FW Soundcard/USB2 Drive or USB2 Soundcard/FW Drive?

[Fixed Error]

Hi there,

So I'm taking my Macbook Pro OS for a project and I'm contemplating what might be the best way to set things up. Unfortunately, this is a 15" 2010 MBP and as such, does not have an ExpressCard slot (only an SD Card Reader - nice one Apple). I had originally planned to connect a 3-bay clone of the studio system via eSata to an Expresscard adapter for the drive connection (drive also has USB2 and Firewire800), and then use the Firewire 800 port for the UAD Apollo (no this MBP does not have Thunderbolt or USB3 ).

I'm wondering, generally speaking, if you're better off performance-wise using firewire800 for the soundcard, and usb2 for the streaming samples, or the other way around? I have an Apogee Duet I could use in place of the Apollo, and then use the firewire800 port for the drive. No doubt this will depend on what application it will be used for - I will be streaming some stuff from Kontakt and sample loops but it shouldnt be too huge. I will likely be using some intensive plugins. I'll be recording directly to the intrnal drive which is an SSD drive. I can plug the drive into the second firewire800 port of the Apollo (it has two) but I understand this will be fairly unreliable anyway?

Any thoughts? I've "tried" a network drive on the ethernet connection but I just cannot seem to get reliable speeds at all.

Thanks,
James

[timobrien]

Just fw800. Keep it simple.

My firewire chain is:

iMac --> fw800 samples drive --> fw800 projects drive --> Motu828mkII

Zero problems. Firewire was designed to daisy-chain and 800 can handle many hundreds of simultaneous audio channels.

[Fixed Error]

Are you throttling transfer rates or having connectivity issues by doing so? I was of the understanding that you should avoid doing that if possible.

[timobrien]

Nope. That's the way firewire was designed.

Unless you want to run 500 tracks and a convolution box and copy drives at the same time, just daisy chain it.

Again: I've had ZERO problems.