Firewire HD: 400 or 800?!?

[kd_rome]

Hi guys!
I need to buy an external hard drive to use with Protools and my powerbook 17" 1.5 GHz.
I would like to know what do you think about the differences between a LaCie Big Disk Extreme 320GB with a Firewire 800 - Oxford 912-8Mb and a
Maxtor OneTouch™ II - 300GB with a Firewire 400 - Oxford 911-16 Mb.

Everytime a read a review it's always about people that use the hd for pro video/photo, I would like to know something about the ProAudio needs.
Thanks!

[Guerrilla Tech]

I recommend the Mercury Elite Pro from OWC. FW400, FW800, and USB 2.0. The only problem I've ever had from them is that damn blue LED is blinding! When I brought it home, I had to turn it off to get to sleep.

[Rail Jon Rogut]

Except they have no fan and I've had one overheat.

Rail

[pk_hat]

Very happy with my two LaCie D2 drives. One is 120GB 400 and the other is 200GB 400/800. Rock solid for two years and counting.
By the way, even though the last link to my Powerbook is the newer 800 drive, it doesn't increase performance in PT, as the Digi002R doesn't support it, so it's just like having a 400 attached.

[kd_rome]

Very happy with my two LaCie D2 drives. One is 120GB 400 and the other is 200GB 400/800. Rock solid for two years and counting.
By the way, even though the last link to my Powerbook is the newer 800 drive, it doesn't increase performance in PT, as the Digi002R doesn't support it, so it's just like having a 400 attached.

Thanks guys for the answers.
What do you mean when you say that your Digi 002 doesn't support the Firewire 800?
You mean tha protools doesn't recognize an external drive with that interface?

Do you know the difference between the
LaCie d2 Extreme and the Big Disk Extreme?

[pk_hat]

What do you mean when you say that your Digi 002 doesn't support the Firewire 800?

It means it's not supported, simple as that. The 002 only has FW 400 connections. My 002R goes to the 400 D2, then from that to my 800 D2, then to my Powerbook. I bought the 200GB 800 because I needed more space, not because it's an 800 drive.

You mean that protools doesn't recognize an external drive with that interface?

No, I mean that you shouldn't expect faster PT performance just because there's a Firewire 800 drive in your link.

Do you know the difference between the
LaCie d2 Extreme and the Big Disk Extreme?

Are you simply asking me or are you suggesting that I should know?
A while back I had asked a local Mac specialist about the 500GB Big Disk and was told they're not recomended for audio, as it's a RAID drive. I don't know the specs on the 320GB you're thinking of getting, so perhaps you should look into that before spending the money.

[lexicon5]

A single FireWire 800 Drive will not improve the overall machine performance by much...if at all....you would need to RAID two or more FW800 drives to see what FW800 can do....
FW400 has almost enough bandwidth to allow a modern HD to transfer data at it's max capabilities so a single FW800 is kinda like pushing water through a firehose from a garden hose....not quite but a simple enough analogy.

Buying a FW800/400 drive is good investment for future considerations....
Other than adding dual platform capabilities...USB2 is pretty worthless in this context....

[LoZion]

Hi,
I would like to know if both the 800 & 400 firewire connectors on my powerbook 1.33 15" are on the same bus?
If yes, would it be better to use a pci/carbus adapter in order to have my 002r on one bus and my hd on the pci-bus?
Do the pci bus have advantages in terms of transfer speed, etc? Or is is limited to 400?
thanks,

[kd_rome]

Are you simply asking me or are you suggesting that I should know?
A while back I had asked a local Mac specialist about the 500GB Big Disk and was told they're not recomended for audio, as it's a RAID drive. I don't know the specs on the 320GB you're thinking of getting, so perhaps you should look into that before spending the money.

[/QUOTE]

Sorry I'm not really the best in explanations...I was just asking you because the lacie website it's not the best in the world.. their datasheet it's pathetic.

My problem was actually to understand a little bit more how this hard drives work.
The thing is: If I use a firewire 800 on a Powerbook 1.5 GHz is it gonna be really faster than the 400 one?
And do you guys think that maybe it's just better to get the new Maxtor firewire 400 with 16 MB of buffer instead of 8?

I use protools and that's why the transfer speed it's more important than if you just you it for video or photo.

At least I understood that the Big Disk has a RAID inside that it's not good for the proaudio.

Sorry again if I didn't explain myself...english it's not my first language, and sometimes I'm bad...