How do people utilize dual drive laptops?
How do people utilize dual drive laptops? Posted on: 30.10.2012 by Evie Baghdasarian So I am believeing about merging my 2 macbooks. Typically one is used strictly for mixing, the other for day to day use and school work. I am about to graduate and believe 2 laptops may be overkill. I thought having adding an SSD to the one i want to keep for all my mixing and music stuff. Am I correct this should give me solid reliability? Would I have an OS on each drive, or just the music related files? I am new to this, so I am curious to see how people utilize their dual drive setups, and/or which direction i should go. | |
| Timothy Sallay 01.11.2012 |
Originally Posted by jayo
Drive 1 has 3 partitions.. 1 - OSX 10.7.4 used for day to day stuff. - 300gb 2- OSX 10.6.3 - with Traktor/live installed ( + a few midi tools, lemur software etc) . - 85gb 3- data - mostly music - 360gb Drive 2 - 640 gb Data - music I run Refit as a bootloader, and if needed switch startup drives thru preferences. joe |
| Ara Tima 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by lucidstrings
Would you carry a second controller? I mean that could die too. Where does it end? Anyway, really not trying to start an argument, just baffled that people seriously suggest this to people. |
| Ara Tima 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by sss18734
It's overkill. As I said in my post, if I did suffer that sort of breakdown that happened I'll just play off the CDJs. I've personally never played anywhere that didn't have a full setup (CDJs and a mixer) ready to go... and if the club didn't have any? Well shit. I'd probably go oh well and plug my phone in and just play a mix. I've seen a club mixer get destroyed by drinks mid-set. There was no replacements, the evening ended. It happens, but that's once in 10 years of DJing out every other weekend I've seen that. I've heard of CDJ's failing though, no one has spares usually either. You improvise. I just find it hard to believe there is anyone on this board that would have a complete backup mirrored laptop. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Hence the "extreme" comment. I'm not slating you for it, it's just a very far fetched solution to a very very rare problem |
| Erica Charvet 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by shr3dder
Unless you have a fully functional, stand-alone backup source, you're doing it wrong. CDJ's are fine as fullenglish mentioned because he has everything set up and ready to go on them and clearly plays only in clubs with CDJ's... But if there is no in-house setup, a laptop is a much more practical and cheaper option than hauling around a pair of CDJ's. Not sure what's so "extreme" about throwing a second laptop into the bag... |
| Trista Karle 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by fullenglishpint
For backup I keep a 64gn sdhc card that has a stripped down version of zip installed with all software on it along with full driver packs and music collection back up on a card. Really easy to do and useful if ever having laptop issues can throw in any laptop and boot |
| Ara Tima 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by sss18734
That is extreme.... I have a flash drive that can restore my 120gig SSD quite quickly in an absolute disaster then another flash drive with most of my music on it. In the mean time I'd just play CDs or something.... a second mirrored laptop? Wow, I'd be surprised if anyone other then the big big guys did that. |
| Erica Charvet 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by fullenglishpint
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| Erica Charvet 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by fullenglishpint
If you don't use CDJ's or don't want to go through the trouble of also configuring all your music on CD's... It's really a necessity in my opinion. |
| Armando Chrystal 11.11.2012 | Im looking to add in an extra harddrive like djranking s posted a while back now I have a 500GB harddrive with everything on it if I were to add a SSD in the optibay how would I go about booting from the SSD or what would you recommend me to do to get started? |
| Latia Sotak 01.11.2012 | I have a Macbook Pro with a 120GB SSD containing the OS & Programmes, then a 750GB HD in an optibay containing all my music. I then have a 1Tb external bus powered Firewire drive, partitioned in to two drives; 120GB & 880GB. The two drives in my lappy are cloned weekly (using Carbon copy Cloner) to this external drive. My lappy is also "Time machined" to a 2Gb external drive at home, & another drive at my place of work, daily. ....so I have an "off site" back up as well. If my computer dies on a gig, my first backup is my 64Gb iPad. I've got my main playlists on here, & Djay / CrossDJ / DJ Player installed. So I could actually run the evening from my iPad if necessary. (DJ Player in particular is a really tight little program). .....it wouldn't be perfect, but it would get the job done. My second backup is to boot my lappy from my bootable clone (In nearly 10 years laptop DJing, any laptop problems have normally been related to hard drives dying), & carry on as normal. Also.... As my "day job" employer has recently supplied everybody in the company with a MacBook Pro, I could also have that available for high profile gigs, & boot that from my bootable clone as well. I stopped carrying CD's years ago. .....i'd probably be shit on CDJ's, if I had to use them now! ;-) |
| Timothy Sallay 01.11.2012 |
Originally Posted by jayo
Drive 1 has 3 partitions.. 1 - OSX 10.7.4 used for day to day stuff. - 300gb 2- OSX 10.6.3 - with Traktor/live installed ( + a few midi tools, lemur software etc) . - 85gb 3- data - mostly music - 360gb Drive 2 - 640 gb Data - music I run Refit as a bootloader, and if needed switch startup drives thru preferences. joe |
| Trista Karle 01.11.2012 | Lol agreed guess I have touch osc mapped on my iPhone to cotrol the bare essentials of traktor guess technically yes lol but indeed average joe no need |
| Ara Tima 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by lucidstrings
Would you carry a second controller? I mean that could die too. Where does it end? Anyway, really not trying to start an argument, just baffled that people seriously suggest this to people. |
| Trista Karle 31.10.2012 | Believe was a ranking s post about that exact topic of having a second laptop or even tablet in a pinch |
| Ara Tima 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by sss18734
