So I'm gonna buy an external hard drive.
 

Here's my deal.

My film class provides me with a couple terabytes of free space on an internal campus server that can be accessed at any of our G5's.

The problem is that when editing with FCP when the files are on the server, it lags and doesn't capture correctly, so I am forced to transfer it all to the local HD of the mac I'm using, then transfer it back when I'm done.

Needless to say this takes about an hour each way. (1 hour = 10 GB of video and files)


SO, i want to buy an external hard drive so i can just save everything from it.

Any suggestions on a good cheap external HD that will get my job done? I probably don't need anything over 40 GB.

Thanks,

mike

Least hassle would be to get a Lacie drive (the non-RAIDed versions... 250GB or below) from newegg.com (if you live in the states).

You can go cheaper by putting together a firewire drive yourself...
Get an 3.5inch (not 2.5) firewire enclosure with the Oxford 911 chipset.
Bytecc enclosures: Only the models that end is "0f" (for firewire only) have this chipset. The USB2/firewire drives use the prolific chipset, which has given me problems with PC.

Hard drive: This shouldn't make a difference. Anything above 300gb you should research beforehand.

Some people report dropped frames when capturing to firewire drives, so it may not necessarily work 100%. Maybe ask your professors or classmates with firewire drive experience and get what they have.

USB drives may also work, although the interface is slower in real world performance (and faster on paper).

I just bought a Lacie Firewire 400 , 160 gig hard drive for around a buck a gig.
I use it to transfer files back and forth from work- and its pretty fast and reliable so far.
I recommend them.

Jeff Patnaude

I just got a Lacie 500 gig FW800 drive and it's great with a G4 and fcp. We also have a home built drive with a firewire 800 enclosure from tomatochip.com
A good inexpensive source for external drives is compuplus.com

I have a G4 dual 1.25 and am looking at an xternal HD, the LaCie 450 to be exact.
My Firespeed is 400 and have been told by the MAC service tech we have (certified) that there is no way he is gonna install an 800 card/bus/whatever in the G4.
He said he has seen many problems with getting the connection to function properly after such installs.
Any thoughts?

Why not just use a firewire 400 drive? I have 6 which I use for editing and don't have any problems.

Gary,
that's good to know. Actually, I got the FW 800 only because my g4 laptop has a fw800 port and I figure my next desktop will probably have a fw 800. I'd be interested to know if that's really a problem.

For $230 (after rebate) you can get a 300 gb Maxtor One Touch II from Best Buy. Check out the onetouch II review over on cnet.com . They rate it the fastest external HD and it's Firewire 400 / USB 2 and is ready to be daisy chained, for Mac or PC. It's the one I plan to purchase most likely later this week when this new project arrives...

external drive...
 

Yes, you could go with a 400 or a USB or an 800...but why not get all of these in one unit... the LaCie d2 Hard Drive Extreme w/ triple interface. That way, while you may not use it now...the 800 will be your next step for speed (still at about a buck a gig).
But, Boyd is quite correct...you'll probably not have any issues w/ 400's and they are more moderately priced. I have one, an 80 gig LaCie, (again) for backups and it is quite fast enough...today. But, I use two 250 "triples," (I use the 800 FW) for media storage and they are quiet, quick and consummately elegant.

i had a maxtor 160g and when it crapped out, i did a bit of research on external drives. i read many, many bad things about maxtor. so i bought a LaCie d2 Hard Drive Extreme. i paid 399 at J&R for a 500g drive. i'm very happy with it. LaCie is the way to go, their drives get great reviews.

<<<-- Originally posted by Kiko Mera : i had a maxtor 160g and when it crapped out, i did a bit of research on external drives. i read many, many bad things about maxtor. so i bought a LaCie d2 Hard Drive Extreme. i paid 399 at J&R for a 500g drive. i'm very happy with it. LaCie is the way to go, their drives get great reviews. -->>>

That's interesting Kiko. It just goes to show that it depends on where you read the reviews. I saw the same review that Bryan saw over at CNet regarding the One Touch. The main complaint is heat build up. You have to keep those puppies cool if you're going to run them hard. On the other hand, while researching other drives myself, I saw many less than favorable comments from users about the LaCie drives. I was very surprised as I thought they were of high quality.

My personal feelings are that many different mfrs. rush to market with designs that haven't been thoroughly tested for reliability in their quest to one-up the other guys. Especially true in the technology sector.

-gb-