looong overdue Mac Pro Harddrive question.

[Jon Nolan]

i get the feeling this is the kind of thing i should have done eons ago, but it just kept going to the bottom of the "money-goes-to" list.

i have a mac pro tower, quad core, with only one HD in it. i want to make full use of this rigs capabilities (finally). what third party HD's should i get, and from where?

suggestions?

[pwrb]

I put a few of these in my Mac Pro. Working like a charm, and they sure were cheap:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0334293

-Pete

[kslight]

I prefer Western Digital drives (who Apple uses) but Seagate is fine...always opt for the faster "black" (with WD) models versus the cheapest for best performance and warranty. As cheap as they are you should really buy 2, one to use for Time Machine auto backups. Prices are usually pretty comparable between Newegg, Microcenter, etc...

[Wagz]

I keep hearing that western digital is pretty darned reliable, a lot of friends prefer them to Seagate or lacie. I would almost agree with them except my external WD (1 tb) started acting up just after a year after I bought it. It still works but it acts funny. Although we have 2 newer WDs at work and another thats at least 3 years old as well and all work great. I think I just got a weird one.

[@?,*???&?]

OCZ Technology is providing the SSD drives for the new Mac computers.

They kick ass and their stock is good too.

Btw:

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=74633

[exalted wombat]

i have a mac pro tower, quad core, with only one HD in it. i want to make full use of this rigs capabilities (finally). what third party HD's should i get, and from where?

What particular capability do you wish to add or enhance?

[starbearer76]

i know this doesn't help because i literally over heard someone say it. who said it? i don't remember. i guess its an urban legend at this point to me, but id for sure would like to know for sure. maybe someone out there has heard more about it, but i heard that a major recording studio (in their money is no object sort of ways) wanted to know if the new SSD drives actually SOUND better. If what i heard is true, their golden ears could tell the difference and preferred the SSD over the older type when they did a shoot out.

I'll see if i can ask at work a bit more about it and report back.

[Andy Peters]

but i heard that a major recording studio (in their money is no object sort of ways) wanted to know if the new SSD drives actually SOUND better. If what i heard is true, their golden ears could tell the difference and preferred the SSD over the older type when they did a shoot out.

Well, that's the dumbest fucking thing I've heard all month.

-a

[John Jeffers]

but i heard that a major recording studio (in their money is no object sort of ways) wanted to know if the new SSD drives actually SOUND better. If what i heard is true, their golden ears could tell the difference and preferred the SSD over the older type when they did a shoot out.

Well, that's the dumbest fucking thing I've heard all month.

-a

Agreed. There's NO WAY that an SSD sounds any different than a mechanical hard drive. It's impossible. An SSD reads and writes data faster than a traditional hard drive, but it's dealing with exactly the same data. It's not like tape, where different formulations have different characteristics. Digital data doesn't work that way. It's just a sequence of ones and zeroes. Doesn't matter what media you store those ones and zeroes on; when it gets loaded into the computer, it's all the same. Anyone who believes otherwise doesn't understand how computers work.

[Snarl 12/8]

but i heard that a major recording studio (in their money is no object sort of ways) wanted to know if the new SSD drives actually SOUND better. If what i heard is true, their golden ears could tell the difference and preferred the SSD over the older type when they did a shoot out.

Well, that's the dumbest fucking thing I've heard all month.

-a

Agreed. There's NO WAY that an SSD sounds any different than a mechanical hard drive. It's impossible. An SSD reads and writes data faster than a traditional hard drive, but it's dealing with exactly the same data. It's not like tape, where different formulations have different characteristics. Digital data doesn't work that way. It's just a sequence of ones and zeroes. Doesn't matter what media you store those ones and zeroes on; when it gets loaded into the computer, it's all the same. Anyone who believes otherwise doesn't understand how computers work.

They're physically silent. Maybe the computer was in the same room as the monitors where they did the shootout. A lot of people run like that and it could be a factor in how "they sound" in a shootout.

Never say never.

[John Jeffers]

SSDs might reduce the ambient noise in the room, but they don't change the audio coming out of the speakers. And you'd have to be listening at a pretty low level for hard drive noise to be a factor. Besides, at a "money is no object" major recording studio, do you really think they're going to have the computers in the control room? No way, they'll be off in a closet somewhere. I continue to call bullshit on this claim.

[Snarl 12/8]

I wonder what a $2000 sata cable sounds like?

I kinda call bullshit on the concept of a "money no object studio" in this day and age.

[John Jeffers]

I wonder what a $2000 sata cable sounds like?

Exactly like a $2 SATA cable.

[Jon Nolan]

i have a mac pro tower, quad core, with only one HD in it. i want to make full use of this rigs capabilities (finally). what third party HD's should i get, and from where?

What particular capability do you wish to add or enhance?

ah, well, whatever processing power having three more hard drives will buy me. and, yes, i'm revealing a bit o' ignorance here, so be gentle. but, isn't it advantageous to have one dedicated to, say, plug-ins, and one for the recording software (only)? ha. i guess i don't exactly know. i was of the mind that when one lessens the workload of any one HD, and spread it across many, then you maximize the computers horsepower. could be completely off. i'm totally ready to eat crow and have you explain it to me if i'm way off.

[John Jeffers]

i wouldn't bother filling all four bays. I'd say one drive for the OS/programs, a second drive for your session files/audio, and a third drive for backups. And, as for myself, I wouldn't have that third drive be in the computer. I'd use an external drive and keep it somewhere else. That way, even if you lose the computer to theft or disaster, you still have your data.

Actually, I have two external drives I use for backup, and I sync them up using SuperDuper. So my session files are on three different drives: one in the computer (the one I actually do the work on), and two external backups.

If you're doing a lot of work with sample-based virtual instruments, you might want a separate internal drive to keep your sample libraries on.

Some people might suggest multiple drives in a RAID array, but I don't think that makes sense unless you have hardware RAID via an add-in PCIe card. Software RAID works, but it puts an extra load on the system. Given how disk-intensive recording is, I wouldn't want the overhead of software RAID competing with my DAW.

If I had the money, I'd make sure my OS/programs disk was an SSD, for the awesome speed boost that gives you, and use a regular hard drive for the session data.

My $.02, YMMV, etc.