PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS FROM PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
In 1997, my partner and I made some significant upgrades to our recording studio incoming the Windows-based computer that was powering our EMU (then known as Ensoniq) PARIS system. At this time there were two companies that really put their foot-down in the audio world in terms of processing performance...the first was AMD with their new Athlon family of CPU’s; the other was Seagate with their Cheetah SCSI hard-drives. In those days, SCSI (small computer systems interface) was the best technology available for disk thru-put and access speed---but most importantly for its rugged performance in server applications. Likewise in those days, computer-based recording was just starting to catch-on to the masses. Well, we upgraded our computer to an AMD Athlon and also purchased one of those Cheetah 9GB hard-drives for a whopping $1,200----yes, 9GB for $1,200! While the computer itself performed flawlessly, the hard-drive was a different story. After going through a third replacement we felt that this Cheetah drive wasn’t what they claimed it to be. Ironically enough just days after this last drive went down I spoke with my Glyph Technologies product rep out of Ithaca, New York who explained that what I was going through was nothing new to him. He then stated my solution was to buy another 9GB Cheetah hard-drive. Needless to say, this not only puzzled me but kind of set me off considering their version was $1,500. He explained that the issue wasn’t the hard-drive, but how the drive was being used. I was desperate, needing something to work---so I got my money back on the initial drive and replaced it with their version accepting an offer to get my money back if the Glyph version didn’t work. Not only did that drive perform, it never as much as hiccuped!
Let’s talk hard-drives as to what they are and what they are not....or really I should say let’s discuss the myths around them. What did Glyph do differently with their Cheetah drive? Well, nothing really! It was exactly the same make and manufactured hard-drive that I bought from my traditional computer parts supplier----so the real question should be “what was different”. The answer is the same today as it was then and will continue to be the same. We first need to understand that hard-drives are a storage device to save your files to and later open them back up in RAM (random access memory). But in the world of digital audio and video, these files are so big that it’s impossible to run them out of RAM. Instead, the files need to be played back from the drive also known as “disk-streaming”. In addition to audio and video files being so large, there are usually multiple clips of audio---hundreds even. When the drive has not been accessed for a certain period of time, it’s a good idea to let the drive “go to sleep” or essentially---shut down. This isn’t a problem because again, you’re working out of RAM and when that drive is needed to access---it will wake up. There are two reasons why this is recommended for typical computer usage: To preserve the life of the hard-drive by not over-working it and second, to help cool the drive down. Well in the world of audio and video, you can not allow the drive to go to sleep---it’s just not a good idea. I mentioned a key word here........to “cool down”. Hard Drives under normal usage get hot, very hot. Most manufacturers of external hard-drives put very little (if anything at all!) effort into providing effective drive cooling because they count on the fact that the user is going to use the drive for normal, computing conditions. But when using hard-drive for digital audio and video---the drives are worked considerably harder than they were intended to, therefore they do not have a chance to “go to sleep” or even rest. This creates far more heat and with no way to cool to drive, it can inevitably fail. HEAT IS THE SINGLE LARGEST ISSUE WHEN DEALING WITH HARD DRIVES FOR AUDIO AND VIDEO PRODUCTION. When a drive gets too hot, it can shut down temporarily--or even fully crash. These off the shelf hard-drives do have cooling, but just enough to cover basic operation of the drive. Many of them brag about having fan-less operation, but you simply can not effectively cool a production hard-drive without some sort of fan in the cooling process. Whether it’s to bring air in over the drive or to pull air out of the case, a fan has to be used. Another shortcut that these other manufacturers take are the power supplies. Again, for normal computer use it’s not an issue---but when used in a recording studio, that power supply gets worked non-stop and must provide stable power at all times. Remember, we’re talking audio and video recording here--not saving your emails.
Competitor A has a hard-drive that, like Glyph, supports all of the current connections including both Firewire 400 and 800, USB2, and eSATA. Priced affordably, there are two major problems:
POWER SUPPLY: Instead of an internal, robust power supply this hard-drive uses an external wall-lump power supply. This takes up more space, can not be rack-mounted (neither is the hard-drive), and just creates a big cable mess. Likewise, the power supply itself isn’t anything high-tech or elaborate for stable audio recording, it’s just enough to power the hard-drive and nothing more.
COOLING: While it appears that there is a fan in the case, there isn’t! This is an aluminum heat-sink which works fine for CPU’s, but certainly not for hard-drives meant for audio recording. There is no way to properly cool the hard-drive. The front of the hard-drive is completely solid as well, so no air flow is brought through the chassis to cool the drive.
