Pacific Pro Audio Oxford 911 & 922 Series Fire Wire Drives
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So what’s the big stink about these drives? |
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PPA did not set out to be a drive company. We sell professional audio, we don't manufacture it….…. Umm, at least we didn't mean to. It started a couple of short years ago when our forward thinking founders realized that, emerging from the primordial, mass storage, ooze were the first real glimmerings of what might be the digital audio Holy Grail, Firewire. Unable to find a manufacturer that made a reliable and fast, yet inexpensive form of this new technology, they begin a quest of their own. Striking forth with only one mantra upon their lips "FAST, RELIABLE, INEXPENSIVE, QUIET" they doggedly experimented with countless chipsets, enclosures and drives. Never losing sight of this goal, and pausing only long enough to shorten their mantra to F.R.I.Q., they amassed mountains of silicone, plastic and metal, in a tech-botched shrine to mass storage mediocrity.
PPA Firewire Drives
Oxford 911 (400) |
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80gig 8meg cache |
$129.00 |
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| 160gig 8meg cache |
$142.00 |
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| 250gig 8meg cache |
$168.00 |
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| 320gig 16meg cache |
$188.00 |
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| 500gig 16meg cache |
$249.00 |
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| 750gig 16meg cache |
$404.00 |
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As the pile grew, so did their knowledge and understanding. One by one the pieces of technology begin to meld together in an almost gestalt (look it up) manor. The zenith of inspiration and dedication came late one night with the proclamation from the back room "We FRIQin Did It!" The rag tag group of audio sales guys had succeeded in perfecting the first really dandy Firewire drives for audio/video applications. Final recipe for the FRIQin amazing drive consisted of:
A fairly common, convection cooled (fan less) enclosure, for very low noise. An uncommonly fast version of the Oxford 911 chipset, for blazing data transfer rates. Fast hard drives, with a proven track record in the studio. Seagate is used almost exclusively*. Drive setup specifically tailored for audio/video, and your system.
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PPA Firewire 400 Features
Capacity
80/120/160/250/400 gig
Speed
400Mb/sec (IEEE 1394/iLink)
FireWire
Hot pluggable, daisy chain up to 63 devices.
Technology
7,200 rpm, ATA/100 Seagate* drives with 8-16MB cache
*(80gig 8meg cache drive - Western Digital)
Sleek Design
The small, durable, polycarbonate case runs quietly without a fan, is portable, and easy to use anywhere.
Applications
Great for direct audio recording, backing-up, storing, and exchanging A/V, graphics, prepress, desktop publishing, and other files.
Technical Specifications:
| Capacity |
80GB, 160GB, 250GB, 320GB, 500GB, 750GB |
| Interface |
FireWire (IEEE-1394a) |
| Bridge chip |
Oxford 911 |
| Rotational speed |
7,200 rpm |
| Average seek time (read) |
8.2 msec |
| Max external transfer rate |
400 Mb/sec |
| Sustained transfer rate |
Data Transfer Rate: IEEE 1394a: Up to 400Mb/sec |
| Buffer size |
8-16MB |
| Dimensions (HxWxD) |
1.5"x5"x9" |
| Weight |
3.2 lbs. |
| Power supply |
Universal auto switching 100-240V, 50/60 Hz. |
| Approvals |
UL, CSA, TUV, CE |
| Warranty |
1 year |
| Compatibility |
Mac OS 9.2.2/10.x, Windows 98SE/2000/Me/XP (specify at order) |
| Includes |
FireWire cable, external power supply and feet |
Real Life Audio Tests
The following tests were conducted with a PPA Firewire 400 drive, Mac G5 dual 2gig with 1 gig of ram. Test sessions were created with edits every 500ms and were run on a Pro Tools HD2 (non accel) system with one 192I/O
Session 1; playback 48k 24 bit (edit density of 2 edits per second) Protools Max playback capacity = 128 tracks Total tracks able to playback = 128
Session 2; playback 96k 24 bit (edit density of 2 edits per second) Protools Max playback capacity = 64 tracks Total tracks able to playback = 64
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