Best external hard drive for club gigs?
Best external hard drive for club gigs? Posted on: 23.04.2012 by Dusti Lehrer What are some of your favourite/recommended external hard drives to bring to club gigs? | |
| Dorie Scelzo 29.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by quickswitch
Your point is a big one. Especially on computers that only have USB ports, there's no reason to add one more thing to a USB hub. They can come unplugged. They usually don't have freefall sensors and are in some ways more at risk to physical damage than internal drives. You can forget or lose them. They're easier to steal. They tend not to cool themselves well. It's one more thing to find a stable, cool, dry place for. And it's just not necessary. A normal OS X install takes, what a few GB. Windows can't be too much worse, right? Call it 20GB for the OS being generous. You can still fit plenty of music for all but the most demanding mobile gigs on an internal drive. And a 512GB SSD is under $400 (for a good one like a Vertex 4, Vector, or 840 Pro). If you're willing to deal with slow and fragile hard drives…they're even cheaper. My first SSD was 64GB. I used it for over 2 years. On my only computer. Including DJing. Yes, I had (at the time) several hundred GB of external hard drives at home. Now, I believe I'm up to 3 TB of externals (including redundant copies and drives I'm no longer using). But I'm still using relatively small SSDs in both of my computers. And I basically never want more stuff with me when I'm away from home. There's no good reason to use an external drive with a DJ setup except as an emergency backup. At least, none that I can see unless you're one of the mobile guys who needs a 50 year back catalog of pop……and even then, I don't see how you wouldn't be able to fit it on a 1TB internal. |
| Kristofer Krauel 25.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by mostapha
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| Rolanda Clodfelder 24.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by wongaling
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| Armando Chrystal 23.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by deevey
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| Dorie Scelzo 29.01.2013 |
Originally Posted by quickswitch
Your point is a big one. Especially on computers that only have USB ports, there's no reason to add one more thing to a USB hub. They can come unplugged. They usually don't have freefall sensors and are in some ways more at risk to physical damage than internal drives. You can forget or lose them. They're easier to steal. They tend not to cool themselves well. It's one more thing to find a stable, cool, dry place for. And it's just not necessary. A normal OS X install takes, what a few GB. Windows can't be too much worse, right? Call it 20GB for the OS being generous. You can still fit plenty of music for all but the most demanding mobile gigs on an internal drive. And a 512GB SSD is under $400 (for a good one like a Vertex 4, Vector, or 840 Pro). If you're willing to deal with slow and fragile hard drives…they're even cheaper. My first SSD was 64GB. I used it for over 2 years. On my only computer. Including DJing. Yes, I had (at the time) several hundred GB of external hard drives at home. Now, I believe I'm up to 3 TB of externals (including redundant copies and drives I'm no longer using). But I'm still using relatively small SSDs in both of my computers. And I basically never want more stuff with me when I'm away from home. There's no good reason to use an external drive with a DJ setup except as an emergency backup. At least, none that I can see unless you're one of the mobile guys who needs a 50 year back catalog of pop……and even then, I don't see how you wouldn't be able to fit it on a 1TB internal. |
| Donald Tuetken 28.01.2013 | Thank you for sharing. I have read mixed reviews on whether or not to use an external drive or not. I recognize both sides of the issue, especially for reducing the amount of demand on any computer (i.e. 4 USB devices running through 2 USB ports) It has to be doable though. Yeah, +1 Western Digital drives. I purchased a USB 3.0 hub to assist my new USB 3.0 SSD drive. I didn't necessarily get an inexpensive deal with my Iomega, but it was more important to have the speed & storage. In the past, I used 2 decks and 1 effects controller: the WD external drives were enough. Since I've now progressed to 4 decks, 2 controllers, this audio drop out issue has become a slight problem. Advice to others: try to limit the demand on your computer. You may have to invest in higher quality hardware, plus significant optimization on your computer, especially if it's a few years old. My computer(s): Windows 7, 8GB RAM, 1TB Internal, 500GB SSD External, All updates, 2.2 GHz Dual Core, running with Latency at 512. Mac OSX 16GB RAM, 1TB Internal, All updates, 2.3 Dual Core, running with Latency at 256. |
| Stanley Topoleski 28.01.2013 | i have had bad experience with lacies... they tend to use hitachi or toshiba drives. your best bet is to buy a usb 3 case and a western digital or SSD drive, i got my nextstar case for 20 bucks and it performs very well |
