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What do people recommend for using two HD’s at once on my MPB?
i started a project on FCP that got too big for my HD. I am now going to be finishing the project using two HD’s because I dont have the budget now for a more efficient set up.
My computer has one FW800 port, 3 USB ports and an Express 3/4 card slot where I could buy whatever I need to use an eSata connection.
Ideally, I’d use the FW800 and the USB 2.0 to edit my Pro Res 422 footage (it’s 1920×1080, 24fps). Except, from everything I’ve read online, a USB 2.0 slot will be hell for editing with. If that’s the case, would buying an adapter to use more than 1 FW800 device at once be the better idea than making my computer e-Sata compatible. Any thoughts?
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3 Replies
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[Noam Osband] “from everything I’ve read online, a USB 2.0 slot will be hell for editing”
You’ve read the right stuff.
[Noam Osband] “would buying an adapter to use more than 1 FW800 device at once be the better idea than making my computer e-Sata compatible.”
You don’t need an adapter, most FW-800 drives have two ports for daisy-chaining multiple drives together, which is done all the time.
Would that be better than eSATA? No, because eSATA has better throughput and is more robust than firewire. However, when connected via the Express slot on a laptop you lose some throughput due to the limitations of that device. So, stick with another FW-800 drive, and just make sure it has the second port as I mentioned above.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums.
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The G-tech I have been using does indeed have multiple FW 800 ports. So, you’d recommend connecting one HD to the MBP by connecting it to the other hard drive? I can imagine that can get the HD’s to act funky, but I have no idea.
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[Noam Osband] “So, you’d recommend connecting one HD to the MBP by connecting it to the other hard drive? I can imagine that can get the HD’s to act funky, but I have no idea.”
The firewire bus was designed exactly for that. It’s been used by millions of people just that way for years. The new Thunderbolt technology works the same way, only it allows you to daisy-chain hard drives, monitors, and many other components, because it’s bandwidth is substantially higher than FW.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums.
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