Well, looks like I'm getting a 15" 2.33 MacBook Pro (any reason to wait)?

I'll be working with HD using FCP 5.

My real question is: Why get a SATA as opposed to the usual FW800/400? Is the throughput that much better? Are they only good for RAIDs, or in general?

I can get the Lacie 500gb fw800/400 for $249.

Can't seem to find a SATA 500gb. Any suggestions?

thanks
elmer

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Lacie eSATA

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10848

Just get a eSATA Expresscard/34

MUCH faster

As far as editing video, you probably wouldn't see any difference, however with moving files between drives, you will see a difference.

Firewire 400 = 400 Mbps
Firewire 800 = 800 Mbps
Sata = 3000 Mbps

So.... yeah.

How much of a difference you experience depends on the type and amount of viedo you'll be editing. If your editing uncompressed HD you'll definately notice a difference.

There is no such thing as a Fire Wire drive. There are IEEE1394 FW host bus adapters that converts the data from IDE drives to conform with that spec.

SATA is a real data standard like SCSI. The reason this makes a difference is that in real life FW800 is generally slower than FW400 because the drivers and chips in the HBA's are the same. Some of the FW800 RAID drivers are using TCPIP which makes the data transfer rate faster but TCPIP was designed for small packets of data which will cause the CPU to work much harder unpacking the data - which kind of defeats the purpose.

Most of the SATA RAIDs use encapsulated SCSI so the more spindles the faster the array. If your thinking of purchasing new drives go SATA.

Firewire allows for bus power ... if you need to edit on the go then bus-powered drives may be what you need ... think Lacie's Little Big Disk http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10731 or G-technology's G RAID mini http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-RAID-mini.cfm

if you will be editing near a power point then definitely go with SATA.

You'll see the benefit of an eSATA drive when you want to edit uncompressed Standard Def formats, or compressed HD formats like DVCPRO HD. Or if you want to have multiple streams of video (video images playing at the same time, like the "24" act breaks). THe faster the drives, the faster the transfer speed, the more streams you get.

And just to provide another eSATA solution or two:

www.caldigit.com
www.sonnettech.com
www.firmtek.com

Sonnet has an Express34 card for $129; Wiebetech $119.

Then Apiotek has one for $45. Anyone know anything about them?

thanks,
elmer

SATA is a real data standard like SCSI. The reason this makes a difference is that in real life FW800 is generally slower than FW400 because the drivers and chips in the HBA's are the same. Some of the FW800 RAID drivers are using TCPIP which makes the data transfer rate faster but TCPIP was designed for small packets of data which will cause the CPU to work much harder unpacking the data - which kind of defeats the purpose.

I don't know how you keep all that info in your head, but please, point me in the direction where I can learn more about this. Or don't teach me to fish and just tell me everything you know.