External Drives - USB or FIREWIRE ?
- Thread starter noistar
- Start date
Green Hornet
Veteran
On my system, I have a huge assortment of hard drives.
I tend to like one over the other for reasons of appeal more than function.
I have 6 removable drives in trays.
This is how I store my "jobs"./...nothing on the computer that is not essential to it's function. Once the job is done, I pull out that drive and put it on a shelf.
I insert an empty drive in it's place.
The system itself has a main drive with just the operating system and software, and also the "projects" in a folder labeled as such. That folder has all the project breakdowns for everything.
Then I have an internal 400 gig render drive.
Anything that gets rendered goes here, as well as the mastered footage.
The software uses this area for storage and undoos.
Also any cache is done here as well.
To get everything onboard, I dump footage to P2 store, then everything gets transfered to a Segate 300 gig external hard drive that has both firewire and usb, and a big cache buffer. Most of the time, the transfer is done through the control of a low end laptop in the field, or via the laptop I am currently typing on.
In either case, it goes to the 300gig seagate.
It was cheap, at about $250.
So P2---> P2store--->Seagate 300.
or P2--->through laptop--->>Seagate 300.
Then Seagate to desktop.
##########################
When on a lower end production where I need less to carry, I use my faster laptop, to my mini seagate 120 gig hard drive.
I use that smaller one because it fits in my laptop bag, and does NOT need external power. It runs off of USB power.
Unlike the smaller usb powered 120 gig drive, the larger 300 gig drive always gets the information eventually. It is the only external drive I feel comfortable with to do the edits. I can edit directly without any file conversions, or anything funny. With edius, I just plug the drive in, and open the drive in the project, and it is instantly available to edit.
I pull the files from the clip folder, and edit.
Then save to the "removable tray drive", and then transfer everything from the 300 gig seagate to the tray drive, and store away the tray drive.
I then remove the cashe files on the internal drive.
No files remain on the edit system.
It's ready for the next project.
I tend to like one over the other for reasons of appeal more than function.
I have 6 removable drives in trays.
This is how I store my "jobs"./...nothing on the computer that is not essential to it's function. Once the job is done, I pull out that drive and put it on a shelf.
I insert an empty drive in it's place.
The system itself has a main drive with just the operating system and software, and also the "projects" in a folder labeled as such. That folder has all the project breakdowns for everything.
Then I have an internal 400 gig render drive.
Anything that gets rendered goes here, as well as the mastered footage.
The software uses this area for storage and undoos.
Also any cache is done here as well.
To get everything onboard, I dump footage to P2 store, then everything gets transfered to a Segate 300 gig external hard drive that has both firewire and usb, and a big cache buffer. Most of the time, the transfer is done through the control of a low end laptop in the field, or via the laptop I am currently typing on.
In either case, it goes to the 300gig seagate.
It was cheap, at about $250.
So P2---> P2store--->Seagate 300.
or P2--->through laptop--->>Seagate 300.
Then Seagate to desktop.
##########################
When on a lower end production where I need less to carry, I use my faster laptop, to my mini seagate 120 gig hard drive.
I use that smaller one because it fits in my laptop bag, and does NOT need external power. It runs off of USB power.
Unlike the smaller usb powered 120 gig drive, the larger 300 gig drive always gets the information eventually. It is the only external drive I feel comfortable with to do the edits. I can edit directly without any file conversions, or anything funny. With edius, I just plug the drive in, and open the drive in the project, and it is instantly available to edit.
I pull the files from the clip folder, and edit.
Then save to the "removable tray drive", and then transfer everything from the 300 gig seagate to the tray drive, and store away the tray drive.
I then remove the cashe files on the internal drive.
No files remain on the edit system.
It's ready for the next project.
billiamfilms
Member
firewire 800. cant get any better.
Green Hornet
Veteran
This is the one I use:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...ch.ebay.com:80/8808280162_W0QQfromZR40QQfviZ1
The thin ones seem to fall over all the time. I hate that. The thicker one can be tall or laid flat. I think both are only firewire 400.
On my system it seems to matter the buffer size, and in the NLE, has to be set for the largest buffer, or it may try to "GO", and not be ready.
Other than that, I don't think firewire 400 or 800 would be noticable...they are both fast.
You need hardware, cable, and drive to be compatible to give you 800 speed.
The drive you picked seems very inexpensive.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...ch.ebay.com:80/8808280162_W0QQfromZR40QQfviZ1
The thin ones seem to fall over all the time. I hate that. The thicker one can be tall or laid flat. I think both are only firewire 400.
On my system it seems to matter the buffer size, and in the NLE, has to be set for the largest buffer, or it may try to "GO", and not be ready.
Other than that, I don't think firewire 400 or 800 would be noticable...they are both fast.
You need hardware, cable, and drive to be compatible to give you 800 speed.
The drive you picked seems very inexpensive.
go with firewire
maverickstunts
Well-known member
firewire 800. It is the fastest and most reliable. I have had to wait for usb 2.0 on numerous occasions and firewire 400 as well. The cost when you add time is negligiable.
Ernest_Acosta
Well-known member
Maverickstunts what kind of drives do you use? Can you post a link?