ROCK STEADY: Sammy Merendino uses a variety of Seagate hard drives when he's in the studio and on tour.

When he's not touring with pop-music icon Cyndi Lauper, drummer Sammy Merendino can be found in his home studio in New York City, where he serves as self-described "chief engineer, producer, musician, barista" and more for his clients.

Merendino wears a lot of hats—which is one reason why he appreciates the ease and convenience of Seagate internal and external storage solutions.

"I'm extremely busy when I’m in the studio," says Merendino, 52. "With Seagate external drives, I don't even have to think about backing up anymore. The drives' automatic features do it for me."

That's important because Merendino—an in-demand session drummer and programmer who's performed with mega-selling artists like Billy Joel, Hall & Oates and Foreigner—once lost half an album's worth of material because he forgot to back up his computer.

A Drummer's Journey

Sammy Merendino got his big break in 1980 when a friend asked if he was interested in trying out for a spot in Chubby Checker's band. That led to an 18-month touring gig with the rock pioneer—but the job almost didn't happen because of a concern over travel expenses.

"I was 24 years old and living in Ohio," Merendino recalls. "(Chubby Checker) wanted me to hop on a bus to audition for him in New York City. I only had one day off between gigs in a local band, so I asked him if we could split the cost of an airplane ticket instead."

Fortunately for Merendino's career, Checker agreed to the compromise and soon hired the young drummer—even though he broke a snare drum during the audition. "He said he liked that I played loud,” Merendino says with a laugh.

Merendino remained in New York and eventually hooked up with Cameo, playing on three of the band's albums, including the monster hit "Word Up" in 1986.

"That really launched me," Merendino says of his experience with the R&B group. "After that, the phone really started ringing."

The calls came from Rock and Roll Hall of Famers like The Beach Boys, Billy Joel and Aretha Franklin, along with contemporary artists like Ziggy Marley, Shawn Colvin and Joan Osborne. Of all the top artists Merendino's worked with during a career that's lasted over three decades, Cyndi Lauper is his "absolute favorite."

"Cyndi gives her band a lot of creative freedom," he explains. "Night in and night out, she's always willing to take a chance with her music and not just play the same thing over and over."

"I don't ever want to go through that experience again," says Merendino, who runs a state-of-the-art recording studio from a brownstone building in Harlem.

Today, Merendino uses a 1-TB Maxtor OneTouch™ 4 Plus storage solution in his studio to manage and protect his music. The drive's beefy capacity has room for more than 16,000 hours of digital music. Files can be backed up with the push of a button, or the drive can be easily set up to perform automatic backups.

"I need all the storage I can get," says Merendino. "Eight different takes on one track in the studio can fill up a drive pretty fast."

And when he's touring, Merendino takes along a compact but roomy 250-GB Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini drive for backing up his laptop computer. The lightweight drive's rugged, shock-resistant design makes it an ideal road companion, and it comes with two levels of security protection to keep its contents from falling into the wrong hands.

Another important bonus for Merendino is the fast data transfer speeds Seagate storage products deliver.

"Seagate hard drives have really changed how I record in the studio," he says. "The speed and performance of those drives makes my work that much more efficient. I can upload and play back all my drum samples in seconds. I don't have to splice a piece of tape anymore. Everything is recorded right onto Seagate drives, which means I'm more creative and free to experiment."

In addition to Seagate external drives, Merendino is a big fan of the company's desktop storage drives. "I've used Seagate internal SATA drives for years," he says. "I've never had any of those drives crash on me. Seagate' drives are very dependable. And dependability is the most important thing there is for me, whether it's my instruments, my fellow musicians or my hard drive."

Merendino also appreciates Seagate commitment to innovation.

"Seagate seems to stay ahead of everybody when it comes to technology and new features with their products," he says.

"Dependability" and "innovation" are also qualities important to Cyndi Lauper—and it's why she's worked with Merendino for more than seven years, including on her upcoming "True Colors" tour, which kicks off May 31 in Boston.

"Sammy's rhythm is solid," says Lauper. "Working with Sammy is always innovative and connected to whatever music we're playing together—in the studio or live. When we do play live, we listen to each other like dance partners. And if I happen to step on his feet a little, it doesn't even throw him. He's great."