Hello!
I'm gonna get myself a new 17" MBP as soon as they come out but thought I'd find this out now, instead of waiting. I need to know the best solution for me for external storage. Bear with me as it's a long question, but it needs explaining or the answers will be useless...
I'll get the 7200rpm 320GB drive in the MBP (fastest and biggest). I'm used to desktop PCs with resonably generous amounts of storage. My current Desktop has 1.25TB, and it's getting full-ish. When I get my MBP I want to use the MBP as much as possible instead of the desktop. Obviously I'd put everything on the HDD of the MBP, but it's only 320GB.
I have about...
200ish GB of my own music
150ish GB of sample libraries (maybe 200GB atm)
(both of these could be whittled down a bit probably)
200GB of MP3s
80GB movies
various apps etc.
Quite a lot of GB of photos etc.
a) I want to use the laptop live on stage (with my FW audio interface). I preferably want to use the internal HDD for this, the less kit to set up, and the least things to go wrong the better.
b) I'd like to be able to compose/mix my own tunes on my headphones when I'm out and about on the move/away on business/etc.
c) I'd also like to be using the laptop at home though so I can browse the web with WiFi, listen to itunes wherever I am, etc.
d) Also occasionally I DJ so I need to take my MBP out with me and need all my itunes songs/some of them.
e) I'd like to be able to take my laptop round my folks etc. and show them photos etc. on it.
f) I'd like to have a Time machine backup of all/most my stuff, rather than my current external 500GB drive that complains that it's not big enough even though I'm excluding a lot of important stuff I really should have backed up!
I want to spend as little as possible for least messing about. How would you achieve this. Obviously lots of these things are pretty exclusive of one another.
My current hub is 802.11g, not n, so this might be worth upgrading if I have important stuff I want to beam around the house.
The best thing I can currently think of is:
1) Put most of my self made music on the forthcoming MBP.
2) Put all my most needed samples on my MBP
3) Get a 1TB Time Capsule for 802.11n wirelessness and use it for time machine backup.
4) Put a 1TB HDD in my current 500GB external USB2 drive box, or buy a new 1TB one, and plug this into the time machine. Put all my other self-made tunes, my movies, sample libraries which I don't use but could copy to the MBP if I need them, photos, and everything else onto this.
This would mean I could use the MBP for writing/performing music anywhere.
When home I can plug in ethernet and get MP3s/movies/internet/photos/etc. when I'm sat downstairs in my "studio" area at gigabit speed to the drive plugged in the Time Capsules USB.
But can also wirelessly stream them to me wherever I am around the house/garden if unplugged via 802.11n.
If I'm then going somewhere I want to take my photos/movies/MP3s/etc. I can unplug the USB drive and take it with me and plug it straight in the MBP.
So my questions are:
How fast is a USB2 drive via the Time Capsule & ethernet for using samples off it when at home? Fast enough?
How fast is a USB2 drive via the Time Capsule & 802.11n for streaming movies and music around the house to me?
Is there an easier way to do this?
Could it give me any problems?
Is there a good alternative to the Time capsule with more storage (e.g. 2x 1GB drives in it) and/or cheaper? And still 802.11n? Obviously they don't have to be in the same box.
How much storage do you think I need? I could plug a bigger drive into the Time Capsules USB, but if it's too big physically it'll be more of a pain to take about with me. A USB/firewire powered one would be ideal, but I don't know they get big enough, and the TC doesn't have FW anyway.
How do you do this in your homes?
Current items I have to work into the equation:
1x 3GHz Core 2 Duo Hackintosh with 1.25TB storage. This can be left as a Hackintosh and used too, although I don't entirely trust the thing not to break as it occasionally does! I really want to replace this as much as possible, but equally it's a good, relatively recent PC, so I don't really want it to just collect dust. I need to use it for something! I don't really wanna have the thing running permanently just for server storage either, but tell me if you think it's a good idea! Or I could go and put XP on it and use it for gaming as it has a pretty decent graphics card in.
1x AMD XP PC of my girlfriends will be networked in to everything else.
1x BT home hub DSL modem/802.11g hub.
1x 500GB USB2 external HDD. I *think* it's SATA inside so can swap in a bigger drive if it saves me money.
Thoughts?
