RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive?

Posted by cfraser (A) on October 20, 2014 at 14:30:07

In Reply to: Inferior sound from USB external drive? posted by bean on October 20, 2014 at 09:12:07:

Funny you posted this, I was going to ask a similar question here (re external USB drives possibly degrading SQ ?) but for a completely different type of infrastructure.

I am typing now on my oldest regularly-used PC, an '02/03 Dell XP box. I keep it in service because it has been flawless since new, and XP suits my taste for tinkering and is stable. I like Win7 on my other PCs and Win10 looks like it may be to my taste too.

Dell boxes typically make you jump through massive and time-consuming but not technically difficult hoops for anything that takes them away from their as-shipped config. Software is even worse re that than H/W is. IME.

My box has 2 SATA ports hidden away and totally unidentified in any Dell documentation I received. I recall noticing on the web that many of these old Dell XP box owners had no idea they had SATA ports, but most from ~'02 onwards do. Buried under cables probably. SATA I only, but the drives don't care, still 2-3 times faster than IDE in the same box typically (and many times faster than USB, even much more than the spec ratings would suggest).

You may need to update the BIOS (flashed in DOS IIRC) to use SATA drives properly if you have the ports. They are correct that 2TB will probably be your limit regardless.

I also recently bought some IDE<->SATA adapters that you can either plug into the back of the drives or into the IDE cable connector on the Mobo, depending which way you're going. Haven't needed or even tried them yet. They are supposedly good for at least 2TB drives, my/our limit anyway. I got them to convert a DVD writer to IDE so I could free up a mobo SATA port. Also got one of those USB->IDE/SATA adapters JIC the box fails or for playing around with with spare drives. Makes a raw drive into an (ugly) USB backup drive.

Still don't know about the SQ affect, but more (especially external, like for USB) adapters and cables and crap *can't* help with SQ, can they? That would be my guess...

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Inferior sound from USB external drive? - bean 09:12:07 10/20/14 (39)

FWIW, I find coax out of a PC very noisy... - Tom Schuman 03:02:44 10/22/14 (0)

RE: I figured this one would kick the beehive - bean 10:49:48 10/21/14 (4)

Sorry if I missed it... - cfraser 11:25:42 10/22/14 (0)

I would start from the OS selection - beppe61 00:06:22 10/22/14 (0)

One other thought - fmak 21:56:04 10/21/14 (0)

RE: I figured this one would kick the beehive - Old Listener 12:16:50 10/21/14 (0)

I find it difficult to believe - JeffH 17:42:35 10/20/14 (8)

RE: I find it difficult to believe - fmak 03:26:17 10/21/14 (6)

RE: I find it difficult to believe - J.Mac 07:57:25 10/21/14 (5)

RE: I find it difficult to believe - fmak 08:49:18 10/21/14 (4)

RE: I find it difficult to believe - J.Mac 09:04:52 10/21/14 (3)

.No Rattling - fmak 09:36:17 10/21/14 (2)

Problem - J.Mac 09:56:17 10/21/14 (1)

Let's get back on the topic of helping the OP fix his stuff...* - Chris Garrett 10:01:49 10/21/14 (0)

RE: I find it difficult to believe - cfraser 17:52:20 10/20/14 (0)

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive? - cfraser 14:30:07 10/20/14 (0)

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive? - fmak 11:38:04 10/20/14 (0)

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive? - Tony Lauck 10:58:46 10/20/14 (15)

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive? - bean 12:05:58 10/20/14 (14)

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive? - J.Mac 10:46:33 10/21/14 (1)

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive? - bean 11:04:16 10/21/14 (0)

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive? - Tony Lauck 12:32:38 10/20/14 (11)

*New* computers that already support SATA - E-Stat 12:51:10 10/20/14 (10)

Good Thread For Me - Awe-d-o-file 17:31:29 10/21/14 (4)

RE: Good Thread For Me - J.Mac 17:49:00 10/21/14 (3)

just make your backups very slow - fmak 05:43:51 10/22/14 (0)

RE: Good Thread For Me - E-Stat 17:55:52 10/21/14 (1)

RE: Good Thread For Me - J.Mac 18:06:47 10/21/14 (0)

RE: yeah, a new cheapo PC is my backup plan - bean 17:21:43 10/20/14 (4)

96 vs 192 khz - Tom Schuman 02:31:30 10/25/14 (1)

RE: 96 vs 192 khz - Tony Lauck 12:39:55 10/25/14 (0)

RE: yeah, a new cheapo PC is my backup plan - J.Mac 10:31:44 10/21/14 (1)

RE: yeah, a new cheapo PC is my backup plan - Tony Lauck 18:57:23 10/22/14 (0)

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive? - audioengr 10:37:22 10/20/14 (5)

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive? - PAR 05:29:13 10/22/14 (4)

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive? - fmak 11:57:46 10/22/14 (3)

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive? - PAR 09:14:18 10/24/14 (2)

JRiver for classical music - Old Listener 10:45:54 10/24/14 (1)

RE: JRiver for classical music - PAR 00:14:47 10/25/14 (0)

Follow Ups

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive? - cfraser 14:30:07 10/20/14 (0)

RE: Inferior sound from USB external drive?

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