Lacie d2 hard drives for ProTools?

[Mr. Ticklefingers]

Anybody out there using a Lacie d2 Firewire drive with their DAW? I'm looking specifically to use one (80 GB) as my external audio drive on a dual 1.2 G4 Mac. Glyph drives, which Digidesign recommends, are consistently several hundred dollars more expensive than the Lacie stuff, and I'm highly suspicious of that price bump. Has anyone had markedly good or bad experiences with the Lacie drives? Or, can anyone convince me that the price difference between the Glyph and Lacie amounts to anything more than a tip for the manufacturer?

[cmchamp]

Tickle:
I use a 120G D2 drive for audio and video, however. . . and this is a big HOWEVER. . . I strip my audio to several drives (DP3) so I hardly ever am assigning more than 4 of 5 tracks worth of audio to one drive. That said, I do have to re-think my stratedgy with Panther as it's disc caching is different and I loose processing power when I even have all those drives mounted.
I have never tried an entire project off one drive, especially a FW drive.
I'm using a G4-400 AGP.
C.

[Mr. Ticklefingers]

Please, call me Mr. T.

I haven't heard that about Panther's disk caching. Has your performance overall with audio apps changed much? I'm still running OS 10.2.8, thinking about upgrading.

Is anyone out there using a Lacie drive as their primary or only audio drive? How many tracks are they running off of it? How's the performance? I would be using the drive with Pro Tools LE, a Digi 002 and a dual G4 (1 gig memory); does that combination sound similar to anyone else's?

[cmchamp]

Oh, sorry, it was Jaguar I had issues with. Updating to Panther did allow me some more headroom on the processor. Remember, thoug, I'm pushing a way outdated machine. Right now, I'm up late attempting to get about 40min of video off two cameras. Fighting the ATA busses. Gotta get a new machine!
C.

[Mr. Ticklefingers]

Seriously, is nobody else using these drives? What are people using for their media drives? Is anybody using a firewire drive for their main audio drive?

[DAS]

I use Glyph for audio and video for the following reasons:

1) They absolutely just WORK, no screwing around. Glyph is the ONLY major HD company who has Pro Tools systems, MOTU systems, Logic, Avid, Final Cut Pro, et al right in house where they do testing. They helped develop the Oxford bridge technology (along with Digi) that is actually a big part of what makes audio recording possible on a firewire drive in the first place. They do a lot of testing to make sure their stuff is bullet proof under the actual applications where we use them, not some guy saving Photoshop files. They really do know, better than any other company we've ever encountered, about the concerns and problems of the audio professional.

2) Better power supplies. Period. It means fewer "strange" problems, not to mention more longevity. And yes, I have seen this make a difference in practice - I do have other brands, I just don't record to them. They are for the aforementioned Photoshop files.

3) Better ribbon cables - less prone to problems, especially when moved around a lot.

4) More durable in general - they are made out of metal, not plastic (perhaps not a major concern, but when you think about the hours and days of work inside that little box...)

5) Quieter - They employ a lot of technology to keep the mechanisms cool (which does make them work better/longer under stress), but they use what's known as quiet metal, which is a type of metal that dampens noise and vibration. One can sit right in the recording room with you and you'll barely hear it.

6) And the kicker - Hands down the best warranty in the business, by far. They have excellent tech support (again, they have systems in their place), they do 24 hour advance replacements in the event of a failure for the first year you own the drive, and then it's something like 48 hours for the next two years. That means that if you have a problem they can't solve over the phone you'll have a new drive at your door the next day! These guys are serious.

They really do come through in a pinch when people have problems. I've seen it over and over again.

You have to remember that drives used to record audio files really take a beating. The mechanism has to move all over the drive quickly picking up small, medium, and large files with a limited opportunity to re-read or re-write them in case of an error.

I know someone will say, "I've never had a problem with (fill in the blank of some brand)." And I say, that's great for you, but you should talk to our Tech Support staff and check out the statistical data from all the calls they log about all the problems people DO have.

Just food for thought. Everything, no matter how cheap, comes at a price...

[Mr. Ticklefingers]

Fair enough- Glyph sounds pretty good. Still pricey, though, and I'm still poor, at least in that collegiate American way.
The question becomes, then, which Glyph drive should one use? I'd like to use it as my only audio drive (I'm currently recording to my boot drive, which I want to stop doing, pronto), but I'd really prefer not to spend over $4 a GB or so. What about Glyph internal ATA drives? How would those stack up, performance-wise, against the Glyph Firewire drives? Which Glyph Firewire drive would be best for a be-all-end-all audio drive? Any other recommendations?
Many thanks for your replies.

[Sinkharmony]

I use the Lacie D2 80 GB FW HD with a Digi 002 and Powerbook 1Ghz laptop. I've had it for about 6 months and I've never had any kind of problem with it. I record directly to it and it works like a charm.