KVR Audio

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 7:56 pm

there are so many drives on and off the market these days that i doubt if we'll hear from an actual owner..

the Glyph claims 'Whister-quiet performance' - i don't see any of that on the OWC - recently i got this Caviar Black 64mb SATA 6.0/gb and it is louder than my 32mb Caviar Black SATA 3.0/gb.. i would probably pick the Glyph - fast drives are often meant for gaming where you need to shoot 2gb into RAM all the time, but they get louder as they pump more data faster.. my new Green - the slow and quiet end of the Caviars still copied 200gb at 110MB/sec without making any noise..

synchronizer · Post by **synchronizer** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 7:59 pm

Well, that's a very thoughtful answer. Thank you very much. I'd have to use the drive built into the Glyph though- I can't spend another $200 on a different drive, plus I wouldn't know how to replace everything.

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 8:08 pm

ya - i am saying that the 'whisper quiet' probably means that the drive itself is rated for low noise.. but, again - you don't need to worry about the millisecond seek times and such - these drives of today are the supercomputer parts of 2005 - you won't be let down by a modern 1TB..

down the road you might want like a 5 TB in there - all you do is open the enclosure - put the new drive on 2 cables - data and power - close the enclosure - format your new drive..

synchronizer · Post by **synchronizer** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 8:10 pm

The data within the old drive would have to be transferred, or are you saying that I'd be done automatically?

So it seems that the Glyph is the better choice, since the OWC drive "sounds" like its pretty noisy. (Pun intended).

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 8:56 pm

well - by the time there are exponentially larger drives - you will have a way to backup to your main machine or 100gb optical discs to get ready - or you will ditch your fw800 entirely and use better 2015-16 interconnects.. by then you should have a better feel of computers in general - it just takes time..

synchronizer · Post by **synchronizer** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:10 pm

Before I go on my slight tangent:

Is the OWC is louder than the Glyph because it has twice as much cache? The Glyph also has an INTERNAL power supply as opposed to an external one, which worries me.

TANGENT:

It's really a financial issue though. I would much rather have a desktop computer with two internal SATA drives, but, well:

The Mac Pro with 8GB (what I have) would cost around $4000...also I am at a disadvantage in that my family has no equipment to pass down to me. I have no external speakers, nor do I have a computer monitor. I'd have to spend close to six or seven thousand!

As for a Windows computer, the speakers and monitor would still apply, and I'd have to hire someone to build it for me (I have no such skills), which would add to the cost.

It's a debacle really.

mandolarian · Post by **mandolarian** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:57 pm

synchronizer wrote:Before I go on my slight tangent:

Is the OWC is louder than the Glyph because it has twice as much cache?

No. Big Cache is just as quiet as little cache. It's the mechanical parts that make the noise. The spinning spindle and flying head servos. Since OWC and Glyph don't actually manufacture the hard drives, they assemble their units using drives from WD, Seagate/(Samsung) or Hitachi (soon to be WD), you'd need to know which exact drive was used when that exact batch was built. Good luck with that.

The Glyph claim of being 'ultra quiet' is unsubstantiated marketing drivel. Show us the numbers in decibels, please.

In terms of durability, there is no certainty from any single unit or manufacturer. If you don't feel lucky, then you make backups often. Which means you would be wise to get a 2nd external drive for backup. Which then means, you could by the OWC AND the Glyph unit and decide with your own ears and meter which is quieter.

You might also consider looking at a G Speed unit. They were using Hitachi drives exclusively (soon to be WD). http://www.g-technology.com/products/g-drive.cfm

synchronizer · Post by **synchronizer** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:03 pm

I believe that both of the drives are seagate, but as you said, determining exactly what hard drive a certain batch is using would be a pain.

As for the G-Drive, that was another option, but the site does not mention the specs of each individual model. "up to 64mb cache isn't good enough." What are the specifications for the 2 TB model? (I wonder why it's only $229 for 2TB too...)

EDIT: Predictably, the 2TB model only has a 32mb cache, while drives with a larger capacity have a 64mb cache.

I'll investigate this, but in the back of the mind, I remember a local PC shop owner telling me that G-Drives are overpriced pieces of s***. I am not sure what to think of that...I just want a quality drive.

mandolarian · Post by **mandolarian** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:14 pm

I've used 50 Terabytes of those overpriced pieces of s*** for years in different video editing systems without much complaint. But, they are over-priced compared to DIY RAID arrays.

Expect the G Speed 2TB uses this Hitachi drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822145369 with 32M cache. There is a 64M cache version but it costs more.

synchronizer · Post by **synchronizer** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:17 pm

I see that the G-Drive is decent then, although this complicates everything. I wonder which drive would be best for sample streaming on a mac, and exclusively, or almost exclusively that.

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:20 pm

they would both be fine..! i am pretty sure that we are talking about fractions of a second if not milliseconds..

you can get 2TB for under $150.. i got my Green the other day and it is lovely.. i could be running samples from it and someday i will..

synchronizer · Post by **synchronizer** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:25 pm

@TB for under $150 PLUS the price of an enclosure you mean.

OWC's enclosure is $79, and I don't know about others.

Anyway, I think I can deal with whatever drive that comes with the enclosure. Now I just need to pick one... Glph, OWC, G-Technology. Hmmm

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:28 pm

ok.. i hope this helps your original problem.. i am somewhat doubtful - be ready to return it if it doesn't fix the sample playback..

mandolarian · Post by **mandolarian** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:29 pm

Why just one, when for 3 times the price you can get all 3???

Whichever one you choose, hope it runs smooth and quiet for years. And don't forget to get a cheap external USB drive for backup!

synchronizer · Post by **synchronizer** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:31 pm

I have a Rugged LaCie for that so I am ahead of you there! I need a hard drive for storing the samples anyway... 65-70GB isn't safe enough for me!

Too bad no one here seems to own more than one of the drives for comparison, but it's okay.

Thank you everyone!

Laptop Hard drive---internal/external? cache size? priorities discussion