[Jonathan Buck]

To answer my own question the computer already initialized the disc, but didn’t allow me to format it since I had a blue line, not a black line of unallocated space. To fix this I simply right clicked on the black line, clicked delete volume, then I right clicked again once the black bar appeared, allowing me to create a partition (in my case two in the same drive.) Hope this helps anyone else struggling.

[Jonathan Buck]

Thanks! It seems like PC’s are fine with RAID’s up to about 2TB but after that their OS seem to get confused. Found a Western Digital one which is affordable and 2TB, I only really need 2TB until I get a Mac this year anyway. Cheers!

[Jonathan Buck]

Thanks for all the help guys! I’m currently in the process of buying a RAID…only thing is they all seem formatted for Macs. Is it actually worth getting a RAID for PC and if so which ones are suited for it?

[Jonathan Buck]

Thanks for the response Joseph, this bit of kit looks ideal. There’s only one thing that I can’t seem to find any info on which is a bit of a concern, which is of it covers the hot shoe as well, doesn’t that prevent me from attaching my mini-LED lights to the camera? This is a deal breaker since its being used to shoot video in a dark nightclub.

[Jonathan Buck]

Hi Ryan, so does that mean I can still effectively use my current HD and add it to the RAID?

[Jonathan Buck]

Hi Ryan, thanks again for the extremely thorough and helpful advice. I’m saving up for a new machine for the new year and will take all your suggestions into account before I purchase anything.

One last question, I’m not that familiar with RAID’s. From what I understand its a way for the system to recognize several external HD’s as one which improves both performance and storage. If thats correct, does that mean I can hook my existing ext HD up to it and then add more or does it already contain several HD’s when I purchase it? Which type of RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1 etc)do I require?

Thanks again for all your help. – J

[Jonathan Buck]

Hi Ryan,

Thanks very much for the detailed response.

1) Is there a card I can get that would noticeably improve performance?
2)I did buy CS5 at one point but it had some odd problems crashing on this OS for some reason so I ended up switching back. Is it really worth moving to it?
3)Guess there’s not much I can do about the RAM till I upgrade to a new computer.
4 & 5) Until recently I was grabbing footage from my external HD which was pretty full. Recently though I’ve started grabbing it from my C Drive which is considerably less full, though it is over the halfway point so that likely isn’t helping. Guess I should consider getting another larger ext. HD. I though one terabyte would be enough! How wrong I was.

Cheers – J

[Jonathan Buck]

Right, so if for example I had one scene that faded to black, it would be better to either nest that isn’t a sequence and had dissolve our all the layers at once, or if I was dissolving to another image I could either nest or put the next image on top and dissolve that in. Either way whenever there is a fade to black it should always be to black video and not to a gap ‘void’ in the timeline.

[Jonathan Buck]

*Greg

[Jonathan Buck]

So what you’re saying Tulsa is that its better to nest the different layers to create the dissolve or fade out to the black video, rather than just using a transition. Presumably this is because the effect produced is more organic?