Hello Tapspace homies,

         I was just wondering if anyone has a hard drive with their OS/programs that they use exclicitly for pro audio, and a second drive with an OS they use for office/games/email etc.

         I have made a few boot drives for my powerbook (sadly because I've gone through 2 internal drives, got fed up and just boot of an external)  Anyhow I was wondering if anyone does this for performance increase and more stability when running audio.

         Furthermore, if you have a number of hard drives in your computer, does the computer use the additional drives for virtual ram?

THanks!

I've never done it, but the theory is absolutely sound.  If you have the drive space to do it, by all means.  But it will only be worthwhile if you use *just* those programs while in that partition.  If you start to succumb to using a browser, etc., it's not worth your time.

Often, many take another approach and dedicate a machine to being their DAW ";station";, of course.

Another way of doing things is if you wanted to be truly separating but didn't want a dual-boot, you can do a virtual machine inside your DAW stuff.  For example, I have Ubuntu 7.10 on a VirtualBox.  It lets me use Linux in an environment sequestered from Windows, but without the hassle of running it off of a cd.

Oh, and heads-up.  Apple pulled bootcamp for 10.4...

Thanks!

      I think i'll just have everything run on the same drive/partition then. My windows computer seems to get slower and buggier the more I do stuff with it. (even deleteing spyware etc.) So I just wiped it and use it only for games. In fact, I have an original version of XP (no service packs, updates etc) and it's BLAZING fast! Of course, if I surf with it, it will fry :)

      Anyhow, I haven't had the same problem with my mac which is my ";work"; machine. So I won't worry with the extra drive. Wouldn't it be more benificial to have a seperate drive for samples, a drive for the os, and a drive for bouncing anyways?

 

[quote author=perpetualpoet link=topic=2056.msg10457#msg10457 date=1193247709]
Thanks!

      I think i'll just have everything run on the same drive/partition then. My windows computer seems to get slower and buggier the more I do stuff with it. (even deleteing spyware etc.) So I just wiped it and use it only for games. In fact, I have an original version of XP (no service packs, updates etc) and it's BLAZING fast! Of course, if I surf with it, it will fry :)

      Anyhow, I haven't had the same problem with my mac which is my ";work"; machine. So I won't worry with the extra drive. Wouldn't it be more benificial to have a seperate drive for samples, a drive for the os, and a drive for bouncing anyways?

 
[/quote]

It depends...  in my case, I get about 3-4 times the hard drive access time of a 7200 with a RAID0, so I have everything on a single partition.  No point in splitting a RAID0 unless you want a dual boot, which I do.  The separate drives are great if you have everything defragged.  It's not so much a drive for the OS as it's a separate reservoir for your samples to be drawn from.  Writing the audio onto the same disc you are pulling samples from can be terrible unless you have the bandwidth in your bus to do it, as I'm sure you're aware.

Some other options are available, too.  If you're up to redoing your XP partition, there's a freeware called nLite.  It's a program that helps shave off unnecessary stuff with the install.  You put in your Windows disc, then it says ";do you want to remove keyboard support for Kazakhstani keyboards?";  You say yes, of course, and it pulls the file out.  The end result is a .iso with all the extra garbage gone.  My install with that method was a SP2 install at boot that had only 67MB ram in use.  Needless to say, it's been a rock.  The only error was taking out the xbox network streaming support...  live and learn.

There's also Firefox; it allows much, much less to get through on the malware/browsing front.

Another strategy can also be a dual-boot scenario where you have a smaller partition for your DAW software on a ghosted backup.  Provided you save your projects on the other part, you can put your programs on, update them, set them, and then run a disk image.  Then when you feel they need to be refreshed, just drop that image back on there.

Oh, and about the ";OS disk";...  I personally think it's overrated.  How much OS draw is there once you're already in it?  It's all in ram anyhow.

Apple has a build in raid option. I know a raid card would probably be better, but does anyone else us the built in OS X raid option? How does it do?

