5400rpm laptop hard drive, fast enough?

K

Krunko

Well-known member
I'm looking to get a refurbished mac to put final cut on. Most of the hard drives are only 5400rpm. Will this hard drive be fast enough for me to record realtime in Final Cut, or will I need a 7200rpm hard drive?

Also, is there any software for PC (like premier or Avid) that will let you record realtime onto the harddrive like in FC?

Thanks everyone for any help! We just got our HVX so we're looking to get the most out of it.
 
I think a 5400RPM drive is cutting it awfully close as far as the sustained transfer rate for HD is concerned, but the actual throughput will depend on the drive. I replaced the drive in my Toshiba laptop with a 7200RPM model just in case.

One the PC, you can capture to disk with Edius Broadcast or DVC Rack (and upcoming upgrade of DV Rack from Serious Magic).
 
I've been testing the beta version of it, and haven't found any serious issues. I'm not sure exactly when it will be released however.

DVCPro/DVCPro50/DVCProHD support will become part of the existing HDV Powerpak, which will undergo a name change at that point. The price will go up then too, but the upgrade for existing owners will be free.

Thus, the smart thing to do is to buy it now if you don't already own it. At the extreme end, if you buy the DV Rack + HDV Powerpak from B&H today, you get it for ~ US$330 instead of the ~ US$800 MSRP that it will cost upon release.
 
i havnt dropped a single 1080i 60i frame in FCP on my macbook with 100gb 5400rpm drive yet. When out in the field, i capture to it directly. Goin on 10 hours of capture to it so far.
 
Cynic821 said:
i havnt dropped a single 1080i 60i frame in FCP on my macbook with 100gb 5400rpm drive yet. When out in the field, i capture to it directly. Goin on 10 hours of capture to it so far.
Click to expand...

G'day Cynic.

Is that the 1.8 or the 2.0 macbook?
Was that with audio?
How much ram?
Am assuming that you are capturing live through firewire into log & capture into FCP?
No drop frames?
If it handles 1080 60i it should handle 1080 50i with even more ease?

Thanks.
 
2.0ghz 256mb ram, very first Macbook Pro top model.

1gb ram.

with Audio.

Capturing live through FCP in 1080i 60i mode via Firewire.

Not a dropped frame.

:)
 
Glad it’s working well for those reporting (above). It’s still border-line. I distinctly remember this being discussed at length, months back, and Jan stating, “make sure you go with the 7200 rpm drives.”

Remember . . . Murphy’s Law!
 
configuring from apple a custom built added like a month to delivery time and i wanted my macbook pro immediatly
 
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