Logic Pro 9 Hard Drive Speed & Logic

[mk3]

Hello, all -

Any advice on using slower speed drives (5200-5400 rpm) with Logic?

I ask as I am considering upgrading the laptop (MacBook Pro 2007) drive to a larger Western Digital Scorpio model.

The Scorpio Black models, which run @ 7200 rpm, go up to a maximum of 500GB (which is the model I have currently installed in the laptop). However, the Scorpio Blue models go up to 1TB.

Scorpio Black:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=854

Scorpio Blue:
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=685

Some of the reviews claim the speed differences are negligible, but I would love to hear from anyone running Logic on the Blue drives.

Cheers,
mk3

 

[AJRussell]

I've got a Western Digital drive. Not sure of the model but it's 5400rpm, it was under £100 from Maplin (uk equivalent of Radio Shack). I really wouldn't recommend recording to it or even streaming more than 3 or 4 audio tracks from it, depending what sample size etc you use. I do use it for backup and can't fault it. I keep a handful of projects I'm currently working on on the built-in hard drive, also record to the built-in drive, and archive the old ones on the WD.

Bit off-topic but Pro Tools LE really hates projects being loaded straight from the WD. I get a DAE error and it refuses to play anything. Logic is a bit more co-operative, but starts to stutter and glitch when I tell it to play more than those 3 or 4 mono tracks (usually 24 bit, 44.1kHz). MIDI tracks can generally play straight from it with no problem.

 

[Peter Ostry]

Good drives are better then less good drives (surprise!)
All drive speeds work, the faster the better.
And - the faster, the hotter, this may be an issue with internal drives in small computers like laptops because of other hot parts beside the drive.

 

[bobdemaa]

I always put 7200 RPM drives in my macbooks, though it has been disputed it makes any practical difference in terms of track count on playback.

 

[frankmv]

Re: Hard Drive speed and Logic

I have ALWAYS used 7200 RPM drives at a minimum. You can pick up a 500GB drive from OWC for under $150. I find I can load most of my plug-ins on a 500GB drive and get credible performance (with minimum latency) across an FW800 connection.

Unless you plan on using a desktop, the 500GB 7200RPM drive is pretty much the best available for the MacBook Pro line. Another alternative is to use a 1TB eSATA drive across the ExpressCard slot. This works and gives good performance, but requires the use of a wall wart and is not very portable, unfortunately. Until higher capacity performing drives are available, this is pretty much it. HTH...