Using a Rugged Lacie external drive (orange one)

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DVX100Shooter

Veteran
I havent used my Rugged Lacie drive yet for any FCP editing but would like to take it with me on the plane this weekend. Now it has 2 FW ports. One is FW400 and the other is FW800. Can both of these be in use at the same time?

I need to be able to run a FW cable from my deck to the drive for capturing (FW400). I can then run the FW800 cable from the drive to my laptop. Once I ingest all footage in the drive I will only need one of the FW ports for editing.

Will that work? If not, could you explain a better workflow.


Thanks
 
My guess is no. The drive(s) inside can only be connected (receive instructions and commands) from one system at a time. It cannot be simultaneously plugged into your deck and your laptop at the same time. The drive will mount to the first device you plug it into and ignore anything else.
 
Yes, this can be done. It's called daisy-chaining. Mac>Drive>Deck. The drive is only "receiving instructions and commands" from the computer. The rest is just plumbing to carry the information from the deck.

I have edited DV material this way on the road many times. You'll be fine.

Do keep in mind that, when daisy-chaining from a FW800 port, once you drop down to FW400 everything from that point on is limited to FW400. WIth your setup, you don't need to worry as it is FW800 form the computer to the drive and FW400 from the drive to the deck.
 
Yes, this can be done.
Click to expand...
Thanks for setting me straight C2V. I thought daisy chaining only worked with additional drives, not decks. I'll have to give that set up a try.
 
Jedd said:
Thanks for setting me straight C2V. I thought daisy chaining only worked with additional drives, not decks. I'll have to give that set up a try.
Click to expand...

I will caution you this: when FW400 is in the mix, there's only so far you can go. I wouldn't put a deck (or camera) any further out than two drives, and that can be pushing it. If the drives are all 800, you can go farther (though I'm not sure how much).

And... not that you can, since pretty much all decks and cameras sport only a single FW connection... we're not talking about connecting more than one deck/cam.
 
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