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external hard drive and macbook

M

macdude841x

macrumors newbie
Original poster
hello:

I have a macbook and would like to start editing video using Imovie. The hard drive is not big enough so I wanted to buy an external hard drive.

Should I buy a USB 2.0 since my camera uses the only firewire port to import video?

Is a USB 2.0 hard drive fast enough?

Sorry for such a basic question.

Thanks
 
Any Firewire 400 hard drive will have a second port on the back into which you can plug your camera. Personally I'd go with Firewire 400. Better streaming performance than USB 2.0.
 
macdude841x said:
hello:

I have a macbook and would like to start editing video using Imovie. The hard drive is not big enough so I wanted to buy an external hard drive.

Should I buy a USB 2.0 since my camera uses the only firewire port to import video?

Is a USB 2.0 hard drive fast enough?

Sorry for such a basic question.

Thanks
Click to expand...

My opinion is that a USB drive is not fast enough in sustained throughput to do video.

Just about every Firewire drive has 2 FW ports, Firewire is designed for daisy-chaining, so you can plug your camera in. Or you can use a Firewire hub if you prefer.
 
You will have no problems with a USB 2.0 drive. There is very lite difference in speed from a USB 2.0 and you macbook firewire as it is only firewire 400 and USB has a max speed of 480.
 
Smoke454 said:
You will have no problems with a USB 2.0 drive. There is very lite difference in speed from a USB 2.0 and you macbook firewire as it is only firewire 400 and USB has a max speed of 480.
Click to expand...

Hey Smoke, have you benchmarked it yourself? Or are you just comparing numbers on paper?

I have benchmarked it.

Same Mac, Same brand new Seagate 7200 RPM.
Copying a 1.3 Gb folder, Firewire 400 was almost exactly twice as fast as USB 2.0. For sustained throughput (which, incidentally, video editing requires much more than conventional 'office' programs) Firewire slaps USB 2.0 silly.

USB 2.0 requires the computer's CPU to manage transfers much more than Firewire does.
 
USB2 Is Slower Than FireWire 400 Due To USB2 Processor Dependence

Smoke454 said:
You will have no problems with a USB 2.0 drive. There is very lite difference in speed from a USB 2.0 and you macbook firewire as it is only firewire 400 and USB has a max speed of 480.
Click to expand...
While he MIGHT not have problems using USB2, the fact that USB2 depends on the processor to do its work while FireWire does not makes the higher USB2 speed number only theoretical on paper and not a fact in reality. FireWire is definitely faster and for video MacDude841x should choose an ATA/100/133 HD with a FireWire enclosure as the best way to capture video. I like Seagate HDs and Acomdata FW enclosures. Cheaper to build your own.
 
Never Benchmarked it. That is why I love these forums. I learn something new everyday! Thanks Guys.
 
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