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Gear / Technical Help => Post-Processing, Computer / Streaming / Internet Devices & Related Activity => Topic started by: yousef on November 07, 2012, 05:01:03 PM

Title: 96/24 multitrack and hard drive speeds
Post by: yousef on November 07, 2012, 05:01:03 PM

If I want to record 16 tracks of audio at 96kHz 24bit, what should I be looking for in terms of hard drive speed? I've got a spare USB3 socket if that helps.

Also, would it be more reliable to use a high capacity fast SD card instead?

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Title: Re: 96/24 multitrack and hard drive speeds
Post by: JasonSobel on November 07, 2012, 05:24:55 PM

stereo files (2 channel) at 24/96 is about 0.5 MB/s data rate.  multiply that by 8 (16 channels = 8 stereo channels), and you get a data rate of approximately 4 MB/s.  Any hard drive should be more than sufficient, even at USB 2 speeds, let alone USB 3 speeds.  Don't worry about speed, as much as reliability and manufacturer warranty.

Title: Re: 96/24 multitrack and hard drive speeds
Post by: yousef on November 07, 2012, 05:39:31 PM

Thanks for that. I've just done some calculations and came up with the following:

96kHz 24bit - 16 channels = 4.39MB per second

         = 263.67MB per minute

         = 15.45GB per hour  :o

Have you any particular recommendations for brands? Or ones to avoid, at least?