Playback Jumpy and Its My Own Fault, but still HELP!!!

J

jrod81

Veteran
Okay guys,
I am using a MBP w/ 2GB of RAM with FCP 6.0 and am having major timeline issues. It won't playback at all. I even moved the RT down to Low and still it won't playback without crashing. Its my own fault I assume for peaking out my external hard drive. Everything is on a 1.5TB External that is only USB (not firewire of any sorts). The problem was, I did not realize I needed to be keeping the pro res conversion to the clips I was using so everything that I have shot for this project is in a folder titled "Shot Footage" and this includes both the original footage files and the ProRes conversion files. This folder is taking up 1.02 TB of my 1.5TB drive... I know I know... insanity... but how do I fix this now? I am way way way too scared to go through and delete only the ProRes files I am using because editing is not done. I have dumped my Render Files folder which was at 49GB, but still no help... So, please let me know what I need to do, or am I going to have to get firewire?
thanks
jared
 
you brought this onto yourself.
never keep all files in one disk'
also, from experience, USB is a no-no
i tried to do usb RAID and that helped slightly.
get the hard drive outta that enclosure and get FW400, it'll be better than USB.
other than that, it might be time to spend on a more powerful laptop.

that, and the anemic video cards Apple cram into those overpriced laptops.
 
You must build into the cost of doing video the need to buy more hard drives every year or even many times a year. I've purchased 12TB just this year to add more mirrored raids and also an offsite copy of that work (works out like this, 4TB+4TB mirrored raids at studio plus 4TB of offsite copy at home). Reality, video is not cheap but hard drives are probably the least expensive part.

OWC has the NewerTech 2 drive empty enclosures for $129: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/GM8QKIT0GB/
You can buy Hitachi 2TB bare drives for $119 each from Tigerdirect: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6529579&CatId=139

This is about as cheap (along with quality) as it gets to protect your data and have higher connection speed.
 
thanks guys for all the help... i just bid on a 2TB Studio edition WD external on ebay... it has FW 400/800...
should i spend $100 to up my RAM to 4GB or is that a waste of money for this issue?
 
jrod81 said:
thanks guys for all the help... i just bid on a 2TB Studio edition WD external on ebay... it has FW 400/800...
should i spend $100 to up my RAM to 4GB or is that a waste of money for this issue?
Click to expand...

My suggestion is to purchase a quality hard drive and enclosure, not a WD or Costco anything.

You can install applications, system etc. However, where your media is stored is critical, and you spend the money to purchase the best quality components possible. Try OWC.

Additionally, editing with the less the 4 GBs of RAM isn't a good idea.
 
owc says my computer can handle 6GB of RAM even though apple says only 4GB... i might as well at least give the 4GB a shot... at this point the WD route is so cost efficient for me... with time i hope to upgrade, but now is just not the time
 
I can't stress enough how important it is to have at least 2 copies of all your data. Seriously, external drive products from Seagate, WD and endless no name brands is like playing with fire, you will be burned at some point, but you'll never know when.

2 copies minimal at all times. That means two separate drives in one box or different boxes, whatever, 2 copies. My repetition is annoying but very intentional.
 
jrod81 said:
.. at this point the WD route is so cost efficient for me... with time i hope to upgrade, but now is just not the time
Click to expand...

I'm not going to argue with you; just point out something in your statement. How "cost efficient" is the loss of your project files and media to save a $50.00 or so?
 
WD 2TB Studio Edition is $199 at Best Buy and I have a 10% coupon so thats $180 plus the tax... is there a better option than this for $230 (thats the $180 plus $50 you mentioned above). if so, please please please show me- i hate buying crap if something better is out there for only $50 more...
 
Make sure to use that WD 2TB Studio Edition as a raid 1 for data protection. Or buy 2 of them with each as raid 0.

Never mind, I was looking at the version II which is raid based, the unit you're looking at is a single drive with a 1 year warranty. That spells a disaster waiting to happen. Spend more money, protect your data and your projects.

Get one of these: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/usb/raid_1/Gmax
 
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so lets say when this project is all said and done it will be a total of 2TB... i realize that is stupid and i did all kinds of things wrong this time around on making everything pro res but for the sake of explaining RAID to me just allow me this... so, the project is 2TB total... does that mean i need to get a 4TB setup so that the RAID is copied on 2 2TB drives? i suppose a 2TB RAID system would only allow for 1TB of use and then the other TB would be the copy of that material???
 
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