Editing HD video - FireWire 800 vs. USB 2.0

[ilmari]

Hey,

I recently got a HD camcorder. I'm now in the market for an external hard drive for a late 2006 MacBook Pro for editing the HD video.

Would you recommend getting an external FireWire 800 hard drive or just a regular USB 2.0 hard drive? I understand that all 3,5" hard drives are 7200 RPM but should I also look at other specs such as the cache?

How about a 7200 RPM 2,5" disk - would it be alright for HD editing?

Thanks for your help!

 

[mstrze]

For editing...no question.

Firewire...the interface for handling large amounts of data rapidly is much better than USB 2.0.

 

[iShater]

FW all the way. Get a drive with a decent cache in it as well.

 

[spinnerlys]

What software do you wanna use to edit those HD movies?

And what camera model did you get?

And what kind of edits do you plan on doing?

 

[yoak]

FireWire. No doubt.
You can use a bus powered 2.5 hard disk like the western digital mybook studio with fw 800. It's not ideal, but it works. I would get an external desk top hard disk as they are faster

 

[matteusclement]

eSata?

If by "2006 MacBook Pro" you mean the one that has a express slot on it, then you could do an eSata. You have to get the card and an esata set up, but it's not going to get any faster than that. Especially if you look at the cost difference of a FW 800 enclosure and a eSata enclosure, theiy're close.

FW 800 if you have to, but eSata will be better.

 

[ilmari]

Desktop FireWire 800 it is then, thanks a lot for all the info! Considered eSata too.

 

[THX1139]

1. RAID
2. SATA II (internal or with controller card)
3. eSata
4. Firewire 800
5. Firewire 400




6. USB 2.0 (wouldn't work for HD and barely for SD)

 

[bki122689]

It won't really make a difference for the average editor. If you find one with a USB and it's cheaper, go ahead and buy it.

 

[MisterMe]

It won't really make a difference for the average editor. ...

Oh, yes it does.

 

[martinX]

I'll see what I can do to test this when I get back to work. I just realised that I have a Seagate Freeagent external drive that has a changeable "foot" that can offer FW800 or a USB2 interface. It also has eSATA, but since I don't, I can't really test that.

I have my AVCHD Canon HFS10 and a Sony HVRV1U that can record in SD or HD (DV or HDV).

I'll muck around after I start work again (final week of three weeks holiday...) and report back.