External Hard Drives, Do I really need Glyph? Options

[Tim]

I'm getting a Powerbook and will be running ProTools LE and Absynth...at least for now. Some guys at a music store I am working with are making me think that I need a Glyph drive for my external hard drive. Now, I do know that i want an external drive, because i don't want to tax the Powerbook drive with the audio I record and playback. But, the Glyph drives are so expensive. I just looked at a Mac Warehouse Catelog and saw 7200 RPM, 80gig firewire drives for a little over $200. Won't this suffice. The 80gig Glyph Companion drive is $500.

Anybody using drives from LaCie, Que, etc? Any problems or rumored problems?

Thanks,
Tim.

[rickenbacker]

Hey Damann,

Thanks for the tip. I've seen the "Icewarrior" advertised in the pages of MacUser before and they have caught my eye. Maybe that could be the answer.

You say you use one - how's the noise? And the reliability? Do you track a mix of audio and midi or more one than the other? And you don't have to build an enclosure for this drive? I'll check it out on the web anyway. Like your avatar, btw.

Also, you mention the new Firewire drives which will double the throughput speed: have you got any more info on that? Are they coming soon? Basically, should I stop this cash burning a hole in my pocket and hang on for a month or two, or are we talking next year?

And I can't argue with that fact that buying a Glyph doubles the cost of your Mbox setup! I know they use a special composite metal with a kind of neoprene insulating/acoustic dampening material sandwiched between it to keep the drive ultra-quiet and cool in performance (the fan hardly ever comes on) and there's only one other company in the world using this special metal, blah blah blah