Samples on external USB drive

[Doug Nelson]

I know it's not an ideal situation, but can large sample libraries be kept on external USB drives? I recognize it might slow down loading of individual samples, but will it interfere with actual playing and recording?

Thanks in advance.

[Uncle E]

Good question. I think you'd be fine if it's a good flash memory drive but a disc-based drive could possibly be slow enough to cause problems.

[musikmachine]

I tried streaming samples from a 5400rpm laptop drive in usb caddy.Just a normal sample cd(730mb)but i was able to audition,load and play samples in realtime.I was also able to resequence and edit multiple tracks wthout any audio glitches or dropouts so yeah,think you'll be ok with a fast enough drive.

[Doug Nelson]

Well, I tried a smaller EastWest library (only 6gb) on the USB drive. Just as I thought, it takes a bit longer to load the individual samples, but they play just fine.

Thanks for your help.

[eduardo_b]

I've never had issues with libraries on an external drive, and my sense from other posts on this topic over the last few years is that it's not an issue in general.

[timobrien]

I use a 500Gb Seagate Freeagent for sample libraries and video editing.

Zero problems.

SOME computer manufacturers play cheap with USB busses tho (that's why so many people have problems with USB soundcards).... so you won't really know until you try it.

[Doug Nelson]

I'm using the 750GB Freeagent. I might get another one now, just for sample libraries. Can't beat the price and quality, especially now that I know they work with samples.

[musikmachine]

^Good to know