Hard drive options for MBP

[Andrew07]

What drive setup will get me the most juice for mixing 48 tracks on a 2.33 GHz Macbook Pro at 44.1k 24-bit?

Upgrading the internal drive to 7200?

A 10,000 RPM like this wouldn't work though, right http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...4GB_Hard_Drive ?

Getting a 7200 RPM External Firewire drive running FW800?

And what is an e-SATA adapter that goes into the MBP's ExpressCard slot?

 

[CanadaRAM]

What drive setup will get me the most juice for mixing 48 tracks on a 2.33 GHz Macbook Pro at 44.1k 24-bit?

Upgrading the internal drive to 7200?

A 10,000 RPM like this wouldn't work though, right http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...4GB_Hard_Drive ?

Correct, any internal drive will need to be a 2.5" SATA drive, 3.5" drives will not fit.

Getting a 7200 RPM External Firewire drive running FW800?

That is one option, however I am leery of contending for bandwidth on the Firewire controller between audio interface and hard drive

And what is an e-SATA adapter that goes into the MBP's ExpressCard slot?

An eSATA controller is an ExpressCard interface which provides and external eSATA connection, which can connect the machine to an external enclosure with between one and five 3.5" SATA drives. If you have the money for it, this is the way to go, because it allows you to have multiple, high speed, high capacity drives, high bandwidth between your machine and the drives, and leaves the Firewire buss totally alone for audio data. Firmtek and Sonnet both make cards and enclosures. The best type of enclosure is one with two removable drive trays, so you can make backups from one drive to another, you can divide data and scratch space onto two different drives, and you can also have additional drives that you can plug in and out, maybe dedicate one drive per project. With large fast hard drives selling under $150, this starts to make sense (if you doubt it, ask any industry veteran how much reels of multitrack tape cost...)

 

[Andrew07]

GREAT reply, much appreciated! Couple more questions though, if you don't mind...

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempo_sata_express34.html

How do I connect external drives to this kind of port? A firewire-to-SATA cable? Right now I have an OWC firewire drive for samples. What would you suggest for a powerful external drive for audio that won't mind being moved to a different location every week? I have several storage drives, so I try to keep my audio drive as free as possible. Thanks!

 

[Danny Futuro]

GREAT reply, much appreciated! Couple more questions though, if you don't mind...

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempo_sata_express34.html

How do I connect external drives to this kind of port? A firewire-to-SATA cable? Right now I have an OWC firewire drive for samples. What would you suggest for a powerful external drive for audio that won't mind being moved to a different location every week? I have several storage drives, so I try to keep my audio drive as free as possible. Thanks!

You'll need an eSata cable to use that express/34 card. A drive like the Lacie d2 quadra has a quadruple interface that includes eSata, USB, and both flavors of firewire. Give that a look.