Whose using portable harddrives?

Nathyn

Nathyn

Low Budget Ninja
Anyone here using the 5400 portable harddrives that have come out? I know people say that 5400 is suitable for video but it's never seemed to stop anyone before. So anyone using these? They're bus powered so you could plug this thing right up to a laptop and shoot until it's full. I saw an 80gb, 100 and I believe a 250gb. The Smart Disk "FireLite" is one.

-Nate
 
They do have 7200s. I just saw some at OWC. I was surprised because I've only been seeing 5200.

-Nate
 
I use portable bus-powered drives all the time. I've found the OWC Mercury On-The-Go drives to be extremely reliable and suitable for most uses. I have 6 of the FW400 models in various capacities, some 7200 and some 5400; all have worked fine for capturing DVCProHD 720p30 (or DV).

I capture directly to these drives via FCP; with the camera plugged into the drive and the drive plugged into the computer (Powerbook G4) and it's ultra-stable and reliable...

I've found the Firelite FW drives to be reliable, but not as fast, not as suitable for live capture. Great for backup. I've had 2 USB Firelites that failed.

In general, I've found USB bus-powered drives to be unreliable, especially in filming situations - given that so many of them come with those nasty cables that plug into 2 USB ports (one for power, one for data), I'd have to guess that the powering on USB is just not as reliable as powering over FW.
 
I've been thinking about this because it would save a lot of time on future HDV shoots.

-Nate
 
7200s draw a lot more power, so be careful if you're battery-powered or in a high-heat situation (portable drives don't have cooling fans). If the 5400s work for your application, this makes them a better choice in some situations.
 
i have lots of different combos,and my favorite one is my 160gb 800 firewire portable hard drive. powered through the firewire,
 
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