Recording a movie directly on USB

classicalbear said:

Is there a way to record with the iSight cam on a macbook, directly on a USB key?
I'd like to film my piano students lesson, and I don't want to lose time saving to a mp4 or other format THEN transfer to a USB key.
For example, if I'd use Quicktime, I'd have to film THEN transfer, since it would be like a 30 min video, it's long to transfer.
Any suggestions?

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USB thumb drives are usually very slow, not good enough performance. This is why it takes so long to transfer the data. The device is slow.

You CAN buy very fast SD cards. If your mac has an SD card slot you might try recording to directly to SD. Look for the "class 10" card.

In QT, when you click the red box to close the recording window, it will ask if you want to save and allow you to select your removable drive. Its a straight save, no transcoding, so shouldn't take more than a minute for a 30 minute video.

Or, you can try capturing with iMovie and then share the video file to your removable drive. It shouldn't take more than a minute for a 30 minute video.

Otherwise I think you need a video capture app as iMovie wants to save these in a library (which you can also put on a removable drive).

These are large files and USB sticks may not provide the best performance. SD cards or a regular portable USB drive are much better.