It's overkill. As I said in my post, if I did suffer that sort of breakdown that happened I'll just play off the CDJs. I've personally never played anywhere that didn't have a full setup (CDJs and a mixer) ready to go... and if the club didn't have any? Well shit. I'd probably go oh well and plug my phone in and just play a mix. I've seen a club mixer get destroyed by drinks mid-set. There was no replacements, the evening ended. It happens, but that's once in 10 years of DJing out every other weekend I've seen that. I've heard of CDJ's failing though, no one has spares usually either. You improvise. I just find it hard to believe there is anyone on this board that would have a complete backup mirrored laptop. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Hence the "extreme" comment. I'm not slating you for it, it's just a very far fetched solution to a very very rare problem |
| Erica Charvet 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by shr3dder
Unless you have a fully functional, stand-alone backup source, you're doing it wrong. CDJ's are fine as fullenglish mentioned because he has everything set up and ready to go on them and clearly plays only in clubs with CDJ's... But if there is no in-house setup, a laptop is a much more practical and cheaper option than hauling around a pair of CDJ's. Not sure what's so "extreme" about throwing a second laptop into the bag... |
| Trista Karle 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by fullenglishpint
For backup I keep a 64gn sdhc card that has a stripped down version of zip installed with all software on it along with full driver packs and music collection back up on a card. Really easy to do and useful if ever having laptop issues can throw in any laptop and boot |
| Ara Tima 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by sss18734
That is extreme.... I have a flash drive that can restore my 120gig SSD quite quickly in an absolute disaster then another flash drive with most of my music on it. In the mean time I'd just play CDs or something.... a second mirrored laptop? Wow, I'd be surprised if anyone other then the big big guys did that. |
| Tatum Ansaldo 31.10.2012 | Each to their own. I use my laptop for absolutely everything and I've never had problems. Atm I use rekordbox anyway which is nothing like running traktor or SSL in terms of what it asks of the laptop. And as to why I keep movies on it? I like to watch things on the train, plane, etc. Why not. I have plenty of space. I agree an SSD would be great for storage if I had the money, but you make it sound like keeping music on an HDD is an accident waiting to happen, which I don't agree with. Using an SSD for OS and apps dramatically improves my boot and load times and overall performance. That's the point of my SSD. If I were earning all my money DJing and running hardware intensive software to do it, I might believe differently. But I'm not. |
| Trista Karle 31.10.2012 | If your using a regular hdd for music your missing the point of ssd.... Ssd have a high tolerance for abuse hdd very low worth running multiple ssds even if smaller. Furthermore why are you keeping movies on your laptop you use for djing that's a complete waste of space. My laptops are strictly music and design shit nothing else no need for it |
| Erica Charvet 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by fullenglishpint
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| Tatum Ansaldo 31.10.2012 | A few hundred vs $10 for a pack of CDs or even a USB stick. And you don't have to arrange all your music on CDs, just enough to play for an hour or 2. Don't get me wrong, if I were making all my money DJing and playing to big crowds all the time, I'd agree that a backup laptop is a good idea. But for most of us, buying another laptop and keeping it up to date with music is excessive. My problem was with the 'every DJ', not the idea itself. |
| Shad Rametta 31.10.2012 | I have an OWC 240GB SSD with programs & sample library in the Optibay, and a 750GB Scorpio Black HDD with both my Serato & Traktor music libraries. I haven't had any issues thus far....::knocks on wood:: |
| Erica Charvet 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by fullenglishpint
If you don't use CDJ's or don't want to go through the trouble of also configuring all your music on CD's... It's really a necessity in my opinion. |
| Tatum Ansaldo 31.10.2012 | All I'm saying is that you should definitely have backup options, but a whole backup laptop is pretty extreme. |
| Lauretta Ehrhorn 31.10.2012 | I utilise mine exactly as the previous posters have mentioned and had no problems whatsoever. Using an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 120gb which seems ample space. |
| Erica Charvet 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by fullenglishpint
If you do that, great. But a mirrored backup laptop is cheap, space-efficient, and the easiest way to make sure that you can seamlessly pick up your set exactly how you left off in the case of a crash. Not to mention only clubs typically have in-house CDJ's. If you DJ elsewhere or at a club that doesn't have them... and you only have one laptop... You're screwed. |
| Tatum Ansaldo 31.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by sss18734
Originally Posted by jayo
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| Erica Charvet 31.10.2012 | Keep two laptops. Every DJ should have a mirrored backup laptop... Even having two drives in RAID configuration can't beat the dependability of two machines. |
| Trista Karle 31.10.2012 | Guess should add I have been using ssd for work and home mix of ocz and intel ssd and have had only one ssd fail out of 30+ deployed in the field.. Wasn't even an ocz was one of the intels that failed |
| Trista Karle 31.10.2012 | I run dual SSD one for boot and programs secondary for samples and music which works great. I have a full library on my main desktop and I just transfer tracks as I go through them... In all honesty I have only 30gbs of tracks on secondary ssd since doing this. It makes you more conscious about what to pick to use. Just my 2 cents |
| Evie Baghdasarian 31.10.2012 | Would the OS and programs typically go on the SSD as it is the more stable of the two, and the music and files on the HD as they are more space consuming? |
| Golden Faubert 30.10.2012 | have your os and programs on one and your all of your music/files/docs on the other |
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