PDA

View Full Version : internal or external drive?



djdave01
01-10-2010, 10:39 AM
ive been using computers to play music for the last few years. I started with a laptop and used an external drive to store all the music. Generally it worked well but i often got a short screen freeze when i tried to load the next song.

Next i had a small form PC, which had two drives in it, one for software, one for music. Never had a single problem or any screen freezing while loading songs.

Im now back using a laptop, despite it being way more powerful than is required, im once again getting occasional screen freezes when loading a song from the external hard drive. Its nothing serious but it always makes me jump a bit when it does it.

Im thinking about having the music stored on the laptops internal drive, but im not sure if it would be ok to have the software & the music on the same drive, would it freeze even more or would it run smoother?

Dave

Solitaire Events Ltd
01-10-2010, 10:48 AM
Surely this would depend on the laptop and hard drive spec and also the software being used?

Vectis
01-10-2010, 10:53 AM
A lot of external drives, particularly WD, have a power-save feature which spins them down when not used for a while. Hence your problem.

Many are supplied with (or you can download) a software utility that can be used to disable this 'feature'.

If not, and you're running windoze, write a batch script that does a DIR on a particular folder on the external drive every couple of minutes to keep it alive. If OSX, shell script doing an ls / sleep loop will achieve the same.


External is preferable from a portability perspective, and also tipping a nod to ProDub.

Megamix
01-10-2010, 11:16 AM
I use an external at home but did fret using it live - so internal used now and just avoids one more worry ( also knocked out USB cable once on laptop so that sealed it for me)

welby
01-10-2010, 12:23 PM
I had the same problem - as vectis said you need to disable spin down if you can - and turn off all power save features on the pc.

Excalibur
01-10-2010, 12:25 PM
A lot of external drives, particularly WD, have a power-save feature which spins them down when not used for a while. Hence your problem.
Many are supplied with (or you can download) a software utility that can be used to disable this 'feature'.

If not, and you're running windoze, write a batch script that does a DIR on a particular folder on the external drive every couple of minutes to keep it alive. If OSX, shell script doing an ls / sleep loop will achieve the same.


External is preferable from a portability perspective, and also tipping a nod to ProDub.

Hence why Media Monkey freezes the play facility when I leave a track paused for ages.. :( :(

BeerFunk
01-10-2010, 12:34 PM
The other potential failure point with an external drive is the power - I'm sick of having to replace these cheap transformers they supply with the majority of external drives. They can go at any time too.

I know laptops are the preferred system for mobile use because they are compact and portable, and I also know that there are DJs who have had success with laptops in terms of reliability, but I still would not consider them as a playout system. A rackmount PC setup would be my choice, preferably with a quickly accessible hard drive rack.

djdave01
01-10-2010, 01:32 PM
thanks for replies so far, i'll have a look into the power save & spin down ideas.

I actually agree with Beerfunk, a rackmount PC is better, i had mine mounted in a homemade box, with keyboard & mouse on a pull out shelf, the mixer & monitor were in there too. I only had to connect power and sound cables and it was ready to go. Problem was it weighed a ton.

Using a laptop means more connections have to be made and its not as tidy as the rackmounted system, but my backs not suffering so much lol

Dave

CRAZY K
01-10-2010, 01:49 PM
A lot of external drives, particularly WD, have a power-save feature which spins them down when not used for a while. Hence your problem.



I get this with my Seagate External HD in use with the Cortex but it doesnt freeze--just whirs into life after 5 seconds---is that peculiar to a Laptop Martin?

notroubleclubber
01-10-2010, 03:33 PM
I use the internal drive on my laptop running VDJ. Only cable is usb from laptop to hercules rmx and obviously the ac lead. I also have an external drive with all my tracks for emergency purposes though ive yet to check if the rmx will run ok on the usb as well as the external drive.

djdave01
01-10-2010, 03:55 PM
I use the internal drive on my laptop running VDJ. Only cable is usb from laptop to hercules rmx and obviously the ac lead. I also have an external drive with all my tracks for emergency purposes though ive yet to check if the rmx will run ok on the usb as well as the external drive.


Do you ever have any screen freezing issuses when you load a track from the internal drive?

CRAZY K
01-10-2010, 04:55 PM
The other potential failure point with an external drive is the power - I'm sick of having to replace these cheap transformers they supply with the majority of external drives. They can go at any time too.



No problem with tranformers/ powerpacks on my Seagates--just the actual power leads to them--one went dead and the other had a loose screw inside the mains plug.

Vectis
01-10-2010, 06:07 PM
The other potential failure point with an external drive is the power

Not with bus-powered drives. The Freecom toughdrives work with pretty much any single USB port without needing another feed.

Excalibur
01-10-2010, 06:16 PM
Not with bus-powered drives. The Freecom toughdrives work with pretty much any single USB port without needing another feed.

Ah yes, but sadly some drives need a bit more of a push to get them going. ;) I must try the Freecom with the Cortex. So far, I've not found any portable drive the Cortex likes. :( :( The Numark does like a Maxtor with two cables, but not WD. :( :( :confused: :confused:

BeerFunk
01-10-2010, 06:47 PM
Not with bus-powered drives. The Freecom toughdrives work with pretty much any single USB port without needing another feed.Ah yes I I do actually have one of those, and I agree it is far more reliable. I only use it as a general/utility drive in the house.

Unfortunately, my experience with USB isn't 100% either - although most of my problems with USB ports dying or behaving erratically were with the older motherboards when USB wasn't quite the standard it is now. I still wouldn't consider it as reliable as the internal interfaces such as IDE or SATA - although this is perhaps an unfair comparison :)

Booche
01-10-2010, 10:00 PM
I actually use a high powered custom built Pc with internal HDD's and i find it alot better and quicker then a laptop but ive got a external seagate 1tb HDD and it seems fine, the only issue ive ever had with the pc is when i was on a old wooden floor and the crowd decided to jump really heavily to BEP's - I've gotta feeling which caused the music to get stuck like a cd so it kind of went drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (hard to describe in text) lol

Apart from that i cant see any issues with seagate HDD's they seem sturdy enough and can take alot of abuse

Cheers Dave :)

CRAZY K
01-10-2010, 10:23 PM
. So far, I've not found any portable drive the Cortex likes.

Seagate seems perfect Peter;)

Solitaire Events Ltd
02-10-2010, 02:32 PM
Not with bus-powered drives. The Freecom toughdrives work with pretty much any single USB port without needing another feed.

Apart from the Denon HD2500...:(