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iMac Storage
I just purchased an iMac 27″ i5 Quad with 2TB internal drive. I’ve never stored video on the system drive, but am considering doing so and using a 2TB eternal drive to back up the system drive completely.
Is this a bad idea? -
12 Replies
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[Jerry Walker] “Is this a bad idea?”
Yes, FCP requires all media playback from one or more drives other than you internal system drive, as the system drive is busy doing it’s own thing, such as running applications.
And, you are limited to firewire 800 as that is the only connection available on the iMac.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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So I can not partition the system drive and use a partition for final cut media?
Jerry Walker
Writer/Producer/Director/Photographer/Editor
NewsChannel 5 Network
Nashville, TN -
You can, but that does not achieve the desired result Jerry, because it still uses he same same drive that’s already busy, thus diminishing throughput.
Partition the drive and use the extra as storage for media from projects you’re not currently working on. Later, just move them back to the new firewire drive that you’re about to order, when you wish to revisit the old project.
For the record, the 2Tb hard drive was about $50 of the total cost of your iMac.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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[David Roth Weiss] FCP requires all media playback from one or more drives other than you internal system drive, as the system drive is busy doing it’s own thing, such as running applications.
I’m editing HD video in FCP6 on my 27″ iMac right now. My media (720p ProRes422) is on an external 1TB Seagate drive connected via [gasp!] USB and it’s working just fine.
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Thanks, I was just thinking that the internal sata drive would have faster speeds than the external firewire 800, to to mention that i’ll have to daisy chain the firewire camera to capture video from my xl1.
Jerry Walker
Writer/Producer/Director/Photographer/Editor
NewsChannel 5 Network
Nashville, TN -
[Mark Petereit] “I’m editing HD video in FCP6 on my 27″ iMac right now. My media (720p ProRes422) is on an external 1TB Seagate drive connected via [gasp!] USB and it’s working just fine.”
Jerry,
For the record, please don’t take Mark’s example as a blanket endorsement or recommendation for using USB drives as media drives. The miniscule savings you get from purchasing a USB drive in no way justifies using them in lieu of firewire 800 drives, which are designed to deliver sustained throughput that USB simply cannot deliver.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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[Jerry Walker] “I was just thinking that the internal sata drive would have faster speeds than the external firewire 800, to to mention that i’ll have to daisy chain the firewire camera to capture video from my xl1. “
The single firewire bus on the iMac, with no alternative connections, is indeed a real limitation of those machines. The latest MacBook Pros have the same issue, with only the 17″ model having the formerly standard Express Card slot.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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i have plenty of experience using both usb & firewire and yes, you can use a usb drive, but i’ve found when working with multiple layers or fast edits the usb drive will drop frames and not perform as well as a firewire, specially 800. But yes, usb can work fine. thank you both for your input.
Jerry Walker
Writer/Producer/Director/Photographer/Editor
NewsChannel 5 Network
Nashville, TN -
XL1? Don’t worry about it. I capture to my MBP’s internal drive all the time, and have never had a problem. I did get the 7200 rpm drive, though, just to be safe. I do realize it may not be appropriate for HD throughput, but we’re talking DV25 here.. I don’t know why everyone freaks out about it.
I do a lot of field production and it’s great to have it right there without the hassle of extra drives.
Zero issues for me, YMMV. -
Fast storage via direct Ethernet connection is a viable option for the iMac line. You could put pretty much any amount of storage onto the iMac just as you do a mac pro.
I had a discussion with the small tree guys about this very thing on the NAB show floor today. It\’s entirely possible today so FireWire is not the only option when it comes to iMacs.
Unfortunately you bought the i5 iMac which I have documented in this forum and on my blog has an inferior Ethernet controller that does not support Jumbo frames so you won\’t get the performance you really want out of the Ethernet port. I had to return my i7 27\” iMac due to dropping frames and replaced it with the 3.33 iMac. We cut prores HD via Ethernet across 7 workstations. 4 of those workstations are iMacs.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” featuring Sigourney Weaver coming soon.
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