Dave Mac
Forum Replies Created
-
Rob,
You can download the FCP User Manual from here:
I would guess that it’ll be easier to return the entire package than to have Apple send out a partial set of manuals. You may even be able to exchange the entire package at a nearby Apple store.
-Dave
-
I would agree with Jerry’s sentiment to get the most you can in a machine.
I would also add that Final Cut Pro, and the Mac OS itself (hence pro apps too), will increasingly use more the the memory available for better and better “realtime” graphics as new versions/updates appear. It makes sense that the capabilities now primarily in Motion will spill over into the other products over time….
-Dave
-
[creatureteacher] “Slots 2, 3 and 4 are available. Slot three is a PCI express X 8 slot, wouldn’t it be better there???”
One of the changes from the “old” PowerMac G5s to the new dual-core models is the use of PCI Express slots. With the older G5s, the fastest PCI-X slot was slot 4.
With the PCIe slots in the newer G5s, the 3rd slot is the “8x” slot (fastest). For more details, check out this document from Apple:
Dual-core PowerMac G5 Technology Overview
So, slot 3 would certainly be the fastest slot. I am not sure if there would be any benefit to using this slot for the FW card. I kind of doubt it. If you are not going to use a capture card, go for it. If you will use a capture card in this Mac, it should probably go in slot 3. You’ll have to check the capture card manufacturer for more info on that.
Best regards,
Dave
-
Ben,
[ben] “they are usb2.0 enclosures.”
No one has mentioned this fact….
I would send the drive enclosures back. USB is not a good choice for working with video media files. Get an enclosure with FW400/FW800 ports. USB uses a burst protocol that is not as efficient as FireWire for transferring large files.
I am not sure why you are having trouble copying such a large file. A USB issue with the enclosure? There may also be an issue related to copying large files over USB from within the Finder.
A couple more suggestions (once you get FW enclosures):
- You may want to use Disk Utility and erase your drives with the “write zeros” security option (it will take a few hours to complete). This forces the mapping of bad blocks on the drive and helps to ensure that you are starting off with a pristine drive with no known issues.
- Using the Finder to copy and move large files is somewhat haphazard, in that the Finder doesn’t verify copies. Better to use a back-up/synchronization utility (with a copy verification ability).
- Also, with OS X 10.4, and later, the issue of journaling causing trouble is an “urban myth.” Too often, advice is given to disable journaling on media drives, but, in fact, it is only needed as a last resort when trying to eek out the last bit of performance from a disk subsystem and has nothing to do with reliable operation of FCP using journaled disks. Check out Sean Cullen’s FCP book for more info.
Best regards,
Dave
-
[lexerton] “I want to make a 5 drive SATA raid 3 using a Sonnet Fusion 500 box and mirror it with an exact same box for a sort of belts and braces security (so one can be unplugged and taken off site at the end of the day).
Is this possible with SATA?
Which disk utiliity would you use?”
I don’t know of any current software-based RAID driver that will support RAID-3. The RAID driver/setup in Apple’s Disk Utility is only supported for OS X Server installations. SoftRAID is pretty much the only other choice (for RAID-0 and RAID-1, stripe and mirror, respectively).
So, SoftRAID could be used to mirror the two Fusion 500 boxes, but you’ll need a hardware-based RAID controller PCI card to set up a RAID-3 for each box (and such a card may obviate the need for SoftRAID altogether). Sonnet’s cards provide separate ports and controllers but do not include any hardware-based RAID support. Apparently, SoftRAID is working on a new version that will support RAID-3.
Best regards,
Dave
-
debe,
From what the person said who posted this info (who knows where?), yes there are 4 separate host controllers (separate FW control chips on the card) or “buses.” I would ask the vendor for more details. That’s why the thing costs so much. Most other PCI FW cards have a single “controller/bus” (hence the price difference).
The WiebeTech cards are nice, as are many others. However, I would guess that they have only one controller/bus, so the slowest device plugged-in would affect overall speeds. Not so with the Indigita card.
As far as what FCP or the OS would see (more so, FCP) regarding having multiple decks connected and powered up, you’d have to ask someone who is doing so, or try things yourself.
The Indigita card does sound like a great piece of hardware.
-Dave
-
Ryun,
Depending on your needs, here is another, albeit more expensive, choice for a PCI-X FW card:
-
An additional bit of info (directly from Apple, via their Sales Web)….
All software updates from now on will be made to the Universal versions of the apps. The implication is that everyone will need to go first to the Universal apps before moving on to any upgrades, that is, we may not be able to upgrade FCP, etc., to FCS 2/3/etc. later on if we haven’t already upgraded/crossgraded to the Universal versions first.
-Dave
-
Actually, I was able to copy the primary install disc for both 4.5 and 5.0 to back-up DVDs. Nothing special. Used Toast. Both do mount and the installers work just fine.
So, clone your system, or just make backups of your primary install discs (which is all you send to Apple).
-Dave
-
Well said!
One of the points I was trying to make….
(not at anyone’s expense)To Varangian, if you want more info on how I “rolled my own,” check out my profile and send me a message.
-Dave