Best MX2424 hard drive?

[timprince]

I have not been able to find any advice on which specific hard drives are the best (cool, quiet, error free).
I have seen Seagate recommended and I think I have seen Seagate Barracuda labeled AVOID!
Alan, I believe you like 36G size.
I would appreciate recommendations of specific brand and model number.
Also, I seem to have more trouble with the 80 pin / adapter card scenarios.

BTW, I'm pretty much up to speed on the power supply, soldered cable, external drive, fans, etc. advice.
I will probably try the SATA bridge at some point but need to stay with SCSI for awhile.

Thank you!

Your friend in "SCSI Hell",
Tim

 

[witzendoz]

I think I have, Seagate, Quantum, IBM, dell, etc etc, and they mostly work fine, most of my drives would be Seagate and many different model numbers. The Seagate's that are 68pin have a model number ending with LW. I think I have about 20 scsi drives in action at present.

I have had a few failures and some have been very reliable, however I buy most of my drives second hand so some failure could be old age. If you get them cheap enough a few duds does not hurt. When I get a new second hand drive I test it out for about an hour recording 24 tracks, then slam it into play and record for about 15 mins to see if it is up to it. Then I use these drives on demos and smaller projects until they prove themselves. I then label the drive as good and it can go onto more serious work. Any hint of a problem from any drive and it's the rubbish bin. I always back up projects to a second drive about every 30 mins or if a great take has just been done, this has saved the day many times over the years (by the way I do this routine with all computer work in the studio).

My favourite size drive is actually 18gig, these seem to give less problems. Having said that, a lot of my 36 gig drives are very reliable. I have 3 x 72gig drives, but I tend to use my 72's as the back up drives so I am not recording directly to them. I actually have 1 72 gig drive that rides around in my car with all current projects on it, in a case of course, this is my MX files "off site backup".

A bad drive will usually give you a "Media too slow" message when it is on the way out, this sometimes comes up when the drive had become very fragmented or gets too hot so "low level format" and check the cooling before binning it. A drive can also give problems if it has not had a "Low level format" as the project register folder on the dive is full, deleting projects does not remove the project register file.

I know I did not really answer the question but I hope it was some help.

Alan

 

[timprince]

Thanks Alan. I like your "drive qualification" process, very smart.
If I understand you correctly, you have not found any of those brands or specific model #s to be particularly better?
It would be great to get some data from you and some other long time users.

Thanks,
Tim

 

[witzendoz]

My problem is that I have so many in service that you forget when I bought it and what model it is LOL. I actually picked up 2 brand new scsi drives a few weeks back for about $20 each, I have not plugged them in yet but will when I get a chance. I have a drive that comes up with "Media too slow" now and then and it's for the rubbish.

Alan