[ardour-users] hard drive speed

derek holzer derek at x-i.net
Thu Mar 11 10:44:17 PST 2004


It's possible to get 5400 rpm harddrive disks for laptops after-market, 
but not much faster. And certainly not cheaply. Harddrive speed isn't 
*so* important for 16 bit/stereo recording [although it certainly 
factors in!], but don't expect good results if you want to do 
multitracking or 32 bit sound. Since native Ardour format is 32 bit 
float, I would warn against such a slow harddrive in the long run. Espc 
if you want multi-track recording, double so if you want to monitor 
other channels at the same time.

Better [=faster+more reliable] than USB would be a firewire drive. 
External firewire interfaces for normal, 7200 rpm IDE drives aren't 
outrageously priced, and are cheaper than buying an all-in-one firewire 
drive like a Lacie drive, so I would look into that as a good alternative.

good luck,
d.

Djamel Ouerdane wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm about to get a new computer. I read on ardour's webpage that a hard 
> disk
> of at least 7200 rpm is required. Unfortunately, for some reasons, I 
> could only get
> a disk of 4200 rpm.  Would it be a good idea to buy a faster external 
> hard drive and use
> the USB 2  port for data transfer ?? I don't know much about all these 
> things and I don't
> want to wait for an upgrade of my system (a Dell Latitude notebook).
> Thanks for any info.
> 
> Djam



-- 
derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl
---Oblique Strategy # 133:
"remember quiet evenings"



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