| Donald Tuetken 28.01.2013 | Would you mind specifying what you mean by "too risky" or "unreliable"? What problems have you experienced? I'm trying to do more research into SSD drives, because I've grown to need more USB ports on my laptop for additional devices. Most laptops only come with 2 USB ports. Mine has 2. So if I am to use 2+ controllers, plus an external drive, I have to extend via a USB 3.0 hub (with the DJTT blue cables). Every now and then, at random, I'll experience an audio drop. Not sure what else to do to maximize speed/performance, etc besides what I've already done from watching the NI tutorials to optimize Macs/PCs. |
| Winifred Bilic 25.04.2012 | I have a 2TB G Drive. It has a built in heat sync within aluminium casing. I use it inside my flight case for the Pioneer DDJ-S1. I have started to use Serato Video within Serato Itch on the DDJ-S1 and I'm using a MacBook Pro 17" 2.66 Ghz, 4 GB 320 GB HD connected with the 2 TB G Drive via FireWire. It runs perfect. The reason I got the heat sync version of the external drive is so that that I'm not circulating warm air from my DJ gear or outside in the heat of day via a fan inside my external drive. LaCie and G Drive are the best on the market, pricy but worth it, protect your data and music, and remember back up the back ups, regularly. |
| Wei Lebeaux 25.04.2012 | Have a WD Passport and a WD Element; No problems with either. None. Been DJing with them for like 6 years. |
| Freddie Henrichs 25.04.2012 | Internal, but I do have a Seagate Powered GoFlex with my music/serato backed up! |
| Dorie Scelzo 25.04.2012 | I haven't carried a moving platter around with me since that LaCie blew up. It's just not worth it with USB sticks so effing cheap and SSD prices coming down every day. |
| Kristofer Krauel 25.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by mostapha
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| Dorie Scelzo 25.04.2012 | Don't use external hard drives for gigging. You're just asking for it to fail at a bad time, get un-plugged mid-set, or lose it. Keep music on the internal drive and move your pron and movies to the external…then leave it at home. If you can't fit the music you need to gig with on your internal drive, you're doing it wrong. (note: this doesn't necessarily apply to mobile jocks). If you really insist on using an external drive for DJing, get an SSD. At least they're less likely to die from damage. |
| Hipolito Scionti 25.04.2012 | +1 internal but I use a LaCie rugged FireWire hard drive. It's solid and cause its FireWire it's saves on a port. I keep meaning to upgrade my mac so haven't bothered to upgrade the internal but it's defo worth it |
| Armando Chrystal 24.04.2012 | can you choose what it boots like can it boot just all my music and traktor..since I dont need certain files like pictures etc. |
| Golden Faubert 24.04.2012 | second internal... i had problems twice in a month before but nothing since i installed it. |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 24.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by wongaling
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| Lorna Hagerty 24.04.2012 | carbon copy cloner is great! not sure if it works on windows but I know it works on Mac, bought an external today and put a bootable version of 10.6.8 on it incase my system hits the shit and I need to troubleshoot it. |
| Armando Chrystal 23.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by deevey
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| Armando Chrystal 23.04.2012 | Either replacing internal or Lacie Rugged...I have a Lacie Rugged 1TB and I love it! |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 23.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by The Mighty FV
I do however bring a Maxtor Caddy with a Clone of my OS and Music on it "just in case" ... worst case scenario I can borrow a Mac from somewhere if mine goes down, boot from it and be up and running 100% in no-time. And replacing your CD drive is Deffo a great option if you don't use it much. |
| Joesph Kasian 23.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by Xonetacular
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| Dominque Strosser 23.04.2012 | Western Digital 1 tb with the WD rugged case FTW |
| Georgina Schatzman 24.04.2012 | Couldn't agree with Xone more, I believe there's an article on the front page on how to replace your cd drive with a hard drive |
| Romelia Stankard 24.04.2012 | Upgrade your internal or add a secondary internal for gigging The less crap to hook up and get unplugged the better |
| Kasi Marget 24.04.2012 | +1 for Western Digital. I don't use one for DJing but the "customer care" is really nice with them. |
| Kandy Ahdoot 24.04.2012 | +1 Lacie rugged |
| Matt Kane 23.04.2012 | i for my self heard only good things about the lacie rugged series (http://www.lacie.com/de/products/range.htm?id=10036), but i don |
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