iMac Set Up External hard drive question.

C

crot0019

Well-known member
Hey guys,
I have decided and am about to purchase a new top of the line iMac to really start taking my editing seriously. Now I am used to Final Cut (but an old version on an old macbook) and I am going to buy the new FCS at the same time. Now I am planning on using an external hard drive as my capture scratch. I have been told the best way to do this is with a firewire 800 drive. Now I have decided on this particular one http://www.lacie.com/au/products/product.htm?pid=11158.

Now for the question(s):

- I need to Import my footage from my HVR-Z1U to the iMac via the firewire 800 cable, so how do I go about using my hard drive as a capture scratch when there is only one port on the iMac?

- Also what is the correct procedure for using the hard drive for my capture scratch? And should I buy a second external hard drive as a backup?

Sorry for big question I just really want to start out in the correct fashion :)
Thanks guys
 
life4eva said:
You can daisy chain up to 64+ firewire devices as long as you have a throughput.
Click to expand...

Can't imagine the data transfer being able to keep up with HD editing across 64 drives. It's better to limit your FW daisychain to two, possibly three devices at any given time. Past that, you're pushing its limits. Even a FW camera/deck and two drives can bog the system down.
 
life4eva said:
You can daisy chain up to 64+ firewire devices as long as you have a throughput. So Make sure that hard drive you have has two firewire 800 ports, if not you would need to buy a firewire 800 hub such as this

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...3_Port_FireWire_800_Repeater_Hub.html#reviews
Click to expand...

Hubs, daisy chaining, and repeaters, in my opinion and others, are not not best practices for Firewire.

I strongly suggest that the OP NEVER use daisy chaining FW devices, or even worst, a hub.

There is only one firewire bus on all shipping Macs (or PCs for that matter). A hub or a daisy chain should always be avoided.

I suggest capturing to the internal drive before capturing via a daisy chain or hub.
 
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Why in the world would you capture to multiple drives? All I said is you can daisy chain in the essence of having them connected but not necessarily writing to more than one drive, especially when using FCP and HD files.

My workflow would be easy.

Connect a firewire Hub to your iMac. Your port 1 for your external hard drive and your other open port 2 to connect your camera. In FCP you log and transfer from the camera to your external which is connected to your computer.

This is very very basic and easy and have no idea how anyone could think this would be a problem?


Understand workflow people and everything will be fine.
 
We do understand workflow... but this is about the limitations of technology. Merely having multiple drives daisy-chained/hubbed, whether using them all in tandem or not, bogs the system down and can make video editing less stable. it doesn't matter if you have 20 drives connected and are only using one for working media. It will slow the system down.
 
Daisy-chained FW drives share bandwidth when they're being accessed at the same time -- and they don't share equally. For example: if the maximum FW800 speed is around 70MB/s, the first drive will run around 40Mb/s, while the other drive will only run around 30MB/s.

EDIT: Don't mind me - while the drives will share bandwidth, my example above pertains only to the case where a FW400 drive is daisy-chained to a FW800 drive (as 1st in the chain). I have 2 CalDigit VR Minis daisy-chained and was thinking about the throughput I get with that set-up. I forgot that the only way you can daisy-chain 2 VR Minis is by using their FW400 ports. And, of course, FW800 is faster than FW400. Duh. That's where the unequal sharing of bandwidth comes into the picture. I mistakenly posted as if that would also be the case for 2 drives sharing a FW800 chain.

BTW - I'm using the CalDigits with an early 27" iMac and am completely satisfied. I have the first drive configured RAID 0 and use that as the scratch, and the second drive is RAID 1 for storing my original AVCHD files. The first drive is bus powered and the second uses the AC adapter.
 
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Hubs or daisy chaining FireWire devices is absolutely to be avoided.

I don't recommend it because the slowest device on the chain controls the whole change. Hubs are even worst. They divide throughput, among other things.

To the OP -- avoid daisy chaining and hubs if you wish to avoid issues.
 
life4eva said:
My workflow would be easy.

Connect a firewire Hub to your iMac. Your port 1 for your external hard drive and your other open port 2 to connect your camera.

This is very very basic and easy and have no idea how anyone could think this would be a problem?


Understand workflow people and everything will be fine.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, your suggestion misstates proper workflow.

Sharing or diluting a single FireWire bus with multiple devices is to be avoided.
 
David S. said:
With all due respect, your suggestion misstates proper workflow.

Sharing or diluting a single FireWire bus with multiple devices is to be avoided.
Click to expand...

Even if everyone here thinks this is true this is STILL a way to capture your footage. If the op wants to start editing with his footage he can disconnect his hub and plug his external directly to his iMac.


I just edited an entire project with an 2.5 external hard drive and everything went smooth.
 
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