Can FS-4HD Pro or DR-HD100 record directly to an external firewire drive?

What is the largest internal drive they can be upgraded to?

Yes you can play DV or HDV files and record it with a Firewire device like a Digital Video recorder.

Just got this from Focus support, about recording directly to an external drive -

1) This may be possible, but the firestore would have to be controlled manually.
Possible steps to use
1) Connect both unit via Firewire.
2) Turn the firestore "On".
3) Press the LEFT arrow key on the firestore.
4) Select LOCAL.
5) Press the RIGHT arrow key on the firestore. (This should take you back to the homescreen.)
6) Press the RECORD button. (The firestore may be running. As long as the formats match.--ie DV or HD)

I still have to test this, but don't have an FS-4HD Pro or DR-HD100 here to test with at the moment.

Your original message was 'to' an external Firewire device. So I'm a bit confused now that Focus is telling you to Record on the DR-HD100.
Anyway, yes I have been Playing media from my DR-HD100 and recorded it into a Sony DHR-1000NP Digital Video recorder (SD) in DV format.
I'm sure it will work with an HDV recorder aswell in HDV.
I also manually recorded with my DR-HD100 DV-signal on Firewire coming from a Canupus ADVC100.

If you would mean copying files from the DR-HD100 as digital files to an external Firewire, no then you need a computer in between to transfer the footage as files.

Your original message was 'to' an external Firewire device. So I'm a bit confused now that Focus is telling you to Record on the DR-HD100.

Yes, the request is to record directly to an external firewire HDD, not to the internal drive in the Firestore. To go from camera, through the Firestore and record on an external firewire drive on location like the old FS-1 units.

The client wants to supply the external firewire drives for a multi-day, multi-camera shoot, using multiple Firestore units, then take the drives back to edit at the end of each day, replacing them with fresh drives for the next day. We will be shooting with 3 or 4 cameras and Firestores.

This is to eliminate hanging around for an extra 2 hours each evening to transfer 10 hours of data from each Firestore to client drives.

It looks like the solution proposed by support may work, it just hasn't been tested yet. If this records to both drives (mirror) that would be OK. If the external drive just gives overflow capacity, not OK and I'll need to find FS1s for the project.

If anybody already knows how this works out, it would be great to know.

So you are simply using the Firestore as a pass-through device to digitize the video to the hard drives (correct?)
You can do the same thing using a MacBook outputting to each drive. Not as portable as Firestores but you are tethered to the hard drives anyway so already limited in mobility. I've found the reliability (no dropped frames etc..) is better using this method.

there are several devices acting like the firestore with removable drives.(you mentioned the FS1, but i do not know if it still available). None offers a great portability in the field. (lots of battery will be required)
i do not think the firestore is able to drive anything else than its own disk.
on the other hand, recording 10 hours per day on several cam sounds like a lot of footage that will be never seen or edited, so why not store it on tape directly ?
What do they need to capture that requires full lenght recording and after shoot decision ?
If they are afraid to miss something, can retrocapture help ?
tape is more reliable than HDD when a lot of handling is involved. Renting DV tape drives (not miniDV but the big ones) and using DVCAM tape can give you more than 4hours per tape.

I will have a DR-HD100 today, so I will be testing on Monday.

I have an FS-1 and (2) DR-HD100's available, so (3) MacBooks with FCP is not my first choice.

The project is to cover three days of a national conference for a corporate client. They want to capture every word of every presentation for three long days, with a single camera in each of three rooms. So - up to 10 hours of uninterrupted recording is the goal.

They plan to make the entire conference, uncut, available on a library of DVDs for those who could not attend.

Thanks for the comments. I was just wondering if anyone had tested this loop-through recording method. Focus support said it should work.