#1
|
|||
|
|||
Tracking to an external drive?
Hi all.
I'm tracking a podcast tomorrow. It'll be 3-4 mics (one for each person and one omni in the middle of the table). They'll do two episodes, each between 30-45 minutes. I have plenty of space for that on my computer's drive, but I have a couple of these 2TB external drives (one of these) that I use for backing up/archiving, and I'm wondering if I could just record straight to the external drive instead of using my laptop's internal one. I'm tracking in Logic on a 2014 Macbook Pro (2.6GHZ i5). I got to thinking about this after watching a video where one of the producers said that he tracks directly to a LaCie Rugged drive. It'd sure free up a lot of space on non-processor-intensive jobs. Any advice/thoughts/experience on this approach? |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Yes - it's always best to track to a secondary drive. I don't know of a single professional engineer who would risk a session to their boot drive.
Let your boot drive handle running the OS and the applications. Let a secondary drive handle the session. FWIW, I like the Seagate drives & use one myself for all my tracking. I buy bare hard drives and use this external dock: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/exte...owc-drive-dock It allows be to swap drives for different projects very quickly.
__________________
-Steve 1927 Martin 00-21 1986 Fender Strat 1987 Ibanez RG560 1988 Fender Fretless J Bass 1991 Washburn HB-35s 1995 Taylor 812ce 1996 Taylor 510c (custom) 1996 Taylor 422-R (Limited Edition) 1997 Taylor 810-WMB (Limited Edition) 1998 Taylor 912c (Custom) 2019 Fender Tele |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Oh that's very helpful! And that looks like the exact dock I saw in a video that got me thinking about this whole thing. I was mostly wondering about the I/O transfer speeds over USB 3, but that doesn't seem to be an issue.
I gotta say that I love the price on that drive dock, as well. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
That Seagate HD of yours is only is only 5400 RPM, for audio tracking 7200 is recommended. That said, I've read lot of threads on Gearslutz where people record straight to externals because their internal SATA HDs were so noisy. USB3, Firewire and Thunderbolt are all fast enough in the transfer of data, and with a long cable you can place the HD far away from the mics, BONUS!!!
|
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Always record your tracks on an external drive — always.
And +1 on the OWC DriveDock. I bought two OWC Mercury 120GB SSD bare drives that I use for recording and editing due to their incredible speed and silent operation. The other slot in the DriveDock holds a fast Toshiba 5 TB disk drive for archiving completed Logic projects. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
I am detecting a theme here....
purchasing the OWC dock right now to use going forward. It'll certainly be nice to get the project files off my lappy. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|
#8
|
||||
|
||||
Let me be a tad more specific: Always track to a drive other than the boot drive. However, the faster the drive and the faster the bus, the better you are. At the studio where I work we have at least two internal drives dedicated to production on the fastest rails of our workstations that we record onto. We don't typically use EXTERNAL drives unless the drive and bus being used are really fast, such as USB3 and Thunderbolt.
Bob
__________________
"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' " Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring THE MUSICIAN'S ROOM (my website) |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
I have several OWC drives I use with both my Mac tower and my laptop. 250's, 500's and 2TB. They're all fine for recording. For mixing, especially with high track counts, the 2TB drives gave me trouble so one now gets used for archiving and the other one now stores movies and old episodes of "NCIS" transferred from the Dish box, much to Mrs. Hahn's delight. The most bulletproof of all are the (non-boot) internal drives in the Mac tower.
You can also replace the optical drive in a Macbook Pro with a second HDD or an SSD. I'm about to but haven't yet. Last edited by Brent Hahn; 01-29-2018 at 10:44 AM. Reason: typo |
#10
|
||||
|
||||
One thing to consider in buying an external drive is fan noise. It doesn't seem like a tiny fan makes much noise but when I recently changed over from a Glyph HD (with fan) to an SSD from OWC my studio got quieter.
|
#11
|
|||
|
|||
"Always record your tracks on an external drive — always."
Most home recordists don't have that option. I record to my only drive (and the computer does not have another hard drive space in it), and back up to external USB drives. Never had an issue (knock on wood).
__________________
Mike My music: https://mikebirchmusic.bandcamp.com 2020 Taylor 324ceBE 2017 Taylor 114ce-N 2012 Taylor 310ce 2011 Fender CD140SCE Ibanez 12 string a/e 73(?) Epiphone 6830E 6 string 72 Fender Telecaster Epiphone Dot Studio Epiphone LP Jr Chinese Strat clone Kala baritone ukulele Seagull 'Merlin' Washburn Mandolin Luna 'tatoo' a/e ukulele antique banjolin Squire J bass |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
Yes, the prevailing wisdom has been to put all media on a drive separate from the System/Apps drive.
With faster computers and SSD drives, however, we may need to re-examine this tried and true approach. I just bought an iMac Pro that has one internal SSD drive. Logic Pro X and FCP X were my first downloaded purchases. I will arm 16 tracks in Logic Pro X and let it run for half an hour just to see if the fan comes on or the system borks. I'm still working my way through the new work flow. If it works, the next step would be getting a backup drive. Perhaps there, I might split the backup; one for Sys/Apps and one for media. Yes, I have recorded on a MacBook (one drive) with no problems. Regards, Ty Ford |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
have you tried recording those through a 1073-type pre? I hear they look and sound a lot better.
|
#14
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
I agree with Ty the "Always track to a seperate drive from the system drive" mantra came about, and was totally valid and optimum , in the era of slower bus speeds, etc. and limited drive space available in computers prototypical of 15 -5 years ago. And depending on what usage needs one actually has and the size of the system drive , that rule of thumb is arguably no longer quite as imperative. Now obviously for backup things have not changed and some kind of secondary backup is always advisable Currently there are literally thousands of single SSD drive laptops (obviously dependant on the space available ) recording music with no speed, space , or congestion issues . That said for the OP since he already the drives, has USB 3, and the specs for that drive indicate a 4.8 GBps transfer speed ( even with a 5200 rpm) I see no reason not use it for this project.
__________________
Enjoy the Journey.... Kev... KevWind at Soundcloud KevWind at YouYube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...EZxkPKyieOTgRD System : Studio system Avid Carbon interface , PT Ultimate 2023.12 -Mid 2020 iMac 27" 3.8GHz 8-core i7 10th Gen ,, Ventura 13.2.1 Mobile MBP M1 Pro , PT Ultimate 2023.12 Ventura 12.2.1 Last edited by KevWind; 01-29-2018 at 10:05 AM. |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|