I'm using an onboard raid situation, and other than taking a long time to get vista support from intel, it's fine.  If they're installing Xeons, it's probably the same board - Intel S5000VXN.  I'm happy with it.

[quote author=drumcat link=topic=2056.msg10459#msg10459 date=1193248646]

�� ��

Some other options are available, too.�� If you're up to redoing your XP partition, there's a freeware called nLite.�� It's a program that helps shave off unnecessary stuff with the install.�� You put in your Windows disc, then it says ";do you want to remove keyboard support for Kazakhstani keyboards?";�� You say yes, of course, and it pulls the file out.�� The end result is a .iso with all the extra garbage gone.�� My install with that method was a SP2 install at boot that had only 67MB ram in use.�� Needless to say, it's been a rock.�� The only error was taking out the xbox network streaming support...�� live and learn.

There's also Firefox; it allows much, much less to get through on the malware/browsing front.

Another strategy can also be a dual-boot scenario where you have a smaller partition for your DAW software on a ghosted backup.�� Provided you save your projects on the other part, you can put your programs on, update them, set them, and then run a disk image.�� Then when you feel they need to be refreshed, just drop that image back on there.

Oh, and about the ";OS disk";...�� I personally think it's overrated.�� How much OS draw is there once you're already in it?�� It's all in ram anyhow.
[/quote]


Wow thanks for the tip! I";ll look into the nlite program!

Good call drumcat.  I made a stripped down version of XP Pro that also installs some commonly used programs.  Another thing XP users should do is Start > Run > msconfig.  Then click on the Services and Startup tabs and disable all the unnecessary junk.  You might find 20+ programs that run in the background you didn't even know about.

The idea of two partitions seems like a good idea considering how cheap hard drives are now.  A 500 GB drive is around $99... my wife will probably spend that much on shoes this weekend.

I use a KVM switch that lets me run multiple computers with the same keyboard, mouse, speakers, and monitors.  With a shortcut key I switch back and forth.  This is how I worked as an animator at a few different studios because they didn't want us surfing the web or using any software besides the few needed for work. 

[quote author=J Mattson link=topic=2056.msg10470#msg10470 date=1193252574]
The idea of two partitions seems like a good idea considering how cheap hard drives are now.  A 500 GB drive is around $99... my wife will probably spend that much on shoes this weekend.
[/quote]
But they'll match that dress she'll wear once.  :P

[quote author=drumcat link=topic=2056.msg10471#msg10471 date=1193252790]
[quote author=J Mattson link=topic=2056.msg10470#msg10470 date=1193252574]
The idea of two partitions seems like a good idea considering how cheap hard drives are now.�� A 500 GB drive is around $99... my wife will probably spend that much on shoes this weekend.
[/quote]
But they'll match that dress she'll wear once.�� :P
[/quote]

Don't forget the matching purse too. Oh wait...these threads show up on google, I better be careful :)

[quote author=drumcat link=topic=2056.msg10471#msg10471 date=1193252790]
[quote author=J Mattson link=topic=2056.msg10470#msg10470 date=1193252574]
The idea of two partitions seems like a good idea considering how cheap hard drives are now.  A 500 GB drive is around $99... my wife will probably spend that much on shoes this weekend.
[/quote]
But they'll match that dress she'll wear once.  :P
[/quote]

Those shoes look new.

";Oh, I've had these forever.";

With the tag still on too?

";Think of these as my latest electronics purchase.";

Touch̩.

[quote author=Justin Belcher link=topic=2056.msg10474#msg10474 date=1193278022]

Those shoes look new.

";Oh, I've had these forever.";

With the tag still on too?

";Think of these as my latest electronics purchase.";

Touch̩.


[/quote]

";Honey, I was thinking about getting the upgrade to sibelius 5";

";Are you sure you really need it?";

";Oh and I also need some brown shoes and a brown belt to go with that one brown shirt I have in the closet";

";I'll go get it today if you like!!!!";

";sigh";