to your recorded audio tracks.

I suspect that if you were making heavy use of sample libraries you might want them on a seperate drive, but I think you could try having them on your system drive first to see if you have performance issues. Other users might disagree or have more specific advice here... Maybe samples would be best on the recording drive as well..?

mmf78 · #3 12-12-2006, 11:12 PM

Thanks. And quick too.

I thought I needed a dedicated ex. HD for my audio and sessions. Thanks for confirming.

See the thing is that the full version of BFD (which I don't have, but will probably get) has a 9GB library. I'd rather store that 9GB somewhere else and not use up all my Mac's GB.

I wonder if having 2 firewire 400 7200rpm linked together--1 for audio and 1 for other stuff (sample libraries, etc...) would be a good idea. That would be ideal for me.

Any ideas?