A bunch of related questions - new harddrive, bootcamp, music production, more

[Krank]

I'm having some difficulty figuring out what to do, so I hope you can guide me.

My current situation: I have a MacBook with a 32 GB Windows (XP Pro) partition made with Boot Camp. Some of the software I need is Windows only, so that's where I boot when making music.

But I have two main problems. First of all, I'm running out of space on the Windows partition (sample libraries really take up a lot of space).

Secondly, I find Windows to run not very well. I'm getting a lot of audio glitches and hang ups, sluggish UI, and just plain can't record audio with any reasonable latency (I do this on OSX instead - despite the fact that my old USB 1 soundcard has a dedicated driver for Windows and shouldn't be Intel compatible, it actually works much better with core audio in the latter). A re-install is tempting.

So, solution seems to be to first get a bigger drive - I need something for backup anyway. Decision is if I should swap the internal drive for a larger one, getting a case for the old one and using it for backup. Or just buy a large external drive.

To make this decision, however, I need to have some things clarified. There's a lot of material that I'd like to be able to access on both OSs - possibly in excess of the 80 GB on the current drive. This seems to speak in favour of a large, external drive. However, I've just been pointed to these two products:

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

http://www.amazon.com/CSDC-MD70-E0WR...8408433&sr=8-1

My first question is: would either of these let me access in either direction from an internal drive partitioned to OSX and Windows?

(Sorry for this long-winded post! And I'm afraid there's more to follow - but your help would be very much appreciated).

[Natobasso]

Have you thought about a Drobo drive? http://drobo.com/

You will need to worry about the fact that mac files still have two directory forks and pc files only one. So if you push a file back and forth it's going to add an extra file on the mac to compensate. Try to pick one platform or the other till this changes. It's funny though; I can send myself files over the internet from one computer to the other and not have the directory fork issue. Interesting.

[Krank]

If I understand correctly, the Drobo is a case for multiple drives with some built in storage management solution. I really only need one new drive for as far into the future as I care to look, and at $499 excluding a harddrive - well, I think it's is overkill for me as I'm not going to run an OS on it, just store files. But thanks for the suggestion.

This thread hasn't gotten much attention, but I'll ask another question: which external bus-powered drive (ie. 2.5'') can you recommend? I'm considering Toshiba and Iomega eGo, both 320 GB.

[Natobasso]

Drobo is a flexible, expandable storage solution and you can swap any drives, of any size, into and out of it. It's overkill for a portable use, but great because it backs itself up and is dependable.

Either drive you mention would be great for what you want to do. Iomega has lost a lot of favor as a company in recent years but I still love their stuff.

[Krank]

I'm still pondering whether to upgrade the internal drive instead. Will my MacBook take any 2.5'' drive?

[Satcomer]

You can find some Mac speed tests at BareFeats. A 7200 SATA drive will be quicker than the original internal 5400 drive. To see how easy it is to add new hard drives & RAM into a MacBook then watch this video.

If I were you I would buy hard drives from OWC. Make sure you choose the right MacBook line. Then I would get an external firewire like hese and backup to it with Time Machine or some cloning backup program.

[Krank]

Okay, thanks a lot. I'm Danish btw., so VAT and customs would make OWC unfeasible, which is too bad since many recommend them.

If I do upgrade the internal drive, I would still like to have direct access to the Windows partition from OSX. Since I would need to format Windows in NFTS (Bootcamp still has the 32GB FAT limit, I presume?) I would need one of the apps mentioned in my original post. Would either of them allow any program running in OSX to access Windows files? That would indeed make music production a bit easier, as I could then keep sample libraries solely on the Windows side like I do now.

[Krank]

Another question: 5400 vs. 7200 rpm drives - does it make much of a difference on a regular MacBook, and are there any issues with decreased battery life or other factors to consider?