Can I go on the road with eSATA?

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

Can I go on the road with eSATA?

Posted by Bill Bilowit on July 13, 2007 at 1:04 am

Going on the road with HVX200 to shoot shorts in DVCPROHD 1080. Must do basic editing with modest doses of color correction and transitions.

I have a trusty 1GHZ G4 15″ PowerBook w/ FCP 5.1.4 and assorted LaCie FW drives. I already use it for offloading P2 cards to FW, from that to edit room RAID.

If I buy an eSATA external drive, eSATA PC card adapter and proper cable, could I actually manage 1080 work on the road?

Imagined workflow–
Shoot HVX200 1080, offload P2 card media to FW external via G4 PowerBook, insert SeriTek/1SM2 PC Card, plug in LaCie Two Big eSATA 2TB drive, copy P2 media FW to eSATA (FW becomes b/u archive), launch FCP 5.1.4, import and edit.

Yes, soon will upgrade to Mac Book Pro / FCP6 system for road work, but not affordable right now.

Rj Miles replied 18 years, 10 months ago 3 Members · 7 Replies
7 Replies

Shane Ross
July 13, 2007 at 3:23 am

I use my CalDigit S2VR Duo on the road. Express 32 eSATA card and my MBP. Works great.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net
Bill Bilowit
July 13, 2007 at 4:02 am

Thanks, Shane, that’s enouraging… my G4 PowerBook is 1GHZ; yours?
Shane Ross
July 13, 2007 at 4:35 am

Well, I started out with a 1.67 Ghz G4 Powerbook….and only recently moved up to a MBP. But it took quite a bit of hunting to find a PCMCIA eSATA card. I hope they still make them.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net
Bill Bilowit
July 13, 2007 at 4:52 am

Which PCMCIA eSATA card do you have for your PowerBook G4? As far as I can tell there is one:

https://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1sm2/

And maybe this one, although I’m not sure it can be used with just any eSATA drive:

https://www.macgurus.com/productpages/sata/LYCeSATA-2CB.php
Shane Ross
July 13, 2007 at 5:05 am

Go with the MacGurus one. That one has port multiplication which means it will connect to the newer enclosures.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net
Bill Bilowit
July 13, 2007 at 5:10 am

Thanks for the input, or in this case, throughput.
Rj Miles
July 13, 2007 at 4:44 pm

Shane…

How do you like the MBP?

I ask because I can’t decide between a 2.4ghz 17″ MBP or Mac Pro 3.0ghz (2) dual core for my home office and occasional location location use.

I’m just wondering if you have noticed performance compromises with the MBP when working with FCP?

I know my AE render times would definitely be faster with a Mac Pro.

Thanks

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