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Forum: General Discussion

Topic: Internal v's External HDD. - Page: 1

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What are the advantages, and disadvantages of music played from an internal HDD compared to an external HDD?
Some say that music stored on, and played from an external HDD is the best method.
Are they right?
This is an important issue.

It would be good to get the views of the cleverest, and best qualified on this forum.
There are plenty of you !
 
Posted Mon 22 Jun 15 @ 4:54 pm
External SSD via usb3 or eSata speed and practically indestructible. A combo u can't beat but yes it can be expensive if u need a lot of space.
thing is if u cant get by with a 256G or 512G SSD then you must be carrying to much music anyways in my opinion

on a 256 gb you can easily fit 25,000 320kbps mp3 files and double that for a 512 how much can you really play in one night?

most clever or qualified probably not but just my opinion


 
I've always used an external for video as well as mp3s.

If necessary I can plug in to a different laptop or desktop if needed. ;-)
 
I have a 1TB hybrid internal for my main gig laptop. I also have a 1TB USB3 external.
The internal is partitioned into two drives. My media is kept on the second partition.
I then mirror it with the external.

I like the internal for setup times, less cables, etc. the biggest benefit comes when I'm adding media. I can sit on my couch or wherever and add media straight into the laptop without being corded to anything.

The external is perfect for my backup. Say something happens to my main and backup laptops (not likely, but). I can stop at a store, purchase a replacement, install VDJ, and my library is all set how I want it.
 
I ALWAYS use external drives. I have three of them. One for LIVE use, one for backup on the road and one for backup at home.

Why external?

My internal laptop drive dies when it reaches it maximum lifetime of read en write procedures. When I use my internal drive for playing music from... I would have a lot of read and write procedures during all night long and that will effect the lifetime of my laptop...

I now use a SSD internal drive to speed up things.. but SSD drives have a shorter lifetime than traditional HDD's. Flash memory (SSD drives) has a maximum of read and write procedures before a memory block dies. Just like an USB stick dies after a 100.000 times use (for example) So.. I keep my laptop alive as long as possible and my external drives with all my video/music files can connect with every computer and laptop (I also carry backup laptop with me)
 
Especially for a music collection you mostly just add music, so number of writes is very minimal, therefore it is extremely unlikely that you reach the ssd's write cyclrs before your computer gets obsolete
 
Agree, as far as I am aware, it's just the number of writes that are limited.
it's actually easier to bump or shock a USB external causing physical damage to the platter.
A few of my large internal drives have actually been used in several computers as they get outdated or have other issues.
 
facts about internal / external hard drive
there is some good reasons to use external hdd
benefits of using an external hdd

Theft :

External are more vulnerable to theft ?50/50%, while you playing somebody can take it, it's true !
but you can always take it with you ! in the house you always can hide it better so the tiffs can not still your data, they usually would just take your laptop ..
which is good point they do not take your data !
On external hdd you save your vdj database in case of theft , if this happen you just buy new machine and you are ready to go straight away,no hassle and you got your machine backed up running in a seconds and it's all good !
good point with external hdd you can perform on any laptop with cues,loop's and ready organized music .
the best thing to have reliable machine is to buy internal solid state drive because they are less likely to fail which gives you very stable and confident performance ,so you can use on any pc's straight away that is a good point .
internal are good to, maybe a bit faster than external ,but they are bad if the hdd dies out in the middle of the night,or theft , that's the one of the reason's I'm moving to external hdd...
the second reason is : I have installed solid state drive on it, pc works flawlessly with operating system and vdj on it .
my opinion is :one solid state internal hdd and 2 external hdd for your data and you are safe !
in this way it's easy to recovery hole system when ever you need it ,after fresh installation,connect external hdd and you are ready to go ....

this is in my opinion this is how I think ! watch this video, just have this in mind! Calvin Harris set
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwnDkzNajJA
 
The theft thing is irrelevant IMHO - if you don't have multiple backups you're asking for trouble anyway.

Personally I use an internal SSD alongside 2 x 2Tb internal drives. Less cables, less power connections, less to go wrong. I carry a backup external just in case.
 
SBDJ wrote :

Personally I use an internal SSD alongside 2 x 2Tb internal drives. Less cables, less power connections, less to go wrong. I carry a backup external just in case.


Desktop or laptop??
 
Laptop, ASUS G750, has 2 drive bays and an optibay :)
 
SBDJ wrote :
Laptop, ASUS G750, has 2 drive bays and an optibay :)


Not to digress much from the topic, but how do you like having a 17 inch laptop? Do you find it gets bulky or annoyingly heavy ever?
 
It is a bit heavy/bulky yes. I do actually prefer a 15", although tbh once on a laptop stand it takes up no more space.

My backup machine is a super lightweight 13" which I find too small!
 
"SBDJ wrote :
Personally I use an internal SSD alongside 2 x 2Tb internal drives. Less cables, less power connections, less to go wrong. I carry a backup external just in case."

It's good to see how a proper DJ does things, and what he's thinking.
We have too many non technical people offering inferior advice.
 
bigron1 wrote :
It's good to see how a proper DJ does things, and what he thinking.
We have too many non technical people offering inferior advice.


Now I'm a little bit offended :(
 
Why?
 
Obviously because he is not a "proper DJ".
 
I don't want to see newcomers adopt an inferior external solution when carrying, and playing their music.

External storage has a performance penalty if you are not using a fast connection like eSATA, USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt.
You can accidentally drop, and break it, or unplug it, and corrupt the data.
USB connections are subject to wear, and will fail long before the internal SATA connections.
An external HDD is extremely vulnerable to theft, and is also just another small item which can be mislaid.
USB HDD drives drain power from the USB bus making the connection to your controller less reliable.
Multiple USB controllers are often needed so it is not wise to add further unnecessary loads such as external USB HDD.
Internal HDD are cheaper.

To sum up external is inferior, it reduces reliability, and performance, whilst it increases cost.
Besides all else, why be dependent on two hdd, and a fragile connection when one installed safely in your laptop will suffice?
 
Strange, I never had these problems you are talking about with externals.
I use 2 of them. 1 as "master" and the second in my bag as backup.
bigron1 wrote :
I don't want to see newcomers adopt an inferior external solution when carrying, and playing their music.

External storage has a performance penalty if you are not using a fast connection like eSATA, USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt.


That is kind of true, but only affects the loading of a song to a deck.
Once the track is loaded, its in the RAM and played from there. So the USB connection has nothing to do with it.
 
bigron1 wrote :
Why?


More people in this topic tried to help you with there personal opinion and knowledge. Including me.

But you only react with a quote from SBDJ and say nice to have a proper DJ advice...

So the way I understand: No one else who reacted before in this topic is a good, proper or experienced DJ or technical person?
 
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