<<To have a computer as part of the gear is an attractive idea as it
can be a tool
to sort thingsout, therefore organize the recordings on set, plus the
whole lot
of things a computer can do other than being a recording media. But I
suppose
that the mechanical HD=92s aren=92t sturdy enough for outdoor adventures>>
I occasionally use the internal laptop drive for recording & even at
5400 rpm it has provided no problems. For more ambitious track counts
an external bus powered FireWire 7200 rpm drive has been as robust as
I ever need. The kind of location situation where I would be reluctant
to trust a mechanical drive, i.e. recording during run & gun over the
shoulder documentary style sound gathering, is one where a laptop
would not be applicable anyway. The internal & external drives I rely
on for multitrack concert playback with the string quartet I tour with
are subjected to approximately 150 flights & baggage handlings per
year & have always performed flawlessly. My understanding is that in a
hard drive, upon powering down, the head & its servo are locked down
magnetically & thus don't flop around during any 'normal' handling.
<< and the ones equipped with SSD Hard drives are still too expensive
for me at the moment. >>
According to the laws of consumer computer capability vs pricing, this
will be changing rapidly in the near future. I think in a few years
the fact that we relied on spinning disks with physically moving
playback heads will be seen as impossibly quaint. Like wired
telephones with mechanically ringing brass bells.
Scott Fraser
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