Logic on MacBook Pro

[MarkW19]

I've just ordered a 2.2ghz MacBook Pro (4GB, 200GB 7200rpm), mostly for Logic use. I'll be using it out live using Mainstage, so reliability/smoothness is very important.

So, for this reason I've decided to keep the machine 100% dedicated to music production, to give myself the best chance of a fully reliable and stable system.

BUT, as it is such a powerful machine (and much more powerful than my main machine: a PowerMac G5 with 1GB RAM), I would like to use it for other things too - iMovie for importing/editing video, occasional internet use, and Windows XP/bootcamp, mainly for games like Bioshock/Halflife etc.

My question is - can I get an external FireWire harddrive, 500GB or something, and divide it into 2 partitions. On one partition I'll put samples/audio etc. to use with Logic. And, on the other I'll install everything else (inc. a completely separate Leopard system). Then, when I'm doing the music stuff, I'll start up from the "music/clean" system on my internal HD, and when I'm doing all the other stuff, I'll start up from my external HD.

Will this allow me to keep a fully clean system separate just for music use? Or will things get mixed up somehow anyway?

And, if I do go down this route, will a 500GB Time Capsule drive allow me to use it as a wireless HD, and not just for Time Machine? If so, will the performance be much worse than FW800/400 by going wireless (802.11n)?

OR, could I just split my internal HD into 2 partitions, one for music and one for everything else, each with its own system? Would that be effective in keeping the music system clean?

 

[JG271]

I don't know about having two lots of leopard... i know you can do it with leopard and tiger however, but if you can it would make two clean systems.
A Time Capsule can be used as a wireless external HD, although I'm not sure it would be bootable. A firewire hard drive can be booted from by pressing down T after startup.

Hope this helps.

 

[MarkW19]

I don't know about having two lots of leopard... i know you can do it with leopard and tiger however, but if you can it would make two clean systems.
A Time Capsule can be used as a wireless external HD, although I'm not sure it would be bootable. A firewire hard drive can be booted from by pressing down T after startup.

Hope this helps.

I'm pretty sure you can install two lots of Leopard on different partitions - can anyone confirm this please?

How about just creating a separate "Mainstage" user...that doesn't go online or anything, just includes programs/settings/files relevant to Mainstage for live use. Would the separate partition idea be much "cleaner", or would the separate user be good enough?

Also, on either method, will having all the files mixed up on the same physical HD be detrimental when compared with using a completely separate external FW HD, or doesn't it really matter?

And, re. Time Capsule solely as a wireless external HD (and not a Time Machine backup drive), I wonder if this would be good enough for audio use, when compared to the internal 7200rpm HD in my Macbook Pro?

And how would the speed/flow of data transfer compare with both an external FW400 drive, and also a FW800 drive, will there be much speed difference using the wireless drive?

Thanks.

 

[gotzero]

Regardless of speed on paper, I would never use a wireless hard drive for live audio... Even if it can keep up with the data rate, having it drop out, even for a moment, would be bad news...

 

[MarkW19]

Regardless of speed on paper, I would never use a wireless hard drive for live audio... Even if it can keep up with the data rate, having it drop out, even for a moment, would be bad news...

The wireless hard drive would be for home use only, I'd never use it live.

 

[InLikeALion]

The wireless hard drive would be for home use only, I'd never use it live.

Still, I'm sure wireless would not be nearly as good as a directly connected device. I would just use timecapsule type appliances for remote backup and not working off of.

 

[MarkW19]

Still, I'm sure wireless would not be nearly as good as a directly connected device. I would just use timecapsule type appliances for remote backup and not working off of.

Yeah, fair enough. I'll just get a FW800 drive if I need anymore storage.

So, would creating a separate user be as effective in keeping Mainstage clean, as creating 2 separate partitions each with a separate Leopard on it?

 

[InLikeALion]

I'm pretty sure that a separate partition would be more effective in actually quarantining the 2 halves.

 

[MarkW19]

I'm pretty sure that a separate partition would be more effective in actually quarantining the 2 halves.

Yeah, I think so too - it's just taking up more disk space, unnecessary duplication of files, longer to restart, etc.

But if that's the way to go to get a clean system, then I'll have to do it...

Can you create/change partition sizes in Leopard on the fly?