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Topic: External vs internal storage,hdd for dj-ing in your opinion?

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Hi everyone! what do you think is the best to use external or internal storage for your music ?
 

Posted Wed 18 Apr 18 @ 12:41 pm
Either or. there's no best solution.

Many people use external drives due to large collections not fitting on the PC however if you can fit everything on the internal hard drive it probably makes sense just to use that.

I have recently moved my music, videos and VDJ folder to an external 256gb Samsung SSD and have had no issues at all. It just takes up a USB port.
 

Posted Wed 18 Apr 18 @ 1:01 pm
As Keith said, it can depend on the size of your music/video collection and how you expect it to grow.

I've DJed with computers for 20 years now and started out with a USB powered 60gb external, it's still going strong as my accounts backup now.
When running out of space I then moved to a USB powered 160gb external, still used for storage but had become un-reliable as well as running out of space.
When I started with my Promo Only subscription for music videos I started to get bombarded with new videos every month and they were quickly eating up space. So, I moved to a fast 500gb mains powered external, was a bit of a pain with the extra power supply and it had to stand upright. It's still going strong as my storage for my non music video projects.
Next was a 1gb external, this was the biggest USB powered drive at the time, after running out of space, it's now my Time Machine backup for my Mac.
I finally have my current 2tb USB powered external. I also bought a 2nd identical 2tb external and have a mirror copy of the first. It currently has 822gb free, so, that should last a while.

I've never had any real problems using external hard drives apart from the 160gb that became a little unreliable. All the others are still working fine. The only difference I can see between internal and external is space. If you have plenty of space on an internal, use that, if your music/video library is constantly growing then maybe an external would be better. Hard drive space is relatively cheap now, years ago (early 90s) I bought an external hard drive that was 1 gigabyte and cost £180, my current external USB is 2 terrabytes (1gb x 2000) and cost £70, just let that sink in lol.
 

Posted Wed 18 Apr 18 @ 3:55 pm
DJSoulman wrote :

I bought an external hard drive that was 1 gigabyte and cost £180

That's nothing! I once paid 700 quid for a 1Gb external SCSI drive for my Atari Falcon. :-)

 

Posted Wed 18 Apr 18 @ 4:26 pm
blckjckPRO InfinityMember since 2008
I use both internal and external. Internal for both the main and backup PC's with a synced library and VDJ configuration. The external is also sync'd with the library, VDJ folder, and current install executable of VDJ. This way, even if both PC's fail, I can purchase/borrow a new laptop/PC and still perform the gig. I also have this all backed up on two network drives. A third drive gets backed up every month or so and is stored remotely. This way if there is a disaster at my home my data is not lost. It may seem like a lot of work or overkill. But, the time I have invested in managing my library is by far more than any other part of the business. All of the sync'ing happens at night by running a BAT file.

I find the internal drives run faster. And, it's one less thing to set up. My never ending goal is less things to set up.

EDIT: One thing I failed to mention. I used to use just an external for my library with my laptop. I have a rack mount that I use for large gig's. And, a laptop for small gig setup's. One gig, while using the laptop/external, the drive dropped from my controller case to the table while it was being accessed. This was less then a foot drop to a plastic table. It killed the drive. I had to switch to my ipad as a backup while I loaded in and set up my rack PC. After that gig I upgraded the internal drive on the laptop to be able to hold the library.
 

Posted Wed 18 Apr 18 @ 6:35 pm
i prefer external drives for my music because i can hook it to any pc if i am having trouble and the database comes along. also backups are simple just copy the entire drive to another similar drive.

 

Posted Wed 18 Apr 18 @ 8:54 pm
Wickedmix I agree with you it's easy to change to another computer if something goes wrong, no hassle!
that's way I like it external more!
But there is one bad point about external hdd somebody can still it from you easily,
especially if you playing with many dj's and you go to toilet or if you doing mobile job someone can just unplug it and take it away.
but I still prefer external about the easy date base management ,you can use any pc to play straight away with your play list and it's all organized as it was on previous pc ..
 

Posted Wed 18 Apr 18 @ 9:33 pm
groovindj wrote :
DJSoulman wrote :

I bought an external hard drive that was 1 gigabyte and cost £180

That's nothing! I once paid 700 quid for a 1Gb external SCSI drive for my Atari Falcon. :-)


You were ripped off. :-)

I still have an Atari STE in a cupboard I bought in 1990 along with a Roland D10 Synthesiser and Steinberg's Pro24 sequencer (predecessor to Cubase). I bought a 100mb hard drive for it afterward, but, can't remember how much I paid for the hard drive.
 

Posted Wed 18 Apr 18 @ 9:54 pm
I run an ASUS ROG with 2 solid states: 500gb for OS and applications and 1tb for nothing but music right now it is at 70% capacity. I back up to 2 externals and a home based server once a week. My current laptop is 4 1/2 years old and I am in the process of shopping for a new one now. Nothing wrong with the old one; but I try to run a 4-5 years replacement cycle for my laptops.
 

Posted Wed 18 Apr 18 @ 10:09 pm
DJSoulman wrote :
I still have an Atari STE in a cupboard...


Ditto - still got a lot of old kit. Computer stuff, DJ stuff...

As for int vs ext, I use both. I favour having all my tracks on internal for ease of setup/use when DJing, then use multiple externals as backups/ reserves.
 

Posted Thu 19 Apr 18 @ 4:35 pm
locodogPRO InfinityModeratorMember since 2013
Agreed, internal with my likely set, currate what's likely from my external backups.
Given the choice always internal, but carry the external as for futher choices or if my machine really falls out with me.
 

Posted Thu 19 Apr 18 @ 6:35 pm
I have done both. I am now using 9TB externals and 1TB internal for content, and 512 SSD for programs on my laptop. My desktop which is being rebuilt (I've actually been too lazy to work on it) had 512 SSD and four 2TB internals. I like the desktop better because of the 27 inch screen, and all storage is internal. On the other hand, if the desktop went down, I would have no access to my content because I only have a small 1TB for my backup Surface Pro 3.

If my laptop goes down with my separate externals (three 2TB and one 3TB), I just plug in my powered hub to the Surface Pro, and still have access to all of my content. Also, if one of my externals go down, I still have access to the other 3. Each one has a different video provider, and multiple versions of each song. I have no basis for this theory, but don't want my drive running the software and looking for my music, at the same time. I am also looking for a new ASUS ROG, but the ratings are not as good as my 3 year old laptop. Oh, I only use Western Digital. I don't have anything bad to say about the others, it's just my preference and I have had great results.
 

Posted Fri 20 Apr 18 @ 1:21 am


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