Competitor B is a great representation of many hard-drive choices that are out there. This is a Firewire-based drive that is powered from the computer itself, although there are options to use external power if need be. First of all, I strongly advise NEVER to power your hard-drive via the Firewire bus when it’s used for audio and video---it’s just not robust enough. But there is a far more serious issue with this kind of hard-drive chassis design. There is NO form of cooling whatsoever--- NO fan, NO thermal cooling, NO ventilation for air-flow, etc. Another major flaw in this design for audio and video use is there is no suspension of the drive. In other words, the case just sets on the desk or computer with nothing suspending the drive inside the case. This might not seem like an issue, but it can be a huge one. There are rumbles and constant motion happening at nearly all times throughout the day, only we are not able to feel them. But a small hard-drive, it will not only feel these small movements--it can also transmit its own, causing an annoying buzzing or rumbling sound that is audible. While this won’t affect the audio itself, it can be highly annoying. HOWEVER the resonating of the drive, if strong enough, can cuase the drive to skip or even lockup. Combined with the major heat problems in this drive---is that a risk you’re willing to take just to shave a few pennies off the final price of your DAW??
Looking at the Glyph GT050Q series of desktop hard-drives, it should be easily apparent the physical differences here. Remember, we’re talking about heat being single biggest factor as to why hard-drives fail and that cheaper hard-drives do not take this into account. After all if they are shooting for lowest price, that’s the first cost-saving feature to go. Quality costs money, there’s no denying that---but when it comes to the integrity of your audio and video files can you really afford to shave a few pennies off here and there? Really at the end of the day, the Glyph drives really aren’t that expensive at all. So let’s look at the important components of the drive case design and what makes a Glyph hard-drive, a Glyph hard-drive. The GT050Q series is currently available in sizes up to 1TB of drive space and can connect via FW400, FW800, USB2, and E-SATA. The GT050Q drive comes with rack ears allowing the drive to take up a full rack-space, but optional rack ears are available allowing you to mount two drives side by side.
GLYPH GT050Q
The hard-drive itself is mounted onto a separate plate eliminating direct contact to any part of the case itself. This helps to eliminate virtually all resonance that can be both absorbed setting on a desk or the computer itself -and- resonance that is created by the spinning hard-drive which is transmitted through the case onto the same surface it is located on.
The power supply is a major part of the performance of this hard-drive, providing constant and stable power to the drive. The slightest glitch can cause skipping in the drive, enough of them and you have a lockup. And should your hard-drive lockup while either recording or mixing---that’s never a good thing no matter how you look at it. The Glyph GT050Q has a custom-made internal power supply, NOT an external wall-wart or lump power supply. The power supply found in the Glyph chassis is not only to power the hard-drive itself, but also it’s cooling system. Without proper cooling, any drive can fail.
While looking like an insignificant component, the fan is very important to the design of the Glyph GT050Q hard-drive family. Remember, HEAT is a major problem and contributor to a hard-drive’s ability to perform---OR NOT. Some manufacturers make claims about their fan-less and try to tell you how much of a benefit it is to have a silent hard-drive because there is no fan but make no mistake, no fan can equal BIG problems! There are some drives that do have fans in them, but they are not adequately designed or built for rugged use. Remember, hard-drives were built for storage--not production. Simply sucking the heat out only goes so far, you need fresh air-flow. In front of the GT050Q chassis are (5) small vents that allow the fan to not only export the bad, hot air---but to literally pull clean, cooler air through the chassis, over the power supply, over the drive, and out through the back. Without the supply of the cooler, fresher air...heat once again may build-up and potentially cause the hard-drive to fail when it is pushed beyond the limits of traditional computing use. The fan found in the Glyph GT050Q drives is a heavy-duty design meant to work for years without failure, providing you keep the vent in the back clean of dirt and debris build-up.
I have personally bought various hard-drives from multiple manufacturers to personally test and evaluate product lines to each other. One company I have purchased from that I think has been very good is OTHER WORLD COMPUTING (OWC). They make a good, solid product for storage with a metal chassis and it is super quiet. While I have no problems using my OWC drive for backup and storage and do recommend them for this task, it’s certainly not going to be a choice of mine for my audio needs for one simple reason....the reason why it is super quiet....THERE IS NO COOLING SYSTEM. Notice the front of the drive, there is a vented front-panel....however look at the back, there is NO export vent, there is no fan, where is the hot, dirty air going to go? And my typical complaint of no internal power supply also is a factor, it’s a wall-lump.
