slartabartfast

CakeAlexS
> I thought defraging was no longer necessary with W7? 

Oh Microsoft said that when NT first came out, and then the next release came with an in built defragger.
 
Nope defragging is necessary it's just totally unnecessary to run it all the time, some people run it every day/week and wear out their hard drives. I generally run it after I install new software or every couple of months, whatever is soonest.
 
You may have your defragger scheduled every month or week or so, which is not a good idea when using Sonar (turn off scheduling and run it when you want to run it). Cheers...

Actually, MS does not say defragmenting is unnecessary in Win 7, it is just that it is scheduled to run on a schedule by default. If your computer is turned off when not in use, the time scheduled for defragmentation may not be available. Check when it is actually scheduled to run, and leave your computer on over night to let it, or run it manually when it is convenient.
 
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/improve-performance-defragmenting-hard-disk#1TC=windows-7
 

 
Strange I thought that was pretty much exactly what I wrote :).

After research here and elsewhere on the web, I added an external 7200 rpm drive connected via a powered 3.0 usb hub (nothing else is on the hub).  The drive is mounted in a Coolmax enclosure.
 
I can't say for certain how well the drive performs in technical terms, but I'm not having any problems other than making sure Windows is reading the drive before I launch Sonar.  The weakest links in my system, aside from me, are probably the audio interface and the ram.

 
USB 3 is a good solution (far better than USB 2). In fact, when on USB 3,a standard HDD is slower than USB so you should get full speed.
 
6Gb ram should be enough unless you use a LOOOOT of samples and tracks (I do on one song with BFD2 and Miroslav Philharmonik and never got Higher than 4 Gb used) or have a lot of simultaneous programs running.
 
You mentionned at first:
"I've already checked to change the hard disk of my laptop but found it to expensive"
 
Well a Western Digital Black Mobile 750Gb HDD for laptop is something like 66 euros.I wouldn't say it's expensive. It's a 750Gb 7200rpm drive with 16MB cache. To get better,only SSDs or velociraptors are available and far more costy (SSHDs are 5400rpm nowadays,or try the older 750Gb Momentus XT which is great).
7200rpm makes a big difference. Your system will be more responsive and you should be able to stream more tracks.

Thanks to you all...as usual....as for the internal hard drive cost what was offer to me a year ago was in no way near the price that i've read here....i'll check that...thanks again
 

Definitely research first, and be sure your system will support what you intend to buy (USB3, SATA III, etc.). Buying something that your system cannot utilize is important to know before you purchase anything.
 
I may have missed in the thread here... is your machine an off the shelf model? Either that (if it is), or the motherboard in it will help out folks reading the thread for you.