[PlanetCCRMA] Resources for understanding issues with Linux Hard Disk Recording

[Sean Beeson]

Hi list,

After trying a web search and not turning up much, I was wondering if anyone
had some resources on the web I could read to understand some of the issues
involved with hard disk recording in Linux, particularly with slow disks.
These days cheap and easy access to fast drives make the issue less
important, but wanting to be really cheap I was hoping to get the most out
of a free IBM X40 which used an 1.8 inch IDE drive that spins at a whooping
4200 RPMs. I am not sure what the real read/write speeds are at this point,
however. I am mostly looking at doing some field recording in stereo with
Audacity or Ardour through a USB audio interface to get some environmental
recordings. After getting some good results with two tracks, I know I'll
want to try recording more tracks at some point, but the immediate need is
just good stereo recordings. Since the system has 1.24 GBs of RAM I am
wondering if the disk I/O will influence my results much and if there is
much I can tweak to remedy any issues, but am ignorant of how it really
works. For completeness, the processor is a Pentium M 12K MHz.


Thanks,

--Sean
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