Pocket 2.5" Hard Drives

M

mhood

Veteran
What are the minimum specs a 500GB - 1TB Pocket HD would need to have in order to serve the editing process (i.e., smooth playback as a media drive). I'm looking for more than cheap backup for use with a dual core laptop. 5800 or 7200 rpm? 8 or 16MB cache? USB 2.0, 800 or 400 Firewire? Etc.
 
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Not sure if you can get 7200 rpm portable drives but the fastest connection is definitely eSata (or eSata II)
 
I've found 7200 portable drives (500GB) but no eSata...800/400 Firewire and/or USB2.0.

How fast does it have to be?
 
If you're getting it for an external drive make sure the enclosure has firewire 800, eSata, or at least 400...USB only not so much. Also 7200rpm works nicely but Western Digital has a new 1TB 2.5" out and trust me you will want the extra storage space when working with (dont know if this is your workflow or not) prores files or whatever your stuff is transcoded to. Theoretically the density of the disk should make it run faster even at a lower RPM.
 
Last time I checked, by and far the cheapest way to do this was to roll your own.

$200 will get you a 320 Gb LaCie with FW800 and a 7200k drive. $0.63 per GB.

$170 at NewEgg will get you this enclosure (Which I own, and I'm happy with) and this 500 Gb 7200k drive.. $0.34 per GB. That's really the best value right now, but there are several 320GB options as well. (Which would run $130 total, or $0.40 per GB)

My current workflow is to edit on the 2.5" drive. I have a 3.5" drive of the same capacity that I keep it backed up to. You can never have too much backup!! Then when I'm done with a project, it moves onto a 1 TB 3.5" drive (which is backed up to...you guess it...an offsite 3.5" drive), making more room on the "Projects" drive.
 
Thanks saaby. As said, I'm looking for a drive to edit on and am wondering what is fast enough. If 5200 rpm will do, then there are several 1TB drives out there. 500 MB is the largest I've found at 7200 rpm. The case you mentioned seems to get very hot...something that has killed my drives in the past. If 5200 rpm is fast enough, wouldn't it run cooler?

Also, is 800 Firewire required or will 400 do?
 
5200 and Firewire 400 is probably "Fast Enough" but I appreciate the boost of speed that 800+7200 gives when copying files and such.

That enclosure can get pretty warm...but to me that means it's working, drawing heat away from the drive. The LaCie rugged HDs have...like 0 ventilation.
 
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