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USB 2 external drive or firewire?

USB 2 external drive or firewire?

Merula

10 years ago

I've been using my Glyph hard drive as my data drive when recording and I've been running it on firewire. To cut a long story short it's become noisy and due to daisy chaining I cannot move it without rebuilding my studio. My other alternative is to take it off the daisy chain and use USB 2. Would I be losing anything in terms of speed? I saw that Apogee are still using USB 2 for their interfaces and they explained that USB 2 is more than is needed and there would be no advantage to USB 2. Is this the same for a hard drive that's being as the DAW data drive?

December 5, 2013 @09:43pm

TimOBrien

10 years ago

Depends on how much data you are streaming.
BTW: electricity always goes the same speed. It's not speed but data flow capacity.
usb2 can keep up with moderate loads (the interfaces max out around 16 channels)
while firewire is MUCH more robust (it can take 100% of a 7200rpm drive's i/o, several hundred simultaneous audio channels.)
The unfortunate answer is that you have to try it and see if you can get away with it.

December 6, 2013 @03:03pm

AndyH

10 years ago

I remember seeing some posts about USB drives and multi-track recording on this site.
http://www.audiomastersforum.net/
You might search, or post a query.

December 6, 2013 @10:33pm

Merula

10 years ago

Ok then, trying to think of ways around this.
Does it matter where I have the hard drive in the daisy chain? Another problem is that when I power down the interface that the hard drive is taken offline and I get the 'Disk not ejected properly' message. My Mac only has Two thunderbolt inputs, one of which I am using for and extra monitor so I'm down to one input for the firewire. Are there any issues using firewire hubs?
As an aside, does anybody know why my Glyph drive is getting louder?

December 7, 2013 @02:56am

Joe Muscara

10 years ago

Another problem is that when I power down the interface that the hard drive is taken offline and I get the 'Disk not ejected properly' message.

Eject the disk first. If you drag it on your desktop, the Trash icon in the Dock will become an eject logo. Drag it to there and release it. Then you can power down the interface.
Or, right click on the disk's icon and select Eject from the menu.

December 7, 2013 @02:11pm

TimOBrien

10 years ago

Does it matter where I have the hard drive in the daisy chain? Another problem is that when I power down the interface that the hard drive is taken offline and I get the 'Disk not ejected properly' message.

Common practice is to put the interface (which is usually a fw400 device anyway) LAST in the chain.
fw800 device will run at fw800 speeds until they hit a fw400 device; always put the fw400 devices last.
My firewire chain setup (for both my older xp laptop and now my iMac) is:
Computer ---> Glyph projects drive ---> Glyph samples drive ---> Motu828mkII
I've never had a problem.

December 7, 2013 @05:53pm

Merula

10 years ago

Excellent, thanks!

December 8, 2013 @02:31am

jpleong

10 years ago

As an aside, does anybody know why my Glyph drive is getting louder?

Wait... is this a portable Glyph (Portagig) or a desktop/rackmount version (062/050/etc...)?
If it's the desktop/rackmount version, the cooling fan could be dying. Contact Glyph immediately and they will replace it.
JP

December 10, 2013 @05:06am

Merula

10 years ago

It's a rack mounted one. They'll replace it? Do I have to send it to Glyph or is that something they send me to install myself?

December 12, 2013 @12:53pm

TimOBrien

10 years ago

Before you do that, make sure the air vents are clean.
If they are blocked by dust the fan will be louder.
A Q-tip or a desktop vacuum works well.

December 12, 2013 @02:28pm

jpleong

10 years ago

It's a rack mounted one. They'll replace it? Do I have to send it to Glyph or is that something they send me to install myself?

In my case, they sent me new fans -even sent me a spare in case any other of my Glyphs started doing the same thing. All it took was a Philips-head screwdriver. And turnaround was, like, 72 hours from my initial inquiry. One of the reasons I love Glyph so much.
JP

December 12, 2013 @06:12pm