解决硬盘驱动器的麻烦时，现场演出（与Live）

Thanks, Dj Wolfie for this info. Your noting the advantages of firewire 800 vs. 400 reminded me of something I was wondering about. Can I have my external hard drive before my audio interface? As of now, I've been connecting my interface (MOTU 8pre) to my Mac first, and then connecting my hard drive to the interface. This forces me to use firewire 400 for the hard drive, because my interface is firewire 400 only. It works ok like that, but I've not really put it to the test - which is that I plan on recording sixteen audio channels simultaneously onto the external drive. Will it make a difference if I connect the hard drive to my Mac's firewire 800 port, and then connect the 8pre to the hard drive (that last connection being firewire 400)?

Hey Adam,

Some interfaces behave differently in this regard. I've tried both connection methods in the past - though never relying on recording more than 3 audio tracks simultaneously. Both worked well.

I'd actually add that USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 are vastly different. The transfer rate numbers may look similar, but in real-world tests Firewire 400 streaming data at about 50MB per second will perform absolutely fine for all but the most demanding of rigs.

Also take into account that USB 2.0 can provide fast data transfer in bursts - great for copying data, etc. But for audio and video applications Firewire 400/800 is better because it has a higher 'constant streaming transfer rate' which provides better peformance when streaming (e.g.recording) audio in real-time.

So, Firewire 800 is preferable of course(!) - but Firewire 400 will suit the needs of most people and then on top of that the new Thunderbolt technology looks set to blow all the above and USB 3.0 out of the water! In the theory, say good bye to multiple ports on your Mac - instead have a "Thunderbolt hub" with different connections for Firewire, USB2, PCI, Display port, etc devices.

:)

Thanks as always, Rounik, for your thoughtful, thorough, and very helpful response. I'll try testing my rig as it is set up now ( with the external in back of the 8pre, running on firewire 400) and see how it performs. Can't wait for various Thunderbolt devices to come out!

Thanks Adam! I know... Thunderbolt is set to be a massive game changer. I know that Apogee are working on this (audio interfaces) and Lacie and others are cooking up thunderbolt drives. Can you imagine who quick it'll be to backup your Mac over Thunderbolt!! Frightening thought!

Anyway, as DJ Wolfie mentions, I'd also recommend using 7200 rpm or faster drives. Then again in a year or two perhaps all drives will be SSD... again - much, much faster and they're quieter as they have no moving parts.

Good question, and thank you Rounik for fielding that one. Excellent points. I have to go look up the thunderbolt tech that you mention. One last point too- firewire 800 tends to have better power supply to bus powered devices. USB runs out of juice much quicker. For instance, I tried using my Vestax vcm 600 and a akai mini keyboard- both usb powered- and I got a error message telling me there wasn't enough juice on the usb port.