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Home: Video University Forums: Tech Q & A:
External Drive Enclosures....$$$???

videogeek
Enthusiast

Mar 26, 2007, 8:17 AM

Post #1 of 9 (2140 views)
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External Drive Enclosures....$$$???	Can't Post

I have 2 external hard drives right now... and I have purchased and installed some internal drives into my computers... ( I was soo proud of myself!)

My q is... I was considering purchasing a drive and an enclosure... because it seems to be that it is more economical... BUT ... sometimes I tend to think that it is economical then I purchase the stuff and find out I scribbed myself because I can't use it... SOOOO...

My q is - what do I need to know about how to match up the Drive with the enclosure...

What I NEED is a 7200rpm ( hoping to get a great deal on at least 160 gbs+) and an enclosure with both USB 2.0 and 1394 ports...

I don't need you all to send me links... I just need to know .. is it as simple as finding the drive you want and the enclosure and hooking them together... OR.. b/c I want USB 2.0 and 1394 I need to make sure I purchase a drive that has those capabilities... AGIAN... I have never purchased like this before and want to make sure I dont waste my $$ on something dumb!

thanks ahead !

Sheila
S.
check out the WFD blog for news and films!
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videochicke
Veteran

Mar 26, 2007, 11:14 AM

Post #2 of 9 (2133 views)
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Re: [videogeek] External Drive Enclosures....$$$??? [In reply to]	Can't Post

I have 2 internal drives being used externally at this point. Bought the drive and enclosure, and it was easy to do. Took just a few minutes. I just asked the computer guy in the store what I needed.
Julie

DGates
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Apr 5, 2007, 11:23 AM

Post #3 of 9 (2042 views)
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Re: [videogeek] External Drive Enclosures....$$$??? [In reply to]	Can't Post

It's best to find an enclosure that has a genuine Oxford chip. The cheap ones don't, and you may run into potential problems. I had a couple of probelms with non-Oxford type enclosures, so now I just spend a bit more and get brand name external drives.

RustyB
Veteran

Apr 5, 2007, 5:18 PM

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Re: [DGates] External Drive Enclosures....$$$??? [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

My Raid-1 array just died, in the middle of an edit, with three weddings loaded on it. Crazy

I knew it was a matter of time, but at least I backed up the Vegas files, so re-capturing will be a matter of a couple of mouseclicks. (Except for the damned wedding I stupidly shot in HDV, and no longer have an HDV camera to re-capture with. Mad

)

Anyways, I'm thinking of getting an external drive, with hopes of getting rid of my desktop NLE altogether in the future, and hopefully only doing video part time.

My question: Can you edit DV/HDV from a USB 2.0 / 7200rpm external drive? I thought I remember reading that for video, you should use a firewire drive, but maybe that was just preferable over USB 1.0? Plus if I get firewire drives, I'd have to buy a damned firewire card for my laptop. Tongue

Is using a USB 2.0 really going to be a problem for video? What about if it's just Firewire 400, and not 800?

I was thinking about a Western Digital 250gb "MyBook"?

http://www.officedepot.com/...010284&An=browse

Faith Poison Wedding Films Blog
Intergalactic Award-Winning Epic-Cinematic Wedding New-Doc Style Indie Bridal Movies on Hi-Definition Blu-Ray Disc

(This post was edited by RustyB on Apr 5, 2007, 5:38 PM)

DGates
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Apr 5, 2007, 9:12 PM

Post #5 of 9 (2023 views)
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Re: [RustyB] External Drive Enclosures....$$$??? [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

My question: Can you edit DV/HDV from a USB 2.0 / 7200rpm external drive?

From what I've heard, USB2 is highly CPU dependant, so the computer works harder to transfer the footage. Although some have said they edit this way, it seems many prefer not to.

carnicelli
User

Apr 9, 2007, 9:34 AM

Post #6 of 9 (1955 views)
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Re: [RustyB] External Drive Enclosures....$$$??? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Rusty, USB tends to send it's data as a burst where firewire streams it at a constant rate. This makes firewire a better format for video. I use an external drive enclosure made by Granite Digital. It has a removable sled. So when I need more hard drive space I just purchase another sled for $30 and buy a raw drive from newegg. The Granite Digital enclosures have been really solid for me and when I have had a problem I've actually gotten a phone call from their tech in response to my email.

Bill Carnicelli
Carnicelli Media Productions Inc

RustyB
Veteran

Apr 9, 2007, 11:46 AM

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Re: [carnicelli] External Drive Enclosures....$$$??? [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

Rusty, USB tends to send it's data as a burst where firewire streams it at a constant rate. ....

That's what I remember reading, and I can for sure see how that would be important when capturing video in real time, but wasn't sure if it was quite as big an issue when editing....since at that point...I figure data is data...especially with Vegas.

I was thinking buying a external USB drive would be cheaper, and save me from having to buy a firewire card for my laptop. Duh, I'd still need a firewire card to CAPTURE video, so I guess I won't be getting rid of my desktop just yet. Sly

And wouldn't you know it, after I blew $120 on a new external drive, my failed Raid-0 started working again. I kept pulling the power cables to the drives, rebooting, etc, and got the Raid to show up in "my computer" long enough to go in there and disable "network sharing" on it. Then I was able to copy the HDV captures off it onto the external drive! That was my biggest fear, that I had lost them, since I no longer have an HDV cam to re-capture. Then I re-formatted the drive, did a check disk, and it seems to be working fine...comes up with every boot. Crazy

I wasted so much time and money on this. The girls in the I.T. department aren't doing their job...they're busy clawing the furniture, sleeping, and tracking litter into the cooling slots of the computer.

Thanks for the help!!

Faith Poison Wedding Films Blog
Intergalactic Award-Winning Epic-Cinematic Wedding New-Doc Style Indie Bridal Movies on Hi-Definition Blu-Ray Disc

Sandy B
Veteran

Apr 17, 2007, 1:33 AM

Post #8 of 9 (1845 views)
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Re: [RustyB] External Drive Enclosures....$$$??? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hey Rusty, I've got a Lacie Big HD 500Gb and it won't "do the do" with my putter. It turns on but won't make the putter go bing and be able to read the drive. Any suggestions in this Q & A forum? Other thatn shooting the Hd and/or shipping it back to those boys at B&H.

Twitter - Sandy Buller
SSPBLOG

carnicelli
User

Apr 19, 2007, 9:27 AM

Post #9 of 9 (1801 views)
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Re: [Sandy B] External Drive Enclosures....$$$??? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Sandy, just taking a stab at this but have you initialized the drive?

Bill Carnicelli
Carnicelli Media Productions Inc