“What is the largest hard drive I can install into my Alesis MasterLink?”
Through conversations with Alesis and testing at Sweetwater, we have found that the maximum hard disk that works well is a 20 gig. Some larger hard drives can work, but are not always reliable. Our tests have shown that a 20 gig hard drive will give nearly 30 hours of recording time at 44.1/16-bit CD quality. Also, due to the nature of the unit’s play list structure (and the limit of having 16 play lists) it is not really that useful to have more recording time – 16 play lists of 80 minutes each at 44.1k/16-bit = approximately 2/3 of the hard drive, or 16 play lists of 74 minutes each at 44.1k /24-bit would take up approximately the whole hard drive. Higher sample rates will of course use more space, but the point is it’s not a situation (currently) where larger and larger drives allow for more and more practical usage.
There are also some other issues with doing a drive upgrade to the MasterLink. Not all drives work properly, and on many machines some other hardware upgrades are required for it to recognize or work with the larger drive. Our advice is to contact the Sweetwater Service Department and have them do the upgrade for you.