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Serato/External HD question

mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
edited August 2010 in Strut Central
For folks who rely on Serato heavily, how many of you carry your music files on a primary laptop vs. on an external HD?

The latter is attractive just so I can clear space on my laptop, plus I may have the option of just bringing the drive instead of the laptop if someone else I'm DJing with has their own laptop. On the other hand, I like the simplicity of having everything in one place in terms of the laptop.

Just wondering what people's experience has been and what works better for them.

  Comments

  • z_illaz_illa 867 Posts
    I say this as an IT guy, not someone who gets paid to play music but...

    When feasible, you should always have two of everything. Playing the music off of your internal hard drive will always be safer and easier on the computer. Whenever I play digitally I try to play off an internal drive. That said, you should still carry a external with all of your music. Leave it in the car.

    If you plan on playing using someone else's computer bring 2 externals and maybe ask before the gig if you can copy your files to the internal.

    Having only 1 copy of my music at a gig, in the digital world would scare the shit out of me. In the early mp3dj days I knew quite a few people that would have backups burned to DVDs.

    Also, you should have as little other stuff as possible on a computer you dj with, so when you say clear space, for what? And why does that stuff need to be on the computer you perform with?

    imo
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    I only have the one laptop; it's not a dedicated Serato machine nor could I afford to make it as one. And my sound files, as you might imagine, take up a lot of room.

    Sounds like it'd be worth copping an external though.
  • jjrocksjjrocks 109 Posts
    Check out the Lacie externals. They are rugged.
  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    jjrocks said:
    Check out the Lacie externals. They are rugged.
    i have to i used to store and backup music
    mad solid terabyte and a rugged 350 (use to gig out)
    they have lasted me and i am on a budget like yourself
  • rayray 77 Posts
    I concur...I am also an IT professional and my "at home" solution is a LaCie external hardrive in a hot-swappable RAID 1 configuration...peace-of-mind-related...
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    jjrocks said:
    Check out the Lacie externals. They are rugged.

    My wife's contracting work with Seagate so I'd probably cop one of theirs.
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,905 Posts
    And then rock it off of this!


    "emulator" on t??ken concept from y??yen munchausen on Vimeo.

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    in my experience, serato has been signifigantly more stable when running off an external. i would probably just roll with 2 identical hard drives. especially if your machine isnt dedicated to it.
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