Question about reading music from an external HD

[ampLitude]

So I run Djing software, serato scratch live and my laptop did not come with enough HD space to fit all of my music (still need 320GB more). I'm looking for a new external HD now but I'm confused about what I will and won't need, keeping in mind wanting to get the cheapest best for what I need.

1. Will RPM's effect the way my music plays off of my software? (5400 vs 7200)
2. USB 2.0 (my lappy didn't come with a 3.0) or Firewire, will it make a difference?

the best answer would be a suggestion to what drive best suits these specific needs, also I do not know what the cache means at all. Sorry for my ignorance.

 

[gtvr]

cache is a small amount of high speed memory (RAM) that stores recent or frequently accessed blocks of data. This won't make a difference for streaming large files though.

What is the data rate your software needs?

Firewire will be MUCH faster for HD usage than usb 2.0. I don't know that the RPM will make that much of a difference in this situation, but 7200 is better than 5400, I'd get it personally.

 

[ampLitude]

Most of my music files play at 320 kbps

Here is a link to what I am using if that helps:
http://serato.com/scratchlive
http://rane.com/scratch.html#gpm1_9

Basically the software will be accessing the harddrive to view and play music files.

Sorry if that didn't help much, I will be sticking to firewire though!

 

[gtvr]

320kbps shouldn't be any issue for almost any modern HD. Again, I'd pick FW over USB2 if given the choice.

 

[ampLitude]

Perfect, thanks for the help!

 

[ampLitude]

Best answer selected by ampLitude.