Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Best External HD for FCP Editing?

B

Barb123

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 24, 2009
13
0
Hi, what is the best External hard Drive to get for FCP editing? I know i need a) 7200rpm, b) preferably with fastest bit rate transfer, c) firewire 800... I want something d) portable. i have been doing A LOT of research my eyes are sore!! what do you all use? what do you recommend? Lacie 320 7200 firewire rugged and OWC mercury elite are high in my list (OWC seems most dependable but slower bit rate transfer; I heard Lacies can crash ...). YOUR THOUGHTS? THANK YOU -- I trust you all here so thanks for your help. :)
 
sorry to be a jerk

if you had really looked around (on this forum) you would find dozens of posts about this.

Lacie is awesome for me.
 
thanks and more info

thanks -- and I have looked around. I actually did not find it easy to find at all (it is good not to assume!) so I thank you for your reply. I was concerned about the lacie crashing. which one do you have? as I have seen raves about the 320 but NOT the 500. and to others here, I appreciate more info as to what works for you, with thanks.
 
can you state what system you will be using this?
an imac? mbp?
OS?

if using an imac or mbp, then I guess you're stuck with the FW800.
While a RAID 0 set up would be nice over 800, I don't know how much punch you would get compared to a single drive set up.

I'd even dare chance buying a FW 800 enclosure and then getting a raptor 10,000 rpm drive and throw it in there. A 80gig raptor is easy on the pocket.
 
I have MBP OS 10.5.8 (or 9?)

Does RAID work with me--my system??

Thanks much. Certainly dont want to loose media, and I have read on these threads about people's drives crashing (lacie too)
 
Barb123 said:
Does RAID work with me--my system??

Thanks much. Certainly dont want to loose media, and I have read on these threads about people's drives crashing (lacie too)
Click to expand...

The RAID chipset would be built into the external drive, so any machine with the correct interface (i.e. FireWire, USB) would be able to use it. Many drives of this type are switchable between RAID-0 (striping, enhanced speed) and RAID-1 (mirroring).

Just keep in mind that in a RAID-1 mode, a 2TB drive would become a 1TB drive effectively (1TB primary + 1TB mirror).

A cost-effective way to do this would be to buy a good 2-disk RAID-capable enclosure from OWC/Macsales and drop two bare, identical SATA drives into it. Prebuilt drives from manufacturers like LaCie/CalDigit/G-Tech/etc. carry a pretty significant price premium.
 
I highly Recommend G tech drives. I have used the G raid drives for the last 4 years for hi-definition audio and video and they have never let me down. Hope that helps.
 
matteusclement said:
can you state what system you will be using this?
an imac? mbp?
OS?

if using an imac or mbp, then I guess you're stuck with the FW800.
While a RAID 0 set up would be nice over 800, I don't know how much punch you would get compared to a single drive set up.

I'd even dare chance buying a FW 800 enclosure and then getting a raptor 10,000 rpm drive and throw it in there. A 80gig raptor is easy on the pocket.
Click to expand...
Modern 1 and 2TB drives actually have higher transfer rates than those Raptors (although the Raptors will probably have slightly better seek times). Some 2TB drives aren't that far off the VelociRaptors.
 
raptors

Maybe I was confused in seeing the new 600GB specs and assuming they were the same for the 80gb ones.

The new 600's are mighty nice. Which 1 or 2TB drives are you referring to?
 
Thank you everyone here

Thank you everyone here. I have learned about RAID drives and ways to better protect my media and my pocketbook. I guess there are indeed better places to ask then sifting through Amazon reviews!!!! I appreciate all your help. I think I will look for the solid RAID reliability you all recommend here for a home drive (and think about doing on my own as some suggest for affordability) and get a cheaper MUCH SMALLER GB for traveling as I do not need to take so much media with me at all and ultimately keep that backed up.

Thanks all... hope your days are good.
 
The new (64MB cache) WD Caviar Blacks are very fast and are good alternatives to the Velociraptors. The 2TB models are actually faster than the 1TB ones, but cost almost 3x as much.

IMHO, they're the best bang-for-buck drives available.
 
help - One last question re: DATA TRANSFER SPEED

ok so I have decided on a OWC model - 7200 rpm fw 800 - the raid ones were a bit pricey for me

does transfer spped matter hugely? as it is listed at 300 mb/sec and I have seen other drives higher BUT I like all the reviews and reliability I have read on this one.

I thought FW determined transfer speed? there are faster and slower ones??

many thanks. feels good to be close to a decision!
 
error ----- wrong transfer speed

actually it is 800mb/sec --- 16 cache
 
@ joaoferro37
why such an expensive external drive?
why not just a FW800 external cheapo and a great hard drive?

@ the OP
You say that you don't want the external to crash, but for the most part (at least for me) I only use it as a scratch disc. Meaning that even if it did tank, I can just render again. Or are you looking for redundancy?
 
matteusclement said:
@ joaoferro37
why such an expensive external drive?
why not just a FW800 external cheapo and a great hard drive?

Because, they offer free tray on newegg when you buy it.
In our studio, we have one drive dedicated to one project and archive it later.
Instead of getting a populated FireWire drive chassis, our cost is much cheaper using Stardom.
All their trays are interchangeable, so I can use a drive in one product in their 2 4 or 8 bay if I want to do so.

We also use their 8 bay and setup 7 drives as a RAID 5 and leave one bay as JBOD so we can swap out that one drive.
This set up let’s us have a flexible solution that is fast for archiving and scratch.

Check this video, this guy is using the 8 bay, SDI in and capture direct to Stardom ST8, uncompressed 1080/24p using SONY XDCam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTlbYKbycKw
Click to expand...
 
STARDOM Storage Solutions do rock

For the price and quality of STARDOM, you can't do better.

Populated with your own drives you're not paying an overinflated "populated enclosure price".

On set, I use the SOHORAID, back at the shop I have a ST8 with a ATTO R380 card

820MB/s + with Hardware RAID 5? What's not to love about that, 16TB under 5K
 
CWOL box

I think comparing that 5 drive to the Stardom ST8 is kinda like comparing avocados to grapefruit. ATTO's card allows for many different RAID setting configurations & the product is rock solid.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back