[Demon_Hunter]

So...

Im down to about 1Gb of HD space on my internal drive (probably less actually), and Im faced with having to buy an external drive.

But I have some questions about doing this.

The main reason Im going to buy an external drive is so that I can keep working on my music projects.

My question is can I move my recording software from my internal drive to the external drive and still load the programs from there and work from there?

Or would I have to use those programs on my internal drive and send saved files to the external drive?

[Gustin]

Your recording PROGRAMS need to stay on your OS drive.

Your recording PROJECT FILES can be (and should be) on the external drive (or a second internal drive).

[Art]

That's what I told him.

[Demon_Hunter]

Originally Posted by Gustin

Your recording PROGRAMS need to stay on your OS drive.

Your recording PROJECT FILES can be (and should be) on the external drive (or a second internal drive).

Graci

Originally Posted by Art

That's what I told him.

Graci.

Sorry Art, I started this thread before I asked in IRC. After I went to bed I forgot to do anything with the thread.

[bobthecockroach]

Originally Posted by Gustin

Your recording PROGRAMS need to stay on your OS drive.

That seems unlikely. Some programs may have this requirement, but I imagine most do not.

Also, if you are putting important data on an external hard drive, YOU NEED A BACKUP OF SOME KIND.

[Cam42]

yes, and (to continue the all caps trend) BUY TWO.

[tigerfan88]

Originally Posted by bobthecockroach

That seems unlikely. Some programs may have this requirement, but I imagine most do not.

This is true. I've also seen it where you install to the external drive and then only the bare essentials get installed on the internal drive, which means less space is used on the internal drive.

I also second buying two drives. Heck, you could even consider getting an internal and an external, and installing the internal as a secondary drive to store your files, and back up on the external. I did that with my old machine and it was pretty easy.

[Gustin]

Originally Posted by bobthecockroach

That seems unlikely. Some programs may have this requirement, but I imagine most do not.

Most won't let you install on anything other than your OS drive, and if they do it just becomes a big headache... believe me, I've dealt with it... it's not worth the headache.

Either way, the recording programs need to be installed on a drive separate from the recording projects. While you're recording, the computer is streaming data to/from both, and if you put them on the same drive, the more likely that they will bottle neck and you'll have issues with recording drop outs.

[Dwight Schrute]

there is a stellar deal on Newegg for 1.5 TB external usb, saw it yesterday, for under a hundred bucks. stellar deal. the 1TB was cheaper still. check slickdeals.net, they listed it on there as a combo deal.

I keep my OS on the local drive, and install beefy apps on my slave drive. and in the recording software I use, I could set the cache directory on a different drive to take the storage load elsewhere. I'd be hesitant to do this with an external usb drive due to the difference in transfer speed of usb versus, say, SATA. not sure how well it would work recording in real time and caching externally. but anyhow, maybe some food for thought.

[Demon_Hunter]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+...&skuId=9540687

So, im thinking about ordering 1 or 2 of those.

If Im understanding what Im being told correctly (which its likely that I am not since Im pretty much a tech n00b, unless it directly relates to my guitar playing then Im probably pretty ignorant of it), I should get one to store my projects on, keep the programs themselves on the internal drive, and have a second external for backup of everything?

When I save a project should it immediately go directly to the external drive, or will I have to specify the "Save To" "Send To" location as an external drive?

Also, if I want to upgrade to a larger internal unit how do i go about figuring out what will fit in my lap top?

I mean, if I upgrade that then I basically want to put the biggest thing I can find that will fit into it.

Which leads me to another thing, when I upgrade drives how will I get all of my programs, including the OS and such on to the new drive?

And will I have to re-authorize all of them before I use them (like Windows, Easy Drummer, Reaper, stuff that needs liscensing etc...), or should I be able to restart once I install the new drive and download everything?

[Cam42]

Originally Posted by Demon_Hunter

Western Digital - 1.5TB External USB 2.0, FireWire and eSATA Hard Drive - Black - WDH1CS15000N

So, im thinking about ordering 1 or 2 of those.

If Im understanding what Im being told correctly (which its likely that I am not since Im pretty much a tech n00b, unless it directly relates to my guitar playing then Im probably pretty ignorant of it), I should get one to store my projects on, keep the programs themselves on the internal drive, and have a second external for backup of everything?

yes, the second should be bigger than both your external storage and your internal drive combined, just to be safe

When I save a project should it immediately go directly to the external drive, or will I have to specify the "Save To" "Send To" location as an external drive?

yes, you should have to tell your recording program to save to the storage drive

Also, if I want to upgrade to a larger internal unit how do i go about figuring out what will fit in my lap top?

first, figure out if it's IDE or SATA, (not that hard to do, pop it out, and if the cable is fat, it's IDE, if it's not, it's SATA), if it's IDE there's a max of 500GB period. if it's SATA, you've got a little more room, but currently 2.5" drives that are larger than 500GB are a couple millimeters too thick, and won't fit.

I mean, if I upgrade that then I basically want to put the biggest thing I can find that will fit into it.

Of course.

Which leads me to another thing, when I upgrade drives how will I get all of my programs, including the OS and such on to the new drive?

And will I have to re-authorize all of them before I use them (like Windows, Easy Drummer, Reaper, stuff that needs liscensing etc...), or should I be able to restart once I install the new drive and download everything?

You could try imaging the drive, or if you still have the discs or product keys, you can just re-install. One or the other may be easier depending on computer skill

[Art]

As for the hard drive, what is your computer model? Most laptop hard drives are very easily swappable. Just pull it out and take a look at the drive.

[Demon_Hunter]

Originally Posted by Cam42

You could try imaging the drive, or if you still have the discs or product keys, you can just re-install. One or the other may be easier depending on computer skill

Imaging?

Originally Posted by Art

As for the hard drive, what is your computer model? Most laptop hard drives are very easily swappable. Just pull it out and take a look at the drive.

Its a Compaq presario.

Ill pull the drive out tommorow sometime and take a look at it.


Thanks for the info guys, I really appreciate it.

[Cam42]

Imaging is basically copying the contents of one drive to another.
Creating an image of the drive to be moved, archived, or copied

[Demon_Hunter]

Originally Posted by Cam42

Imaging is basically copying the contents of one drive to another.
Creating an image of the drive to be moved, archived, or copied

How do I accomplish this?