firestore FS 100 reliability

R

Richter Video Equipment

Well-known member
Hi,
I'm considering getting an FS 100 soon. I do a lot of lecture taping that is 2-3 hours long. In the past I have continually swapped p2's with my laptop (has mirror raid). That's a pain though since I edit on my Desktop. I then have to transfer all the footage.

So I'm wondering, how reliable is the FS100. Its just a single hard drive right? Last time I checked regular spindle hard drives aren't super reliable. Has anyone had a fs100 fail? Is there a way to have the camera write to 2 firestores at one? I'd also settle for being able to hook up my laptop as a back up. I generally replace a drive in my desktop raid every 1-2 years so I'm concerned it could stop working and cause data loss. I'm shooting lectures, so they can't be recreated and re taped.

Another question is how do they get high enough transfer speed? Specs say its a 5400 rpm drive. I remeber back when i was on a dual mirrored 7200 rpm drives I would occasionally have problems. Are they using a different compression method then the camera will use?

Lastly is there any quality loss at the highest HD setting on the hvx200 compared to taping on p2? It said somthing about Hdv but the hvx200 doesn't tape in hdv.

Thanks,
Cody
 
I've been using a FS-100 for 3 years now. In terms of reliability, its been great. Never lost any footage, quality wise its the same as P2...I've even dropped it a few times and still haven't lost a frame of footage.

I don't think you'll be able to connect a laptop or a second drive at the same time...It uses the camera's only firewire port, and I'm pretty sure there's no passthrough function on the drive, so I don't know where or how you'd connect another one.

My only issue with the FS-100 is the connection. The firewire connection can come unplugged VERY easily, and if it does, you'll obviously lose some of what you've recorded, but only on that particular clip. For this reason, I always gaff tape the connector so it doesn't move. Works pretty well, but I stop down my recording as often as possible so that I don't lose too much if it does come unplugged. For your purposes though, I doubt this will be a problem...Just keep the drive in a safe and secure place, and since you won't be moving alot, I don't think you'll have to worry about it coming unplugged.

The only thing I haven't done with the drive is recorded for 3 straight hours. Can't tell you how that'll work out...The most I've recorded without stopping is about an hour, but again, that's been fine.

Hope this helps!
 
ive owned two firestores. an fs100 and an older fs4 and neither of them ever gave me any problems. of course my typical longest continuous roll was about 1.5-2 hours.
like jaypass says, my biggest fear was the wiggly little firewire connection to the camera. but i dont recall it ever coming dislodged...

i have a friend in town who's used an fs100 EXCLUSIVELY for several years and hes also never had a problem

if you cant spring for a couple 64 gig p2 cards - i say go for it.
 
Thanks for the feedback.

@wgzn
2 64gb p2 cards is approx 1600 bucks. 1 used firestore is approx 300-500 bucks.

I still don't like the idea of trusting a single hd, but I guess if I get the data off asap it should work. My editing computer has a fair share of drive failures, but hd editing is a lot more stressful then constant writing. (editing involves almost simultaneous reads and writes.) If people have been using them a lot and there haven't been any problems i could try it out. I think the first time I'll still do p2 swapping just to be sure, but your track record seems to say it will be fine.
 
I still don't like the idea of trusting a single hd
Click to expand...
yeah. i dont think anyone does. especially for LIVE capture. thats why most people even if like me, they've had no issues with firestores, still suggest going with P2 if its a size or budget possibility.

My editing computer has a fair share of drive failures
Click to expand...
good God man! what are you doing wrong? ; ) ive been in this biz for over 15 years and ive never ever had a work drive "fail".
you either must have killed an engineer in a previous life or are buying some crappy drives

but your track record seems to say it will be fine.
Click to expand...
id confidently say go for it. but there are people here who will say the total opposite. id say the mix will probably be about 80% pro and 20% anti.
 
wgzn said:
good God man! what are you doing wrong? ; ) ive been in this biz for over 15 years and ive never ever had a work drive "fail".
you either must have killed an engineer in a previous life or are buying some crappy drives.
Click to expand...

I over work them. In many computers the rest of the system cant constantly keep up with the drives so they get some rest. With an i7 and 12 gigs of ram the rest of the system does fine. I also like to game while video is rendering. ( huge load on the system) I also game while 3 dvd burners are burning. I also leave it running 24/7 so it can be a media server. lastly, my electricity here sucks. It snto clean at all which will cause premature hard drive failure. I was thinking of getting a ups but a 1500 watt ups is pricey. (i should get one because I would be pissed if it crashed while editing)
 
Have one, the only problems I've experienced are with the battery, mine was a second hand unit and the battery now only last about 40 minutes on a full charge. Also, as jaypass said, the firewire can easily be pulled out and it can be a little cumbersome for ENG-type recordings. So I relegated it to record presentations, lectures,sit-down interviews and such, the kind of jobs that need prolonged steady shooting, often in one take, and that allows me to connect the FS100 to power and forget the battery. It really excels at that type of job, and saves you not only money but also the trouble of changing cards, letting you keep an steady image for hours.

The FS 100 can daisy chain additional units to have more recording space, but I'm not sure if you can record to both units at the same time.

And I haven't noticed any difference in footage captured via the firestore or via P2 cards. In fact I've done events changing the format during the recording (keeping the same lights and camera configuration) and and the resulting files were virtually the same thing.
 
thanks for the added info panzer. I figured do to the fire wire issue they are not great for moving around, but most of my shoots are 1.5 to 3 hour lectures with outlets. All dual or tri cam. now we shoot with 3 8 gig and 2 16 gig p2 cards and continuously switch um out. with the laptop. We need one person just to keep switching them and download footage to the laptop. They also need to make sure not all 3 runout at the same time. Outfitting them all with proper p2 would require 6 64 gig cards and i just dont have the cash for that. If i can buy 3 firestores for a decent price i don't need to hire a 4th just to run p2. I'm getting more 16 and 32 p2 anyway, but still wont be enough, especially for the 3 hour shoots.
Thanks,
Cody

PS

couldn't panny make the p2 a little easier to get in and out so ur not shaking your camera every time you switch? In editing, I need to know when the p2 switch is so i can switch cams
 
Yeah I know the feeling, every time I have to change it during a shooting I feel like Indiana Jones with the idol in Raiders of the Lost Ark! You're welcome, hope my experiences help you in your decision.
 
I don't like em and won't use em ever again. Twice I have had corrupt footage files using firestore.
P2 Cards all the way.
 
Richter Video Equipment said:
T

I still don't like the idea of trusting a single hd, but I guess if I get the data off asap it should work.
Click to expand...

You can always put a SSD into the firestore if that gives you a better feeling.
I never had a problem with mine for 4 years though.

I always wonder why folks that don´t trust HDs in recording devices, have no problem to trust the HDs in their computers.

Frank
 
Postmaster said:
I always wonder why folks that don´t trust HDs in recording devices, have no problem to trust the HDs in their computers.

Frank
Click to expand...

I don't trust them in my computer. That's why i have a raid lol.

Sorry to hear about your firestone....I'll allow it to fail if dropped form 9 ft. A p2 card might even get damaged under that. The sell some low priced ones on ebay if your looking for a replacement.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top