Laptop workflow
 

I'm trying to figure out a laptop workflow using Cineform that will minimize disk space usage. I can successfully edit native 7D files in my timeline right off the 5400 RPM OS drive, which is surprising, though there are sometimes little hiccups getting the timeline playback started (takes a few seconds to respond once in a while).

If I convert to high quality Cineform first before importing assets, disk space gets quickly burned. It appears to be roughly 2.5x the size of the original. This won't work for me, I need it to be as close to the original size as possible. Converting to low is ideal as far as file size goes, as it's only slightly larger than the original. My concern is the quality of the low setting. I would not like to have to carry originals AND cineform converted, so is it ok to convert to cineform low, then delete the originals, then convert the low version to high? Is there any loss happening? Is the low version a better source than the original or at least equal?

If that isn't possible, is it possible to just edit the native clips on the timeline, then move to Cineform high quality once I bring everything home to the main editing workstation? What would the workflow for this be? I attempted to wrap my conversion as a MOV file to test relinking the missing 7D native files to Cineform .MOV files, but HDLink errored out on me. Not sure if that has anything to do with not being able to do that on a PC or if that's an actual issue with my installation.

Any help is greatly appreciated.