External hard drives and sound quality

I agree with there is no appreciable sonic improvement or degredation going onboard or outboard with the drives containing the files.

Wireless G allows sufficient through put of packets so it should be good enough to allow seamless playback. Interruptions can occur, but these are normally caused by outside factors affecting the frequency 'G' operates at. Vista as well using it's Windows default packet sending settings can be an issue for streaming wireless info, but it's an easy fix.... another thread I posted here shows exactly how to overcome slow feeds/seek and interruptions or 'drop outs'.

I can stream DVD's I've place onto a NAS drive via G to my laptop without interruption of either the audio or video stream, and I did not compress The DVD's orig info... it/they were ripped at 1:1.

There are threads here which expand upon which way is better, wireless or wired, if you look into the discussions search engine. I seem to recall the use of ethernet wire as being better.... I think.

I've tried both ways but not both ways with the exact same PC OS. Just XP Pro SP3 and Vista SP2.

Reportedly Macs have an easier time of it sonically, than do PCs. As with your own audio rig though, theres more than just a couple things which will come into play that can and will affect the audio output from your personal confuser and the overall SQ.

Enjoy.

Everytime I've bought a brand new hard drive, regardless if USB, NAS, or just another one to put into the box, the music files or video files I put onto it sound fresher, crisper, more open and just better overall.

So there’s something to be said for newe HDDs.

I've also heard slight diffs from the format of the disc. Finding FAT to 32 sound more open than NTFS. Go figure. Maybe it was the drive materials... the format... the cabling... beats me. But new drives with freshly transfered files always sounds best to me.

There is too a thing called "bit decay" or something like that which says files stored on magnetic mediums tend after time passes, to begin deteriorating. Slowly. So slowly in fact it takes a while. A good while and a side by side comparison to truly notice these desparities.

I've discovered this in my own drives and pcs but only after some years of storage. 2-3 perhaps. Wiping/reformating and reloading the files usually fixes that incidence. again, it's near non noticeable unless you compare similar files on an older drive and a new one.

That’s why backing up and reloading from time to time is important . For the more anal of us, and to be sure it is more pertinent to redoing the OS about once every year to two years depending upon usage, in addition to the norm of error checking and defragging. Your disc (s) .

In general if the OS is on the drive with the media files, and you are at or above 75% capacity, things will begin to act up and/or slow down. If at all possible, and today it is more than ever before, add another storage center. usb, NAS ESATA, etc., or at least another physical Drive into the box.

unless you have on hand some partitioning software and can create or split, your drive into two, with one being a logical drive merely for storage data.... get a secondary drive!. Things will spped up and become more stable too.

SS drives now, in the USA anyhow are still very costly and not terribly large. There are also bugs with interfacing them into 64 bit OS, and OS older than Win 7.... or so my Geek buddy is finding out with his new 30GB SS unit where he places only his Wind 7 64 gbit OS.

Even adding a new ROM drive for ripping will aid the freshening up sound of the ripped files to some degree.

your results may vary, but these thoughts are those which I've discovered over the past eighht to ten years, using various OS, boxes, AND drives in various configs.

Good luck.

Map...

I'm the last guy to ask about image or video file deterioration.

As there's tons of variables in my case (s), I've mixed and pulled in and out drives now into and out of several boxes over the years, all I can account for is the audio side of things getting duller and duller. Again, side by sides show it well. Only the oldest Files I have stored way back from Napster's free file trading deally seem most affected.

Kijanki
yeah... Gatesware. 100% on every box and notebook.

...and all govt boxes too. Meaning over priced and low end units usually. Everytime I get one I'm grateful for it, but have to upgrade a good bit of it for it to be stable and as responsive as I prefer.

lately they'vve come with ACRONIS loaded onto a hidden partition, with an image of the fresh install of OS. A re-do takes only 15-30 min. A full re-do and reload of all my accessiblity software and fav apps takes longer. So I've begun doing an image of the partition once fully restored onto a separate drive, and thereafter simply clone to each successive drive as needed. Takes about an hour, front to back... inst the HDD and loading the completed image.

if you don't mind things slowing down a bit, and are keeping all the data off the OS drive, you can go a couple years I suppose. I've done that once... my oldest now retired box has 4yrs or more on it, maybe five, without wiping & reloading. it's a JIC box anyhow.

With windows it makes sense on the larger discs 500GB & up, to partition. Error checking and defragging then take way less time... and the data is easier to recover and back up.

It's simply what I did and do, until high functioning accessibility software makers take aim at Macs.... which likely isn't going to happen.

maybe it's like driving a stick or an automatic... once you get into it, it's OK.

it is what it is.

AL

Like I said it is what it is.. hence some of what I’ve said might be contingent on my use of the Accessibility softw it’s ongoing updates etc. But whatever I’ve said here or elsewhere, even if I’m misinformed, or off the mark a mite, is always the truth as I know it to be.

Aren’t the File Allocation Tables written & rewritten as they are accessed such as a log of sorts?

I use NTFS again, now, exclusively but once lost 50 or so out of 200GB of audio files residing on a NTFS disc . The word I got from my tech who had to use NOPIX to get in there to them, said the permissins had been changed for access. I could see ‘em all but couldn’t run any of them.

That foloowed me finding out someone close by was onto my wireless router without my knowledge. I knew squat about wireless security back then, but a tad more now . It was some WAR driver sitting out on the street using my bandwidth covertly. They must have messed up something. Since I’ve made some changes on my WAP’s security features I’ve had no other issues.

That Geek told me if they’d all been on a FAT drive permissions wouldn’t have been able to be altered, or been a problem and access to them would have been a breeze unlike NTFS which has provisions for permissions to files..

