An Apple store employee suggested that I install an internal SATA drive as a scratch disk, instead of purchasing another external drive.

I was at the store to purchase another ext. drive. He suggested buying the SATA, and then when I start filling it up to go ahead and buy another ext. drive to move the files to.

What are some opinions on this idea? Anyone currently doing it? Brand suggestions?

I edit HDV. I capture native, and export AIC.

Thanks!

Any internal SATA drive will be faster than a FireWire or USB drive. It's a good recommendation. HDV runs well below the speed capacity of modern hard drives - even below most SD codecs. As far as brand preference goes, I generally like Seagates the best. The only feature you're going to lose is portability.

Thank you Eric.

I would agree with Eric.
HDV is 25 mbps, Firewire is 400 or 800 mbps depending on the type, and SATA is 1.5 or 3.0 gbps depending on type.
I would highly recommend the internal drive if you have an open drive bay. It will give you the option to work with higher data rate footage in the future.

I can't speak on the specific drive speeds but I have been using a firewire 800 drive as a scratch disk (editing HDV footage regularly) and have never had an issue.

I do export to a second internal SATA drive when I put something on a tape. So maybe you shouldn't base your decision on my experience.

Keep in mind you can also buy external cases now that support eSATA interface. I have my original iMac 160gb drive in one such case. You have to buy a SATA interface board for your Powermac but those are pretty cheap these days. The external case typically also offers USB2 and/or FW connectivity so you can reap the benefit of high speed data transfer on your own system while maintaining portabilty with other systems using USB2 or FW.

-gb-