Computer Restoration For Home Recording

This will only be of interest to home recording folks.

I have been using a dual core Imac (2006) that had a 160 gig internal drive and a gig of memory. I use Pro Tools 7.4 and my OS is 10.4.11. I have a 500 gig external drive for backup. I recorded on my internal drive which is not recommended but it worked just great. It never crashed or hung and I would backup all the sessions on the external firewire hard drive. Last fall the performance on the Mac became very marginal. I deleted a bunch of data from the internal drive with really no change. In October I finally went to the Apple store and they checked everything over and decided the hard drive was on the way out. Going to a new MAC means I have to upgrade all of my recording software products and it was an expensive proposition. The Apple store also told me that my computer was too old to be repaired by Apple. Isn't this great news??? I finally asked them if I could buy an external drive and run my system from it. The guy said I could but it would be slower. I did that and purchased a 1T external USB drive and they loaded the old OS and got it so it would boot and run the OS. I asked the guy how I could get all my data across and he wasn't sure but found a program from Apple that looked as though it would work. We tried it and it appeared to work. After 5 hours, most of the data was transferred and I was a happy guy just to be running again. There was no charge for any of this at the Apple store other than the hard drive. I reloaded Pro Tools and got it working but I was only able to record on the OS drive and not my firewire backup drive.That got me through the winter and two weeks ago I talked to a place in Minneapolis that claimed to be Apple experts and let me tell you , they are.

The initial testing to determine what needed work was a bit difficult because of the older firmware. The fellow called me a day later and encouraged me to go to a new computer and gave me a bunch of reasons why, namely it would be the easy way out. He did not know that I had been around computers my for much of my life (37 years). He was quick to pick up on the fact that I understood what he was telling me and I explained what I do with it and why I do not want to go to current software on a new MAC. He got it!!! We then had the discussion of you wont be able to run this thing forever. I told him If I get another 5 years I would be delighted. It could outlast me. Okay, and he told me what he could do. 1 T internal drive, double the memory to 2 gig (full) and this baby could be respectable. I said do it.

The next morning he called and it was ready. $400--- that is a steal as far as I am concerned. It would have cost more than that to upgrade all my software. I am not in the music production business and only want to record and this setup originally did that very well. I am a happy camper and only had one disappointment. I asked him if I could load the latest OS on my extra 1 t USB drive and boot from that if I wanted to be modern like everyone else. He informed me that this baby cannot even run the new OS no matter what!!!!! Anyway, I am back on the air, figured out how to record to my external firewire drive (had to partition to mac format) and this baby really whistles. Nothing is simple nowadays. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him that I was still using Widows 98 on one of my computers. By the way, Ginny got a new HP laptop 3 weeks ago on Windows 8 and it is a dog alongside this thing.-- Darwin

or for the same money you could have bought a new computer, add reaper, scrap protools and have 8 gigs of ram and be current for a while.

That's a very interesting read Darwin. I share a similar philosophy in keeping old computers running, except mine are all PC's. My peripheral audio devices are all firewire, which is being phased out in favour of USB3. So if I buy new computer I'm looking at new software AND replacement of all my audio devices to boot. I'll have to do it sometime, but I'm delaying it for as long as possible. Given that hard drives are the weak link in reliability, and are cheap, I make a point of replacing them every 3-4 years. There is disk imaging software available that makes this a quick and easy process.

I recently replaced the hard drive in my 6 y.o. Lenovo laptop, and bumped the RAM up to 4GB (the maximum). I also installed Win8 as it runs much lighter than previous Win versions. The laptop smokes now and boots up in 10-15 seconds compared with over a 1 minute for the same machine on Win7 and Vista. I'm surprised Ginny's HP Laptop would be a dog with Win8 on it. I suspect antivirus software or other HP bloatware is running in the background and is slowing it down.

Enjoy making music again!

Cheers, Phil.

phil, if you get a desktop, you can just pop in a firewire card, that is what i did, so i can use my old interfaces. i also bought an asus 17" laptop with 12 gig ram, 512 gig ssd, 1tb hard drive and a blazing video card for 200 bucks. i am not ready for windows 8 yet, has some issues, maybe by the end of the year.

phil, if you get a desktop, you can just pop in a firewire card, that is what i did, so i can use my old interfaces. i also bought an asus 17" laptop with 12 gig ram, 512 gig ssd, 1tb hard drive and a blazing video card for 200 bucks. i am not ready for windows 8 yet, has some issues, maybe by the end of the year.

