[djexit]

I am running at dual 2.66Ghz with 6GB of Ram with the stock 250GB HD. I use this computer exclusively for my Logic Pro and Pro Tools sessions. I always run Logic in 64bit.. I have 2 external Lacie 500GB external drives hook up FW800 which act as my "Tape" and "Samples" Libraries. I usually run into problems and Logic quits as I am using a lot of Automation data and different plugins but when I look at my Activity Monitor I notice that the Ram is not being used all the way. In the past, I thought the simple solution to this is to buy more RAM which I just did.

Will this increase my performance?

I have been reading many threads of people recommending to boost performance is to buy a better internal hard drive. ie Raid 0 and or SSD...
I read a post on a related problem and someone recommended can 2 internal drives. One for the "boot" and the other in Raid 0 for Data...Make sense? How would I do that and What exactly is raid 0?

I also just bought a G-tech 1TB external that will be plugging into my new PCI esata card for better performance that I could configure Raid 0 or 1?
Does that mean my esata has to be raid 0 or 1 compliant?

Please help. I am just trying to get my machine better and more responsive. As you man notice I am an amateur at this computer configurations...Thanks

[Waragainstsleep]

First things first. Open activity monitor and check under the memory tab. See if you are getting many pageouts. This means your system is writing to disk because it doesn't have enough RAM available either because there isn't enough there or because it can't address any more.

If you are getting lots of pageouts, but some of your RAM is still going unused, then an SSD boot drive might be a good way to go. Should speed everything up a bit. As for your externals, you really should move that data to internal drives if only because you can. You have 3 empty slots, you might as well use them. Internal drives are usually cheaper and better warrantied then externals. Not to mention more reliable. And they are invariably faster.

You should see some speed boost simply by switching to internals for your library drives. You could even pull the existing drives from their cases and just install them.
I'm no expert on Logic or Protools, but I would imagine an SSD boot drive would give better results than using RAID for your libraries.
You can do RAID 0 with software but for reliability you might want to consider the hardware RAID card from Apple. Not cheap though.

[Doofy]

1) Use internal drives rather than external.

2) No need for any RAID or SSD - just make sure your recording and sample drives aren't your boot drive.

3a) Pop 16 GB in that puppy.
or
3b (best)) Go back to 10.5 and Logic 8 (in which case 8 GB RAM will do, unless you're running plugs outside Logic).

10.6 ain't ready for audio production yet.

[indigoimac]

Oh good god, perhaps logic 9 isn't ironed out but we're running 10.6 with PT8 hd and have no issues on a mac pro with 10gb of ram... even external drives on fw400. Then again only most plugins we use are tdm so they're offloaded, but that's not the point.

6gb is tight, especially if you've got plugins going. fw800 should be fine, but that also depends on how many tracks you have going and the sample rate.

That said more ram never killed anyone.

[mduell]

RAM and internal or eSATA drives... don't slow yourself down with Firewire drives.

[bearcatrp]

How are you running Logic in 64 bit on a 32 bit EFI Mac pro? Am presuming your Mac pro is a 2006 model, correct?

[OreoCookie]

As long as there are no page-outs, adding RAM to your machine will do zilch to increase performance. I second the suggestion to use internal drives rather than external drives, that would not quite double the throughput on the fast parts of the drive.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by bearcatrp 

How are you running Logic in 64 bit on a 32 bit EFI Mac pro? Am presuming your Mac pro is a 2006 model, correct?

That's irrelevant. The EFI determines whether the KERNEL can run in 64-bit mode or not.

Applications run fine in 64-bit mode as long as the processor is 64-bit (i.e. Core 2 Duo or later).

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by djexit 

I am running at dual 2.66Ghz with 6GB of Ram with the stock 250GB HD. I use this computer exclusively for my Logic Pro and Pro Tools sessions. I always run Logic in 64bit.. I have 2 external Lacie 500GB external drives hook up FW800 which act as my "Tape" and "Samples" Libraries. I usually run into problems and Logic quits

Does it actually quit, or does it just stop playback?

If Logic just quits, lack of RAM is NOT your problem. Check the Console app for Logic's crash log. Usual culprits are eastwest libraries and Melodyne - these MUST be updated to the latest versions, or they will crash Logic (I believe EW has their ducks in a row, now).

If it stops playback, what exactly is the message you're getting? Make sure to update to 9.1.3 and 10.6.5, and the latest ProKit blablabla via Software Update.