GLYPH GT 103
The Glyph Technologies GT103 chassis is a unique product meant for more demanding users, such as myself. But needless to say I was quite surprised just how big this chassis was when I first opened it up. With the ability to house up to (3) 1.5TB hard-drives simultaneously, the hard-drives are hot-swappable allowing one to quickly remove and replace a drive for their sessions without having to re-swap cables. Imagine having (3) external hard-drives all connected together, but you need to pull the second drive to take to another studio---good luck! In addition, that means there are (3) power supplies each with a separate plugin taking up valuable space on your power conditioner(s). I personally have found the GT103 to be a priceless hard-drive system for me, which is why I personally use one in my own home-studio as well as the studio at my church. There is one particular event at my church that really makes the GT103 system
worth it alone and that is our CHRISTMAS WITH BLACKHAWK production during the Christmas holiday season. Hailed as the premiere Christmas event in Fort Wayne, Indiana---we typically provide (6) performances over the course of a single weekend with as many as 100-tracks of audio per concert, each two hours long. That is a lot of hard-drive space in a short amount of time. Not only do I need to change hard-drives halfway through the production weekend, but I need to make backups. At the end of the evening that Sunday, all I do is pull the drives to take them home, pop into the Glyph GT103 chassis in my home studio, start copying files and go to bed. By the next morning, my copies are made. The internal power supply is commercial grade meant for heavy-duty use in audio and video production studios, in fact there are two power supplies inside the GT103 chassis. Likewise, there are (2) cooling fans built-in to this massive chassis keeping the drives running cool.
CLIENT NOTE: A good client of mine in South Carolina is a serious photographer and has TERABYTES of photo images on his computer. Storing and backing up these files is no simple task and in fact is a demanding process itself. He purchased the GT103 with several drives from me for one simple reason....DEPENDABILITY! Because his drives were working virtually non-stop generating lots of heat because the drive was not allowed to rest (hint hint hint), he kept frying hard-drives. After going through (3) drives, he bought the Glyph system and has yet to experience a single issue! GLYPH DRIVES JUST WORK.
In their own words.....
Glyph opened its doors in 1993 just as early DAWs, requiring fast, dedicated storage solutions, were gaining a foothold in the analog recording world. We answered that need by providing rock-solid, rack-mountable and hot-swappable storage subsystems with features aimed directly at the pro audio market.
Along with building extremely durable products, they are were successful by providing the most comprehensive service and support policy in the business: a Overnight Advance Replacement program with 48-hour turnaround time on in-house repairs. Our mission has changed little since we started: Service and support is still our number one goal. We offer three-year warranties on all GT Series products while our competitors offer one or two years. Our Overnight Advance Replacement policy on GT 050, GT 050Q, GT 062 and GT Keys guarantees that if your drive fails in the first year of its warranty, we’ll send you a replacement drive overnight, for FREE. We also offer FREE basic Data Recovery in the first two years of warranty. Using one or more software applications, we are able to retrieve data with a very high success rate. We can’t guarantee that we’ll get your data back, but we’ll give it our best attempt, for FREE. Most drive vendors simply erase returned drives because they don’t want to be held responsible for the data. If you have valuable data on a Glyph drive being sent in for repair, we make securing your data our first concern.
Our attitude is like yours: Your art is what matters the most. You want your gear to “just work,” so that you can concentrate on your project. We feel the same way, and we’re not satisfied until our products are good enough that we’d want to own and use them ourselves.
Hey, here I am---well, over there---to the right! Yep, that’s me pictured in my home studio’s control room. As you can see--it’s a fairly elaborate setup. I WILL NOT TRUST THE INTEGRITY OF MY RECORDINGS AND DATA TO JUST ANY HARD-DRIVE....I only use Glyph drives! What you’re not seeing behind me is my GT103 Chassis loaded with the GT Key drives, as well as a GT050Q 500GB drive for portability. I have been a Glyph user and evangelist since the late 1990’s, I WILL NOT USE ANY OTHER DRIVE SYSTEM FOR MY OWN AUDIO. Listen, I’m not saying that if it’s not Glyph it’s not a good product--not at all. What I am saying is that when it comes to demanding use where the drive(s) just have to work, that’s where I feel Glyph has no equal. I’ve experienced the problems of just using any hard-drive, I refuse to do that again. But in the event should something happen, I know Glyph will provide me the same service and support that I provide to my own clients. All I do is call them, and they will take care of me with no questions asked. THAT’S SERVICE!
