Can I run FCP off External Harddrive?

S

SantaCruzMichael

Well-known member
Hi guys,
Just got a 300gig external Firewire/USB2.0 drive and I have been trying to install software on it. I have a full boxed version of FCP, but the best computer I have to work with is my girlfriend's G4 laptop.

To save space, I have FCP on the laptop hard drive, but wanted to put LiveType,
iMotion and all the other baloney on the external drive.

Is is possible to run this software from an external drive?

When I start the install process, the external drives (it's partitioned) appear in the selection box with red x's on them. The software just doesn't want to go there.

The drive is formatted Mac OS Extended, but it seemed to come out of the box that way, so I wonder if the format is complete or if there's some other trick to it.


BONUS QUESTION:
What's the best way to connect the external drive and my DVX100a at the same time for capture? The laptop only has one firewire port, obviously.

Thanks,
Michael
Santa Cruz, CA
 
I can only answer the bonus question.

The best way is to get a PCMCIA FW card. I usually use the onboard FW port for my external drive, and the plug in card for my capture device.
 
Does the external HD have one or two firewire ports. It the external HD has two firewire ports you can hook the DVX in the second one.
 
why would you hook the dvx right to the external hard drive?

can you film live directly onto the hard drive instead of on to tape like that?
 
SantaCruzMichael said:
BONUS QUESTION:
What's the best way to connect the external drive and my DVX100a at the same time for capture? The laptop only has one firewire port, obviously.
Click to expand...

If you are capturing to FCP using the DVX, it doesn't matter if the computer is plugged into the HD or laptop. The laptop will still see it and work as if it is plugged directly into the computer. I use my cheepo 1 chip on the occasions that I need to do capture and I always plug it into the firewire port on my external HD. You're not dumping straight to the HD (well, I guess you are but...) you are doing the capture and log through the laptop and FCP.

It's just like when you put ANOTHER external HD on. Even though you're plug one HD into another, the computer sees both as separate devices.


Sorry, this actually refers to Coffee's question and SkiUtah's answer in response to the original question about capturing. I understood capturing to be from the tape to computer, not taping directly to the HD. In that case you DO need a special drive like Firestore or Quickcapture that is designed specifically for that purpose.
 
To answer the orginal question about FCP installing on an external drive:

The reason it is "x"-ed out is because FCP/LiveType, etc need to install files into the active system and user folders.
Here's a thought (I have no idea if it will work - probably not): install your OS on the external drive and then see if it allows you to install FCP there.

Another idea (I think I tried this once, don't remember if it worked):
Install all the LiveType and Motion crap where it wants to go. After the install, move the extra files (not the programs) to the other drive then point an alias back where they were orginally installed. This may fool the system.


Jason
 
It the external HD has two firewire ports you can hook the DVX in the second one.
Click to expand...

While you CAN do that, you run a higher risk of getting drop outs, as you are running twice as much data (DVX to laptop, and laptop to hard drive) when using only one FW port. Even laptops such as the Powerbook, which has two FW ports, only have one bus controlling both ports. So you have the same situation. While many people report success running off the same FW port (or bus), there are severaly reports on the web of people having dropouts doing this.

That's why I said the BEST way was to have a separate FW card. It's not really a big deal, for the peace of mind it gives me.
 
skinnyboy said:
To answer the orginal question about FCP installing on an external drive:

The reason it is "x"-ed out is because FCP/LiveType, etc need to install files into the active system and user folders.
Here's a thought (I have no idea if it will work - probably not): install your OS on the external drive and then see if it allows you to install FCP there.
Click to expand...

that definitely works, both, the system install and the programm install (i have a macmini set up this way).
the downside is that you have to boot off the FW drive to be able to use FCP (ie you cant just switch it off if you dont need livetype that day)..
the upshot is that the powerbook usually runs faster that way.

Another idea (I think I tried this once, don't remember if it worked):
Install all the LiveType and Motion crap where it wants to go. After the install, move the extra files (not the programs) to the other drive then point an alias back where they were orginally installed. This may fool the system.
Click to expand...
this should work as well..
actually it even used to work if you moved the applications too, you just had to move them back to update. dunno if they changed that with FCP5.

++ zem
 
Joe Kras said:
That's why I said the BEST way was to have a separate FW card. It's not really a big deal, for the peace of mind it gives me.
Click to expand...

true, i usually give that advice to other people as well.
but i've been capturing and running system and media drives at the same FW bus on several different systems and never had a problem.
for pease of mind, i buy fast, quality hard drives and dont use a terribly old computer (1Ghz G4 is my personal limit for latest software).
++ zem
 
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