Louis, I've got a 6 month old monster PC down in my cellar with 16GB RAM, 3x1 TB hardrives and a PCIe firewire card installed for my old interfaces. That thing REALLY smokes. But I like to keep the old laptop going for recording in the lounge room when the mood takes me. It's warmer in the lounge too!

yeah, you are not gonna find laptops with firewire.

Louis you have a point but this way I am in it without a learning curve.

Phil, you are dead on about the anti virus software. I know that is what is slowing down the boot time as it was noticeably slower after I installed it and you are right about Windows 8, it boots much more quickly that earlier versions. Once it get booted and Google Chrome loads it runs great. I do not want a new computer as this one does what I want for recording and it does it well. However, I will consider replacing my PC when I can have solid state storage instead of a hard drive. They are available now but expensive. --Darwin

Louis you have a point but this way I am in it without a learning curve.

Phil, you are dead on about the anti virus software. I know that is what is slowing down the boot time as it was noticeably slower after I installed it and you are right about Windows 8, it boots much more quickly that earlier versions. Once it get booted and Google Chrome loads it runs great. I do not want a new computer as this one does what I want for recording and it does it well. However, I will consider replacing my PC when I can have solid state storage instead of a hard drive. They are available now but expensive. --Darwin

darwin, don't tell me you are running norton. btw, learning is a good thing.

Nope, I am using the free Avast software. Learning is good but I had to learn Pro Tolls without any training and it was a challenge. I also have Garage Band on my MAC and never made any sense out of it. Remember Louis, I am now coasting in life and the slowdown has begun. -- Darwin

Nope, I am using the free Avast software. Learning is good but I had to learn Pro Tolls without any training and it was a challenge. I also have Garage Band on my MAC and never made any sense out of it. Remember Louis, I am now coasting in life and the slowdown has begun. -- Darwin

Darwin, unlike previous versions of Windows, the firewall and anti-virus software in Win8 is all you should need. You shouldn't need Avast. The Win8 antivirus doesn't slow the PC down either. Give it a go!

In fact, if you don't disable the built in Windows antivirus it will fight with Avast all day and slow your computer down even further.

Thanks Phil, I didn't know that as i would get messages from I believe Norton about signing up. I will do that in the morning. --Darwin

Hi Darwin. This article might help explain how to deactivate whatever trial antivirus software HP have installed, and how to switch on Windows Defender.

If they put Norton on there, as Louis said, try to get rid of it completely.

Nope, I am using the free Avast software. Learning is good but I had to learn Pro Tolls without any training and it was a challenge. I also have Garage Band on my MAC and never made any sense out of it. Remember Louis, I am now coasting in life and the slowdown has begun. -- Darwin

darwin, the slowdown happens if you let it. exercise, healthy diet and using your brain will keep your mind working well. protools is a pita to learn, reaper is a breeze.

Phil, thanks for the heads up on Windows Defender. I haven't been able to get to the turn on screen but will probably figure it out and then uninstall Avast.

Louis, I haven't slowed much. Most people have trouble keeping up with me when I walk. I don't miss stress and really understand what stress can do to a person. Age presents speed bumps now and then. I had recently been dealing with a sore tendon in my left index finger. Doc couldn't figure it out. A month ago I bought a hand exerciser and the results are incredible. Fri a Sat gigs last weekend with very little pain. -- Darwin

Phil, thanks for the heads up on Windows Defender. I haven't been able to get to the turn on screen but will probably figure it out and then uninstall Avast.

Louis, I haven't slowed much. Most people have trouble keeping up with me when I walk. I don't miss stress and really understand what stress can do to a person. Age presents speed bumps now and then. I had recently been dealing with a sore tendon in my left index finger. Doc couldn't figure it out. A month ago I bought a hand exerciser and the results are incredible. Fri a Sat gigs last weekend with very little pain. -- Darwin

i meant slowing mentally. and you certainly don't have to. all stress is self inflicted. it is your internal response to external stimuli. it can be controlled. it is up to you. but ultimately only you can stress yourself. i haven't stressed since i realize that.