OTREVOR wrote:
Hello.
I need to buy a eSATA drive, a case for the drive (preferably that
holds 2 HDs), and a PCI card for my PPC G5 dual.
This disk will be for streaming samples heavily (Ivory, EWQLSO, etc)
You're singing my song, OTREVOR!
OTREVOR wrote:
1.- Could you please recommend me great products for each of these 3
components, please?
Prices, performance, and options vary (as you know). G-Tech has some great eSATA drives. They cost a little more, but they are highly rated. Tons of options with these-- browse through the site for drives and enclosure configs-- eSATA I, eSATA II, and FW.
Start here:
http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVEQ.cfm
Read on for more options:
OTREVOR wrote:
2.- So, how important would it be for it to have 32 MB of cache?
2a.- Should I get one that has more that 32 MB cache?
In some cases, 32 MB would have no more impact than 4 or 8 MB. I know that sounds controversial, but much depends upon the "requested data" from the plugin. Often, what a plugin would have to pre-load into a cache exceeds the drive cache size, and OSX kicks in to make up the difference. For example, VSL's requested data is often over 60MB, and EWQLSO's can be as well. This is where OSX's virtual memory kicks in, so in these instances cache size can be a moot point.
A 32MB cache may be put to good use for streaming soundbites, but for virtual instruments you would have to do some calculations to determine just how much sample data you are using on any given project and subsequently how much "requested data" is required. Generally speaking, Macs have that wonderful L2 cache system, so at the end of the day I don't think you *really* need to worry about too much.
I've yet to see drive caches larger thann 32MB as this size is a pretty recent update as a standard feature.
OTREVOR wrote:
3.- Do you know of a case that can hold 2 HDs? If so, will they share
the SAME bus, or would they have independent ones?
You can get enclosures that hold 1-5 drives. For my first eSATA, here's the enclosure I got which is holding two WD Raptor 10k drives. It's pretty quiet, too, and came at the recommendation of member HCMarkus.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20 ... ESATATBEK/
Scan the OWC site (eshop.macsales) for other enclosure options. Lots of choices available.
For my second venture into eSATA, I went with a 5-drive RAID (5 x WD 7200s) for 1.25TB, and came at the recommendation of member chrispick. Temp control and alarm, backlit digital LCD-- great box!
http://www.satasite.com/5-bay-esata-por ... losure.htm
OTREVOR wrote:
4.- And lastly, if I get a case that has eSATA and Firewire 800,
could I get away by using the FW connection instead of the eSATA, so
I don't have to buy the PCI card for the Mac?
Nope. You MUST have a PCI host card no matter what if you are going external and want to avoid using the Mac's single FW bus (the same bus for all 400/800 ports). I went with Sonnet because they are reliable, reputable, and their cards offered options to run both RAID as well as individual drives simultaneously. Not all cards offer this option. There may be other companies, but I found no reason to look elsewhere with the Sonnet card at the helm.
OTREVOR wrote:
5.- I know eSATA is faster than FW 800, but would it run fine if I
choose the latter connection?
This is a tough one. The short answer is yes-- FW 800 will work fine. But, you're talking about running two of the most demanding VIs on the market. There will be limits, so why not give these VIs the best opportunty to put out for you?
If eSATA is on your list, I say go for it-- and I would go further to recommend eSATA II for the card and connectors.
I would recommend installing EWQLSO on two hard drives for better performance. 7200 is fine, although Gold will fit on a Raptor and give you great performance.
Ivory seems to work much better on a 10k drive, but I've run it from a 7200 with some extra care in not squandering voices and turning off its ambience in favor of using UAD-1, Altiverb, Duende and other fx which are better anyway.
