Fry's electronics is having a killer deal on Hitachi 250GB HDD's for $99 after rebate (7200RPM, 8MB cache,etc).... I was considering buying an external enclosure for it since theres no space in my box at the moment. How is USB/Firewire for capturing DV? Would it be acceptable to edit DV on it as well? Thanks.
USB HDD for capturing?
- Thread starter Dan_Lahav
- Start date
Re: USB HDD for capturing?
Should be fine. Capturing miniDV requires 25mbps (~3.6MBps) throughput. I get about 16MBps on my external USB drive and 12MBps on my external firewire drive. Fine for capture/editing. That's a great deal on the drive. Try newegg.com for the external enclosure.
Should be fine. Capturing miniDV requires 25mbps (~3.6MBps) throughput. I get about 16MBps on my external USB drive and 12MBps on my external firewire drive. Fine for capture/editing. That's a great deal on the drive. Try newegg.com for the external enclosure.
Barry_Green
Moderator
Re: USB HDD for capturing?
This is a ridiculous level of nitpicking, and I'm sure you know this, but just make sure you're talking about a USB 2 enclosure. A standard USB enclosure will be useless for a video drive. USB 2 is 40x faster than USB 1, and it will be much more appropriate for using an external drive for video.
This is a ridiculous level of nitpicking, and I'm sure you know this, but just make sure you're talking about a USB 2 enclosure. A standard USB enclosure will be useless for a video drive. USB 2 is 40x faster than USB 1, and it will be much more appropriate for using an external drive for video.
Z
Zoomforce
Guest
Re: USB HDD for capturing?
yes.. and remember that USB is based on a hub and not a switch, so all devices share the same pipe. As long as you dont have a ton of USB devices using the bandwidth you should be fine. USB is good because it wont take away from your Firewire bus
yes.. and remember that USB is based on a hub and not a switch, so all devices share the same pipe. As long as you dont have a ton of USB devices using the bandwidth you should be fine. USB is good because it wont take away from your Firewire bus
Sol M.
Veteran
Re: USB HDD for capturing?
That's a great deal on the HD!
Might I suggest looking into a combo USB2/Firewire enclosure. I never thought I'd need one enclosure with both, but since I got one, I can't even count how many times one of the interfaces (USB or Firewire) wasn't available to me, so having the other one as an option was a lifesaver! Both work fine for working with DV25 material (capturing and editing).
That's a great deal on the HD!
Might I suggest looking into a combo USB2/Firewire enclosure. I never thought I'd need one enclosure with both, but since I got one, I can't even count how many times one of the interfaces (USB or Firewire) wasn't available to me, so having the other one as an option was a lifesaver! Both work fine for working with DV25 material (capturing and editing).
Re: USB HDD for capturing?
hey jive, thanks for the tip. I have 2 USB on my mobo, and an add-on card by adaptec that gives me 3 additional USB + 2 Firewire so i think im ok on that side. USB is occupied by my mouse, cable modem and printer, and one firewire to my trusty ole JVC camcorder deck. My PC is a bit old and didnt come with firewire. time for a fricken upgrade
;D
hey jive, thanks for the tip. I have 2 USB on my mobo, and an add-on card by adaptec that gives me 3 additional USB + 2 Firewire so i think im ok on that side. USB is occupied by my mouse, cable modem and printer, and one firewire to my trusty ole JVC camcorder deck. My PC is a bit old and didnt come with firewire. time for a fricken upgrade
;D
Sol M.
Veteran
Re: USB HDD for capturing?
Sounds like you're good on either interface
Actually, the times when it most came in handy was when I had to take a project to other person's computer, and they didn't have firewire. It was a new computer but it just didn't come with onboard firewire (the horror, I know! but it happens...). In that case the USB2 saved me.
Another time, I had to get some video onto a Mac. Until the G5's came out, the word from apple was "we already have one high-speed interface (firewire), why do we need another?!" Thankfully, I had firewire as well.
Sure, you could always switch out drives into different enclosures if you need to connect with firewire or usb2, but that's an incredible hassle if I do say myself
Sounds like you're good on either interface
Actually, the times when it most came in handy was when I had to take a project to other person's computer, and they didn't have firewire. It was a new computer but it just didn't come with onboard firewire (the horror, I know! but it happens...
). In that case the USB2 saved me.Another time, I had to get some video onto a Mac. Until the G5's came out, the word from apple was "we already have one high-speed interface (firewire), why do we need another?!" Thankfully, I had firewire as well.
Sure, you could always switch out drives into different enclosures if you need to connect with firewire or usb2, but that's an incredible hassle if I do say myself