Problem with macbook 5400 rpm HD?

[Willyguitar]

Hello people here! I am a regular in the electric guitar forum and want to improve my recording gear. I've been tempted by a new macbook and logic pro 9 and would probably want to run it with Amplitube 3. My concern is with the 5400 stock HDs, and how to overcome that without forking out lots of extra

[TimOBrien]

On ANY daw you want to record and mix on a secondary drive so that housekeeping chores on the boot drive dont interfere with the audio stream.

 

5400rpm drive on the boot drive (which should have your OS, apps and plugins) is OK, just use a 7200rpm drive for your projects.

[Willyguitar]

Thanks - so I could just get away with getting a 7200 external drive then you reckon?

[CME]

 

Thanks - so I could just get away with getting a 7200 external drive then you reckon?

 

 

Yes. I upgraded my internal HD to a 7200, but that's because I wanted to upgrade size, and decided I'd go ahead and get a 7200 since I was spending the money. If you do want to upgrade your drive it's pretty easy. OWC has some videos on how to do it.

 

But as mentioned recording to an external drive is best. If at all possible you don't want to record to the system drive. As far as ext drives go, most programs run fine with a USB drive, I'd def recommend a FW drive. The protocol is better suited for transferring data over extended periods of time, while USB is better for bursts of data. And make sure the drive inside it is a 7200 rpm drive. Hope that helps.

[Willyguitar]

 

Yes. I upgraded my internal HD to a 7200, but that's because I wanted to upgrade size, and decided I'd go ahead and get a 7200 since I was spending the money. If you do want to upgrade your drive it's pretty easy. OWC has some videos on how to do it. But as mentioned recording to an external drive is best. If at all possible you don't want to record to the system drive. As far as ext drives go, most programs run fine with a USB drive, I'd def recommend a FW drive. The protocol is better suited for transferring data over extended periods of time, while USB is better for bursts of data. And make sure the drive inside it is a 7200 rpm drive. Hope that helps.

 

 

Thanks - that's also good to know. I guess you have to just go through the hassle or reloading everything though.

[gdoubleyou]

If you do go for an internal drive don't buy it from Apple.

 

for RAM and drives go here http://www.macsales.com/

 

[CME]

 

Thanks - that's also good to know. I guess you have to just go through the hassle or reloading everything though.

 

 

Kinda. When I upgraded drives I used Carbon Copy Cloner to make a copy of my system drive to the new disk before installing it. So it wasn't too much of a pain. Took some time but not that bad.

[Willyguitar]

If you do go for an internal drive don't buy it from Apple. for RAM and drives go here http://www.macsales.com/

 

Thank you for that suggestion - the only trouble is that I am based in the UK, but I'll certainly scout out similar products over here.

 

CME - great also to hear that it's not a complete headache to upgrade.

[Phil O'Keefe]

You're probably just fine sticking with the stock internal drive and just adding a decent sized external firewire drive to your system. Put the program (Logic) on the internal drive, and your audio projects on the external.

 

I would definitely recommend getting lots of RAM. When I purchased my Core 2 Duo Macbook a year and a half ago, I got it with only 1GB of RAM, and spent an extra $52 getting 4GB of RAM from a internet vendor instead of paying over $200 to get it from Apple. Installation was a piece of cake too. DAW programs function best when they have a lot of RAM available, and I would recommend getting at least 4GB.