I understand if you are mainly concerned with storage and want to have a large library to take wherever. So I agree with your approach for this need of course. [:D]

let me add: if possible choose an sATA enclosure for sATA disks and get an extrernal sATA on your computer (using a PCI-slot bracket if a free onboard sATA is available or an a additional sATA PCI- or PCMCIA-card) this will reduce system load and avoid translating protocols (eg. when connecting via firewire)
christian

cm,

I assumed by his post that he's not going for huge ployphony etc., and simply wants to have access to all sounds. If in fact he wants to do a lot of streaming of course a single drive is not so good regardless of other considerations.

My question to you is, since I'm streaming off a single FW 800 instead if internal sATA on my G5 am I facing any translations issues and operating with less efficiency?

Thanks

i had not the chance so far to check this out in detail on a mac resp. a G5, but basically each *translation* costs something - using windows file-access to FW-disks creates more CPU-load than to sATA disks.
christian

I would be very interested to know [:)]

From a layman's experience, I've had an easier time with sATA than with FW-- fewer chokes on sATA, esp on larger projects.

Would also love to know the scientific data...

Yes JWL, the FW does seem to choke more than any of my sATA drives so I may have to go with a PCI controller and a couple internal drives.

@dpcon said:

Yes JWL, the FW does seem to choke more than any of my sATA drives so I may have to go with a PCI controller and a couple internal drives.

I've entertained the same notion, D. However, someone warned me of extra internal drives possibly creating more heat than the tower might handle well. I was advised to try external sATA, but to date I've done nothing so far.

Honestly, I'm still installing the Cube (after all this time). I'm installing winds as we 'speak' on my strings' HD. Since that is my second internal, I may temporarily use FW800 for the rest of the Cube....

...but we've all seen the guts of the MacPro and know that it's up to the task-- of installtion, anyway. I'm a little leary about investing too much more in my G5 with add-ons I may not use in 6-8 months. It's an awkward time in many ways... The more I update my G5, the longer I'm likely to keep it... But who's not drooling over the potential of the MacPro?

A couple of months ago there were warnings about some Seagate external FW drives doing something very stupid in order to cool down that rendered them useless. I wish I could remember the details, but it was only external FW drives, i.e. the enclosure and the drive are sold as an external Seagate drive.

I don't know if you're referring to this: I have a Seagate 400GB firewire external and I can only use it as a backup drive as it seems to go to "sleep" if not used for 15 mins, then needs to power up again if used which htakes around 15 secs. This is irrespective of the Mac's Energy Saver settings. But perhaps if I installed some special Seagate driver I could change his setting.

you should be aware that most external drives are not intended to be *abused* for streaming (permanent access with extensive movements of heads) but configured for an *average access* like: read something, work with the file (leaving the drive idle), save it, open next file, ect ...
this is not limited to a certain manufacturer, almost no external drive has a fan and might run hot if used for streaming all day long.
so at least do not stack them to allow _some_ airflow for cooling
christian

Understood, but no other FireWire drive that I know of actually goes to sleep!