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  • External USB 2.0 Sample Drive

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    I am soon to receive SE VI. I want to load the samples on an external USB 2.0 drive. Will I get the needed streaming performance with the samples on such a drive i.e. not an internal drive i.e. is USB 2.0 interface fast enough?

    Thanks
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    @csduke said:

    I am soon to receive SE VI. I want to load the samples on an external USB 2.0 drive. Will I get the needed streaming performance with the samples on such a drive i.e. not an internal drive i.e. is USB 2.0 interface fast enough?

    Thanks


    Craig, there are several discussions here about the pros and cons of USB vs Firewire, etc.
    There are several users who have posted good and bad results with both, but the general consensus seems to fall more in favour of firewire as a more stable streaming device than USB.
    Can i suggest before you make a purchase that you consider Firewire, or further, an external Sata drive, which is considerably faster than both USB and Firewire?
    External Sata has come down considerably in price, and is certainly a reasonable investment for improved results.

    Whatever you may choose, i wish you luck and success.

    Alex.
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    I use an external USB2 drive in conjunction with an internal SATA drive. I have had no problems at all. I am however just a keen Hobbyist. I get the impression these subtle performance differences only really concern hard core pro users. of course there may be some keen hobbyists out there who are now extremely offended by what I have just said in which case I apologise unreservedly for hurting their feelings.
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    Thanks hermitage59. I did read the posts I could find. They seems mostly theoretical and I was looking for hands-on experience streaming from external drives through various interfaces. I was looking to USB, of course, because all my PCs have that interface.

    Dave TubaKing - "I use an external USB2 drive in conjunction with an internal SATA drive. I have had no problems at all." Good news. I'll give the USB interface a try.

    While I'm here, has anyone had any luck with VI on a laptop using an internal 5400 RMP drive?

    Thanks to both of you. I'll report back in the days to come with any status I might have.
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    @csduke said:


    While I'm here, has anyone had any luck with VI on a laptop using an internal 5400 RMP drive?


    5400rpm is way too slow, you will get clicks and pops very quickly. But there are many variables to consider when asking such a question, f.ex will you use release samples, or use cell crossfading, and so on. These factors have huge impact on what you can squezze out of a USB drive.

    One of the drives I use is a 500Gb RAID HD USB 2.0 external drive, and with RS and cell Xfade used I can play a full string setup (5 instruments) if the it's not to densely written. If I change a lot of notes in the arrangement it will click and pop very quickly.

    Hope it helps. [:)]
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    A thread initiated by Colin Thomson entitled "Pops and Clicks (and other problems)" discusses problems occurrung when USB drives are used for sample libraries. Mr. Thomson reported that when he exchanged his USB 2.0 drive for a Firewire drive, these problems (pops and clicks) were significantly reduced. However SATA drives are faster still. There are cardbus and express card adapters available for laptops that allow connection of two drives to the computer. (One manufacturer of these cards is Firmtek.)

    Using such cards you can run your sample libraries on a two drive RAID 0 array (which will, theoretically, be twice as fast as a single drive). A 1 terabyte RAID O array costs $390 at Other World Computing. Or you could buy their enclosure ($50.00) and install two smaller drives (two SATA 250GB drives would cost around $$160.00). The point, as I understand it, is that for best performance you want maximum possible drive speed. I have a 1 Terabyte SATA RAID 0 array consisting of two 500GB drives and only very rarely experience pops and clicks during playback.

    A 5400 RPM internal drive in a laptop seems to me quite unlikely to provide adequate performance.
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    It doesn't matter if the user is a hobbyist or an übergeek.

    USB drives will at some point create the same problems when using virtual instruments, especially ones as intense as VSL. These drives simply do not sustain their optimum transfer rates for anyone on any computer.

    If you are a hobbyist and do not want to spend time calculating whether your usage falls within a USB drive's capabilities, get a combo drive with USB and firewire connections. SATA and eSATA are better, as has been already said.

    Professional or hobbyist--- potential problems remain the same.

    Why buy the best car and put low grade fuel it in?

    minimum 7200 rpm firewire, SATA or eSATA.
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    Thanks JWL, Stevsong, et. al. After reading all of your comments and some additional research, I have decided to go with eSATA storage. Will be purchasing a for a RAID 0 solution.