how many hard-disks do you use for recording?

    i bought a new pc in january with top benchmark values, but the problem is the HD. i have rare knacks when working impatiently fast.
    before i buy a new one, as there are so many opinions, my simple question:
    do you recommend 2 HDs or is one enough, which are the specs of a "good" HD (for music production).
    running a standard µ-mainboard with windows 8-64bit

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    samples and audio are - well - not the same thing? ;)
    but i think i know what you mean:
    one HD for in my case cubase and the drum samples of superior drummer etc.
    and the other one for the cubase projects.
    well understood?

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    oops, sorry double post, why? if i have a post here then i can ask sth
    lightbox suggests here a different organisation, but AFAIK you can achieve this with a second partition?
    i am using this way for a decade now.

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    Edited 3 times, last by Geraldo7 ().

    a student of mine (14 years old!) recommended a SSD as the boot disk,
    but lightbox 4 HDs for one pc? serious?

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    depends on how serious you are on making Music without friction :)


    I also have 4 hds in my Computer


    1: for System (win8 64 bit)
    2: samples, VSTi-content
    3: personal data (like Pictures, films, Excel Sheets, invoices,...)
    4: cubase and ableton Projects


    plus one external hd for each of the 4 man hds for backup


    plus since 3 days one NAS System for continuing backup for my cubase Project HD (after I lost one week of work due to not doing a daily backup on the external HD)

    wow, did not know that. but 4 HDs are not possible.
    possible solution for me:


    • samsung sdd 840 for x
    • standard wd 7200 for y
    • external 1TB for backups


    how would you organise such a system with cubase, win 8, superior drummer, some 3d games, and a bunch of graphical data? thanx

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    The backup drive doesn't have to run at the same time as the others.
    I have an SSD for system and programs.
    One external FW/USB3 drive for the lot of Toontrack Superior samples + some other sample libraries.
    One external FW/USB3 drive for the audio that es recorded.


    If the graphical data is not so demanding you can put them on the system drive.
    (Frankly speaking my SSD system drive is so fast that I keep fractions of Toontrack superior on it, as well as some Logic projects incl audio sometimes...)
    But better behaviour would be an extra drive (doesn't have to run simultaneously to the others, like the backup drive).

    Quote from Geraldo7

    ... but lightbox 4 HDs for one pc? serious?


    Actually I have much more HDs incl. various additional SSDs & RAIDs but I just listed the ones I use for audio work. Video editing, interactive multimedia programming, image editing and web design are different story on the same workstation. :)


    1. Performance:
    I really love SSDs for system disk, for my VSTi sample libraries and (I didn't list the following 2 SSDs) especially as super fast drives for video editing & render cache.


    2. Backup:
    Since you've been asking, I thought it's a good idea to mention a backup drive. Most people underestimate the importance of backups!
    In my case, the "1st level backup" drive is always connected to my workstation and it's a 4TB WD Caviar Black with an automated daily backup process.
    The "2nd level" Backup drive is an external drive that I connect maybe once a week or 2 weeks, depending on my work and progress of projects.


    Cheers,
    Martin

    thank you guys, that is a fast discussion here. as a result of this discussion i would like to have 4 SSDs and a new Million on my bank account.


    any recommendations now for the Organisation of 3 disks?



    • internal SSD
    • internal 7200rpm
    • external backup 1TB

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    There's not much to "organize" in your 3 disk setup. Use the system disk for system files and programs only. All data on disk 2, and backup disk for backup. Don't partition your disks, this really doesn't help anything other than giving you a fake impression of more disks than you actually have. There's no speed gain when you partition disks. Create your own logic folder structure on disk 2 and you're done.

    thanx Martin, here are the specs of my Mainboard, it supports only SATA II.


    is that a Problem for a SATA III? Wikipedia says it isn't.


    last question for today!

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    No problem with SATA3 drives, they are backward compatible. The only disadvantage is that the latest SSDs could easily give you 400-500MB/s on SATA3, while it will be limited to roughly 200-240MB/s on a SATA2 controller. But don't get this wrong in terms of SSDs, they are MUCH faster than conventional HDs, even on SATA2 connection. That's because of their super fast access times, not only the increased data rate. It's pure fun to have a good SSD. :)

    thank you very much indeed. it is backwards compatible and much much faster than my hitachi.


    Wikipedia is not that bad. thanks again, i'll order it in a minute :thumbup: :thumbup: 8o :thumbup:

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    I run a number of drives, but for audio production I have Windows 7 + my VST files on an Intel 330 series SSD which I run in conjunction with a WD Caviar black 1tb as a D: drive for all of my music/projects/sample libraries etc. This is all backed up to a 2tb external, monthly hard drive clones and file backups.


    I have a separate drive for my photography but only because I needed the extra space.

    thanks, guys


    my option is now a 3 disk setup, instead of a 5er, should work anyway. but there is one big problem:
    my BIOS was not accessible, phoned the HP hotline. well they are not allowed to tell me, ha :cursing: ????
    found it buried in the hard to find online-manual. it should have been F10. does not work!
    ordered a new µ-atx mainboard. hope to get the new SSD running now on SATA III ( :thumbup: ) tomorrow.


    hardware madness again :wacko:

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    oh yes, so very true. the i-7 is now affordable ... :thumbup:
    fortunately my amp-GAS has been cured. (the KPA is my 13th amp!)
    whenever i feel i need a new amp, i buy one of andi's profiles @ 6 euros! ironheart is hammer!




    cheers

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.