I'm in the process of setting up a rudimentary home recording arrangement, starting with a Presonus Firebox (for bass, guitar & vocals), an M-Audio Keystation 61es, and a new Intel-iMac, on which I'll be running GarageBand and, hopefully, eventually, Logic Express.

I bought the keyboard & the Firebox at Guitar Center, where I was told that

1) I should preferably run Garageband/Logic/whatever off an external hard drive, NOT the internal one; and

2) the best choice for said drive, by far, is a Storcase "Rhino JR" FJR110 (a.k.a. "Maxx-250"?). A 250GB Firewire drive runs about $270. "The only external drive we sell," I was told.

As far as (1) is concerned: does this mean to actually install the software on the external drive, or just use it as the place where files are stored?

As for (2): I don't want to mess around with an inferior product; my Maxtor 160 GB drive just nearly died on me and I don't want to go through that again.

I can't find a single reference to Storcase drives on this forum, or any other devoted to the subject. Can anyone back up--or refute--what I was told by the guy at GC?

Thanks!

There's been a few threads on external HD lately, I'm sure you'll find some interesting input in them (not only because I answered

Like this thread…

I don't know these drives, they are not on sale in my area so… Note that you're not forced to buy the drive at guitar center, wich may not be the less expensive place for it, I found an equivalent with a good enclosure for $210 at a reliable dealer. As I explained elsewhere you can build your own, it's no rocket science as long you're not a barbarian and know how to screw.

Generally speaking, I prefer to run apps from the internal HD, esp. if it's processor-intensive (video, for example), and store large files on the external.

Editing web graphics, I run Photoshop from my external LaCie.

I'm a long-time LaCie user; I highly recommend 'em. There are horror stories about every brand, of course. We had trouble with some older Maxtor/Quantum Fireball (how apt! look at it burn!) drives.

New LaCie 300gb Extreme Triple Interface Firewire 800/400/USB
$230.00

http://www.smalldog.com/product/36047

New LaCie 250gb 7200RPM FireWire P3 Porsche
$155.00

Just to give you an idea. They have plenty more to pick from.

Hope this helps ya!

I agree with the LaCie, and if you are short on cash and don't need that much space you can get the 160 GB LaCie for 125.99 from here:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=...loc=101&rp=true

Its funny you post this question, I was just looking for hard drive deals for cheapchops today.

Thanks for all the advice.

So, it sounds like I want to run GarageBand &/or Logic off the internal drive, but store my actual music files on the external drive, yes?

Based on this thread, and the other one that lepetitmartien pointed me too, and numerous reviews out there on the web, I think I'm going to go with the OWC Mercury Elite-AL. A 250 GB triple interface model is $219.99. Never would have even known about it, were it not for the good folks here. Thanks again!