I'm gonna get myself a new 17" MBP as soon as they come out but thought I'd find this out now, instead of waiting. I need to know the best solution for me for external storage. Bear with me as it's a long question, but it needs explaining or the answers will be useless...
I'll get the 7200rpm 320GB drive in the MBP (fastest and biggest). I'm used to desktop PCs with resonably generous amounts of storage. My current Desktop has 1.25TB, and it's getting full-ish. When I get my MBP I want to use the MBP as much as possible instead of the desktop. Obviously I'd put everything on the HDD of the MBP, but it's only 320GB.
I have about...
200ish GB of my own music
150ish GB of sample libraries (maybe 200GB atm)
(both of these could be whittled down a bit probably)
200GB of MP3s
80GB movies
various apps etc.
Quite a lot of GB of photos etc.
a) I want to use the laptop live on stage (with my FW audio interface). I preferably want to use the internal HDD for this, the less kit to set up, and the least things to go wrong the better.
b) I'd like to be able to compose/mix my own tunes on my headphones when I'm out and about on the move/away on business/etc.
c) I'd also like to be using the laptop at home though so I can browse the web with WiFi, listen to itunes wherever I am, etc.
d) Also occasionally I DJ so I need to take my MBP out with me and need all my itunes songs/some of them.
e) I'd like to be able to take my laptop round my folks etc. and show them photos etc. on it.
f) I'd like to have a Time machine backup of all/most my stuff, rather than my current external 500GB drive that complains that it's not big enough even though I'm excluding a lot of important stuff I really should have backed up!
I want to spend as little as possible for least messing about. How would you achieve this. Obviously lots of these things are pretty exclusive of one another.
My current hub is 802.11g, not n, so this might be worth upgrading if I have important stuff I want to beam around the house.
The best thing I can currently think of is:
1) Put most of my self made music on the forthcoming MBP.
2) Put all my most needed samples on my MBP
3) Get a 1TB Time Capsule for 802.11n wirelessness and use it for time machine backup.
4) Put a 1TB HDD in my current 500GB external USB2 drive box, or buy a new 1TB one, and plug this into the time machine. Put all my other self-made tunes, my movies, sample libraries which I don't use but could copy to the MBP if I need them, photos, and everything else onto this.
This would mean I could use the MBP for writing/performing music anywhere.
When home I can plug in ethernet and get MP3s/movies/internet/photos/etc. when I'm sat downstairs in my "studio" area at gigabit speed to the drive plugged in the Time Capsules USB.
But can also wirelessly stream them to me wherever I am around the house/garden if unplugged via 802.11n.
If I'm then going somewhere I want to take my photos/movies/MP3s/etc. I can unplug the USB drive and take it with me and plug it straight in the MBP.
So my questions are:
How fast is a USB2 drive via the Time Capsule & ethernet for using samples off it when at home? Fast enough?
How fast is a USB2 drive via the Time Capsule & 802.11n for streaming movies and music around the house to me?
Is there an easier way to do this?
Could it give me any problems?
Is there a good alternative to the Time capsule with more storage (e.g. 2x 1GB drives in it) and/or cheaper? And still 802.11n? Obviously they don't have to be in the same box.
How much storage do you think I need? I could plug a bigger drive into the Time Capsules USB, but if it's too big physically it'll be more of a pain to take about with me. A USB/firewire powered one would be ideal, but I don't know they get big enough, and the TC doesn't have FW anyway.
How do you do this in your homes?
Current items I have to work into the equation:
1x 3GHz Core 2 Duo Hackintosh with 1.25TB storage. This can be left as a Hackintosh and used too, although I don't entirely trust the thing not to break as it occasionally does! I really want to replace this as much as possible, but equally it's a good, relatively recent PC, so I don't really want it to just collect dust. I need to use it for something! I don't really wanna have the thing running permanently just for server storage either, but tell me if you think it's a good idea! Or I could go and put XP on it and use it for gaming as it has a pretty decent graphics card in.
1x AMD XP PC of my girlfriends will be networked in to everything else.
1x BT home hub DSL modem/802.11g hub.
1x 500GB USB2 external HDD. I *think* it's SATA inside so can swap in a bigger drive if it saves me money.
Thoughts?