(Another) Firewire 800 external drive question...

[doowrehs]

Hi there,

I've searched the forums on this topic and turned up a few threads, but none which really address my query. So, in the hope that someone here can help me, here goes:

I work in Logic Audio with a PowerBook 15" and have recently been asked by a friend to record his band in concert. In considering this, I realised that the internal HD in the PowerBook is not likely to be suited to this as it only runs at 4200rpm. So, I need to purchase an external firewire drive running at at least 7,200.

Now, when considering options, I decided that portability is key to my needs, and that firewire 800 compatibility is also important. So here is my problem: Does anybody know of a small (80GB), light and portable external drive with firewire 800 that will do the job. I'm looking for something along the lines of the LaCie's Porsche or Smartdisk Firelite in terms of physical size and weight.

I know of a number of larger models (both memory wise and physically) which have firewire 800, but none with a small form factor. Mind you, I've only researched models from the major manufacturers, and maybe less well known ones have more options available.

If anyone can help I'd really be grateful.

Many thanks.

 

[jackieonasses]

Hi there,

I've searched the forums on this topic and turned up a few threads, but none which really address my query. So, in the hope that someone here can help me, here goes:

I work in Logic Audio with a PowerBook 15" and have recently been asked by a friend to record his band in concert. In considering this, I realised that the internal HD in the PowerBook is not likely to be suited to this as it only runs at 4200rpm. So, I need to purchase an external firewire drive running at at least 7,200.

Now, when considering options, I decided that portability is key to my needs, and that firewire 800 compatibility is also important. So here is my problem: Does anybody know of a small (80GB), light and portable external drive with firewire 800 that will do the job. I'm looking for something along the lines of the LaCie's Porsche or Smartdisk Firelite in terms of physical size and weight.

I know of a number of larger models (both memory wise and physically) which have firewire 800, but none with a small form factor. Mind you, I've only researched models from the major manufacturers, and maybe less well known ones have more options available.

If anyone can help I'd really be grateful.

Many thanks.

Do you have to have firewire 800? 400 is plenty speedy for me (with free-lance video editing)

 

[doowrehs]

Hey,
Thanks for the reply. In answer to your question, I'm not entirely sure. That's just what I was recommended by the guy at my local Apple store when I told him what I wanted to do. I must admit, I've never needed more that 400 before (for streaming audio files), but I figured the faster the better as far as live recording is concerned... If anyone has experience and can reassure me that 400 is enough, then I'll just go for that.

 

[Macs R Us]

Do you have to have firewire 800? 400 is plenty speedy for me (with free-lance video editing)

Well so is my preproduction Firewire 200, I think 400 is good for that too...

 

[WinterMute]

I use a LaCie FW800 drive in the standard LaCie Aluminium enclosure, it fits perfectly into my rucksack and the 800 is definitely worth the bother. The only downside is the psu, which needs a seperate power socket, not being powered from the FW bus.

It runs very well with Logic and ProTools, is very useful for FCP and DVD work.

I don't know of a FW800 that powers off the bus.

 

[jonnyblobby]

FW400 More than enough...

For Audio Recording/Playback and editing with protools,
a FW400 disc will have MORE than enough speed for any
audio use, you could even be running a track in protools
with 20 tracks of 96Khz audio and have no issues in terms of
disc speed. (Not taking CPU and Ram into consideration)

FW800 is more usful for people working with video,
(FW400 is fine for video too)
but FW800 with a Lacie 500GB drive can even do uncompressed
8bit.

 

[doowrehs]

Thanks everyone for the responses - it really is appreciated. It's good to hear that a firewire 400 drive will probably do the job just as well as an 800, and knowing this will definitely save me some cash. I'm probably going to go with a LaCie Porsche model, but for anyone interested, I did manage to turn up two companies on Google who actually offer exactly the product I was looking for:

http://www.wiebetech.com/products.html
http://www.firewiredirect.com/firewire/products/Spark800.shtml

Both these companies manufacture Firewire 800, 2.5", 60GB, 7,2000rpm drives which look absolutely great. They are, however, quite pricey.

Thanks again all.