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Computer performance question - samples on external drive?

Hey everyone - I've got a question about samples being loaded and used in projects from an external drive.

I've got a couple external hard drives (one for Time Machine, one for samples), have a MacPro quadcore/4g ram, and use Ableton.

What I'm wondering is whether the project file I'm working with should be stored and worked on from the external drive, or the Primary HD for optimal performance? I'm not sure how big of a deal it is, but read here some time ago that samples should be stored on an external HD for better performance of the primary HD... same with the project file, or does this even make that big of a deal?

Thx.

Why not just buy a second internal drive? The Mac Pro has slots for 4 internal drives. You'll always get better I/O speeds on the internal bus that you would on any type of external drive, no matter how it is connected.

The information you read probably refers to the fact that it is easier for your machine to stream samples and such from a drive OTHER than your system drive, external or internal. This way the system drive can do the job of running the system and any disk I/O required while producing can come directly from a second dedicated drive. This results in better overall disk performance as a general rule. It is possible that your performance might actually DECREASE by moving things to an external drive, because the internal bus is so much faster than any external ones.

I purchased a second drive for music and picked up a WD Raptor 10,000 RPM drive for about $180 US. This type of setup should handle all the streaming I'll ever need. You really don't even need to go 10,000 RPM, a standard 7200 RPM internal drive should be just fine for all but the most demanding applications.

quote:

Originally posted by Eric J Why not just buy a second internal drive? The Mac Pro has slots for 4 internal drives. You'll always get better I/O speeds on the internal bus that you would on any type of external drive, no matter how it is connected. The information you read probably refers to the fact that it is easier for your machine to stream samples and such from a drive OTHER than your system drive, external or internal. This way the system drive can do the job of running the system and any disk I/O required while producing can come directly from a second dedicated drive. This results in better overall disk performance as a general rule. I purchased a second drive for music and picked up a WD Raptor 10,000 RPM drive for about $180 US. This type of setup should handle all the streaming I'll ever need. You really don't even need to go 10,000 RPM, a standard 7200 RPM internal drive should be just fine for all but the most demanding applications.

A fellow N. Texan. Thanks. That makes sense - I'll probably just pick up another HD and install it internally and just use the externals as backups. If the whole machine is dedicated to music and I grab a second internal hard drive, best to install programs on one, and keep project files and samples on the other (from a performance perspective)?
Appreciate it.

quote:

Originally posted by Ray_Chappell A fellow N. Texan.

Yes not too many on here Hot enough for you yet?

quote:

Originally posted by Ray_Chappell Thanks. That makes sense - I'll probably just pick up another HD and install it internally and just use the externals as backups.

I do exactly this. I use my external Glyph drive for backups. One thing i do is keep the external drive turned off and once every couple of weeks turn it on and make my backups. This reduces my chances of accidentally overwriting something on the backup.

quote:

Originally posted by Ray_Chappell If the whole machine is dedicated to music and I grab a second internal hard drive, best to install programs on one, and keep project files and samples on the other (from a performance perspective)? Appreciate it.

Project files are probably not a big concern, as most DAW applications load the project file at startup and cache it in memory. For Logic, there isnt anything in the project file that requires any streaming, its just information about the project itself, so it is pretty small.

External resources in the project, such as samples, SHOULD be installed on the 2nd drive as this is where the actual disk I/O is happening. Any VST sample libraries (such as the BATTERY libraries), should be installed in the 2nd drive. A lot of sample based VST's, such as Atmosphere, also should be installed on the 2nd drive as a lot of them stream their source samples from the drive.

I store everything project-related on the second drive, just to make things easy.

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Originally posted by Eric J Yes not too many on here Hot enough for you yet?

Yeah, I've become a hermit during the summer since moving here years ago.

I'll give this a go - going to jump on newegg.com and check out some drives. Appreciate the help!

quote:

Originally posted by Eric J Yes not too many on here Hot enough for you yet? I do exactly this. I use my external Glyph drive for backups. One thing i do is keep the external drive turned off and once every couple of weeks turn it on and make my backups. This reduces my chances of accidentally overwriting something on the backup. Project files are probably not a big concern, as most DAW applications load the project file at startup and cache it in memory. For Logic, there isnt anything in the project file that requires any streaming, its just information about the project itself, so it is pretty small. External resources in the project, such as samples, SHOULD be installed on the 2nd drive as this is where the actual disk I/O is happening. Any VST sample libraries (such as the BATTERY libraries), should be installed in the 2nd drive. A lot of sample based VST's, such as Atmosphere, also should be installed on the 2nd drive as a lot of them stream their source samples from the drive. I store everything project-related on the second drive, just to make things easy.

This is great advice Eric (sticky anyone?). External drives should really only be used for backup of projects and all that other stuff that you don't want clogging up your internal drives. Another reason is because no matter how careful you are with external drives, their failure rate is much higher than internal drives so having your master project files on externals is never a great idea.

let's not forget that if you have secure webspace, this is a great place to back up your files...

and... cd/dvd works just fine as archives too, as long as you put them somewhere safe and make sure you re-archive them every so often

david

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