[Studio] Using External Hard Drive

[TheNewGuy]

Hey,

since my MacBook Pros Hard Drive is nearly at it´s boundary, I was looking for an external Hard Drive.
Honestly, I´m not really into that technical stuff and so on.
My question is, if any of you uses an external hard drive and if it´s working well?
I´m not sure, but as a solution, do you guys think I could buy an external HD (ideal when it´s portable and I can connect it via USB) and use this as my main HD for my music production stuff?
I doubt that when I put all my samples/Soundbanks etc. on that HD, it will take hours to load them in Ableton, or does it work as fast as the HDD of my Macbook?

Please let me know, if you have any HD to recommend, if you have any tips and solutions regarding small memory space or there is anything where I should be careful!

Happy Easter!

Newi

[Kwal]

I have a Western Digital 1TB hard drive. Works fine. I also have an older Macbook and have no loading issues. I have all music and sounds on my HD, and only vsts and such on my Mac.

I plug in my external, and can instantly browse and use what's on it. I would recommend putting everything onto an external and leaving your computers HD as clean as possible.

[TheNewGuy]

Wow, thank you for your quick response Kwal!
No loading issues is wonderful and the price is actually very good!
I am producing on my Windows Desktop PC and on my MacBook. As long as I have the same DAW and the same VST´s running on each of these devices, is it also possible to save all my projects on that specific HD and open them with my PC and later with my Macbook? What about different Ableton Versions and different versions of the VST´s - does it matter? I didn´t try it out yet.

[Kwal]

It depends on how your hard drive is formatted. It can work on both but I'm not sure of the format names off the top of my head. Someone else may have to chime in.

As far as the DAW switch over I'm not sure how that would work either to be honest, I only use my Mac. I can't see why it wouldn't work. I would check out Splice, it is a cloud based software that artists use to collab with each other. If you save your project there with your Mac, it will sync and you can open it on your Windows without issues I'd assume. As long as you have the same vsts of course.

[DJAdeSands]

AFAIK, the file format is interchangeable across the PC/Mac, if you want to use a hard drive on both, it needs to be formatted to an older Windows format called FAT32, which won't allow single files bigger than 4GB at a time. It's really the only big limitation. I would avoid loading ableton files into older versions. If you need to save, use the older version, that way the older one won't croak when you try to load newer features that aren't available in the older one
And as Kwal said, you'd need to have the MAC and WIN versions of your DAW, essentially set up the same, and have the same VST's, to avoid any other crossover probs.

[TheNewGuy]

Thanks once more!

Yeah, I even read about the 4 GB limitation. Well, would be way toooo nice, if it worked that way
Anyway, at least I can use the external HD for my macbook. Upgrading internal HD is so E_X_P_E_N_S_I_V_E, and it isn´t worth it I think??
What do you guys use? Is the memory of your MacBook enough or what do you use?

[DJAdeSands]

Upgrading internal ain't as expensive as you think. The hardest bit is putting all back on the new one and reinstalling all the stuff. Still recommend you get a backup for your laptop just incase. If ya can't be arsed with the hassle, go for WD external. Good reliable drives.

[Kwal]

Yeah you can get a 1TB for like $70

Western Digital is great

[TheNewGuy]

So i think I will go for the Western Digital!
I really can´t find any good price for upgrading. And actually I don´t trust my self buying an internal HD and make it work on my own (also the warranty gets lost etc.)
256 GB didn´t take too long to fill up. 512 GB / 1 TB will not last for ever either, I suppose. So there is no escape to buy an external one?


(I wanted to add: I´m not a native speaker, so I´m sorry if you get confused while reading!)

[DJAdeSands]

An external will always come in useful. Your language is fine.