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What “portable” drives are you using?
I just got a laptop and I’m looking for an eSata portable drive I can use both in the edit suite and on the laptop. Both the edit suite (HP Pavilion) and laptop (Dell XPS17) are Win 7, CS5.5 and have eSata external ports. I typically shoot with a Canon EOS5 or a Sony EX3.
I like the Lacie, but it requires external power (another cable to drag around) and it’s only 5400 RPM.
The Seagate Free agent doesn’t list its drive speed, and I’m a little hesitant because I see quite a few negative user reviews on the Seagate website.
I have had both Seagate and LaCie drives over the years and have no problem with either company. The LaCie looks like it can take more abuse, but the rubber bumpers may just be for show. My biggest concerns are drive speed and reliability. I’m not made of cash, but I’ll spend a few dollars more for a better solution.
Anyone feel like sharing what they’re doing?
Ryan Video Productions Inc. Rockaway, NJ
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3 Replies
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Hello Dave,
I like G-Tech drives. I’ve had good luck with the G-Tech G RAID. Very solid construction, and has been rock solid. It has eSATA 3Gbit, Firewire 800/400 and USB 2.0 connectors on it. It’s actually two Hitachi drives in the case running on a built in RAID 0 controller. It comes formatted for Mac, but you can reformat it for PC.
CalDigit is another popular “pro” brand for video production. I haven’t used their drives, but they get great reviews and I liked what I saw at their NAB booth.
Mike Tomei
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz
12 GB RAM
1 GB VRAM
500GB system HD, 4x1TB RAID5 media array
Adobe Production Premium CS5
https://blog.miketomei.com -
Thanks Mike. I see it’s Buss powered; I don’t believe eSata carries power. Do you know if you can run the drive on eSata and pull power from the USB Buss? My laptop doesn’t have firewire.
Ryan Video Productions Inc. Rockaway, NJ
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Hi Dave,
You’re looking at the G-RAID Mini. That’s bus powered through the Firewire connector, not USB (to the best of my knowledge.) The regular G-RAID that I was referring to requires you to use the external power supply.
I don’t own one myself, but the G-Tech G-Drive Mini (non RAID) is also bus powered, if that’s important to you. Firewire powered for sure, but here’s their disclaimer about USB powered:
“G-DRIVE mini is bus powered when attached to a 6 or 9-pin FireWire port. The USB port on some computers may not supply enough power to reliably operate G-DRIVE mini systems larger than 320 GB. An optional power supply is available for use with G-DRIVE mini if your system does not have a FireWire port or your USB port does not provide adequate power.”
Mike Tomei
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz
12 GB RAM
1 GB VRAM
500GB system HD, 4x1TB RAID5 media array
Adobe Production Premium CS5
https://blog.miketomei.com
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