Was he right on that point? I know most of that 50GB were ‘purchased’ files and many were lost altogether . Or scatter across a couple hundred CD compilations

Backing up files has a higher priority for me now

My exp with using govt. pc boxes and the accessibility software I have to run which enables me to see things better is a mixed bag.

With daily use on predominately one box I do the usual things for maintenance and ese of use. Erroe check usually each mo. Defrag about every 60 days. Keep the OS on a smaller active partition and the data on a logical partion and/or an outboard drive.

I run minimal processes. And aps at any one time. Add the full bank of RAM as much as is required.. 3-4GB on 32 bit sys.

I feel the main issue that accounts for a good number of incompatibility issues is the AI squared software. The Zoom Text screen reader magnifier. There are things it simply does not like. Times when it just won’t do what it’s supposed to do. It’s almost like a person. At best it’s a two edged sword. I’ve finally gotten to where the latest box which I’m turning into a dedicated server soon, works great. No bugs so far. Quick, responsive, etc. So I leve well enough alone there.

Even some of the Windows updates affect ZT. And after updating at MS website, a day or so later things tend to act differently. So in all, MS plays a role in all this too. Same thing with the ZT updates, though they normally fix the MS ones . At times. Amazing.

Live and learn I suppose. The wireless security precautions seem to have eliminated that nonsense.

Cio52

There are similar tweaks that work well too. Mostly those we apply to the audio components themselves, as you pointed out.

Outboard drives, USB or NAS in my home respond to compliant footers by decreasing both vibration and it's inherent noise. yes. With Bright Star nodes and/or some other like affair, the actual noise of the drive diminishes or dies out. In my arrangement, all drives and gear are in a separate room so their vibrating - spinning noises are mostly inconsequential, although I feel there seems to be a slight improvment in Sound Quality or I’d like to think so. If there is it’s pretty small.

Additionally, exchanging the OEM power cords for better ones add audio gains too. Use of electrical conditioning filters - conditioners, are of still more help in keeping out the junk the pc puts off into the homes electrical service... it's just like a CDP. My tower resides in a OEM filled Sound anchor rack with compliant footers beneath it's shelf. it also uses a Voodoo Black Dragon or Nirvana pc. It's fed by a PSA UPC 200.

All outboard drives are fed via a PSA Duet supplied by a Python VX from another dedicated ckt on the same phase.

Merely removing the large access panel from the tower affords better cooling and oddly enough lowers vibration too while reducing heat. Gratefully, my Dell runs so quiet I almost can’t hear it run standing right next to it.. In fact I’ve accidentally had to restart it a couple times as I couldn’t hear it wind up following pushing the Start button on the tower..

Noise in the track associated with the drive itself?
I think that might be accouhnted for by the outlet, wires touching each other or in close proximity to one another somewhere, or junk on the power line more so than the resonance from the HDD.

There are plenty of grey areas for end users in the arena of upper end audio, let alone the now addition of industrial appliances like personal confusers we want to add to the presiding mix.

Trial and error and A versus B versus C etc, still shines the best light towards gaining both exp and performance increases. In the best of scenarios I think we can only emulate and never duplicate the exp of one members trials in some other members situation. So we approximate and consider different approaches.

The only points then of contention are Empirical evidence . Not those of subjective association. In every area other than purely measured evidentiary relms, we must at times agree to disagree, or merely accept those results for what they are unique individual experiences that likely can not be duplicated or replicated. The truth then lays with the perception of the beholder.

Any closer or further insights then will come directly from the attempt to emulate someone else’s particular scenario as best one can for all practical intents and purposes .. or those results can be simply accepted as that person’s unique findings, as I previously indicated. Nothing more.

Unless we can put a clock on it or a meter.. or some other widely accepted measuring apparatus it’s all hearsay and not point of fact reasoning. Arguing such a thing then seems fruitless for seldom does every party have likewise past events in common or even in recent memory.

True too, even measured events can be argued on several points.

At those instances, perhaps it is best to input “Oh yeah? How about that! Good for you. Maybe I’ll check that out myself someday more closely.” Or some such yada yada stuff.

It’s very likely too, there’s an element of truth in each account.

FWIW

Once folks begin to view the PC/Mac as an actual high end audio or video component instead of just a ‘pc’, and address it as such as mentioned somewhat here in this thread, your listening experience and operating performance will, or can be elevated.

Ever try opening up the tower’s case by simply removing the side cover? I do it to all my boxes. It reduces the ‘electrical’ noise level . Though not the rest of the noises it makes such as the video cards fan, drives etc. If outside the listening room in a closet or something, this does indeed help to that one end.

Putting a layer of thin closed cell foam on it if left in place will help reduce it’s overall ambient noise factor too. Simply adding or laying material over the top and either side of the tower will deaden it’s noise level too. the esthetic there however is up to the owner, as to just what they’re willing to do or how fancy they’ll get.

Another approach some projector owners use for their more noisey projectors are “hush boxes”. Enclosures such as those seem to me to have enough worth to nvestigate for those whose drives and/or computers reside in the listening environment itself, and not in some ‘sequestered’ area.

At every turn we get to ask ourselves repeatedly, the same question, “Just how deep down the rabbit hole are we going to go this time for this change or replacement, or addition to our system?”

As for outright ambient or back ground noise levels in drives Every online or big box store I’ve done any buying from has a return policy. Buy one and try it. If noisey send it back and try another. The actual degree of noise given off from one unit to another these days is so minimal as to not be critical.

If the noise level is critical the owner MUST then take additional measures to amend things. Eg., above.