Will this drive work? at DVinfo.net

Howard Churgin · June 17th, 2009, 04:46 AM

I am looking for a new external drive for HDV capturing and editing. I am looking at the Western Digital 2tb My Book Studio edition II Quad Interface. I want to use it with a USB 2.0 connection. Will it be able to keep up with HDV capturing? Does anyone use this drive? Any other suggestions? I really want to use a usb 2.0 connection because the camera will connect to my firewire 400 port and I have found over the years that I can not share it successfully during capture. Also Adobe products do not like sharing ports on the same card.

Western Digital | 2TB My Book Studio Edition II | WDH2Q20000N

Allan Black · June 17th, 2009, 06:13 AM

Howard, I've got that WD 2TB external drive. It's 2 1TB drives in the one tin. Mine is configured as RAID 1 (it mirrors the files to the 2nd drive) running on FW800. So I've got backup in case a drive dies.

I've now got 260GB of archival files stored and I don't think USB2 will work once you get many files stored. Could be wrong but I think it'll be too slow.

One thing that did happen, a file got corrupted on one of the drives. Then when I powered the system up, it announced it was taking over and rebuilt the whole suspect drive. Took 22hours straight.

I don't like WDs software either, IMO they have too 'many' models, the software update site is a jungle of clicks, links and wonder.

Cheers.

Howard Churgin · June 17th, 2009, 06:47 AM

Would you suggest installing an e sata card in the computer and using the e sata cable for the drive? Would this give me the best results? I see the e sata cards are inexpensive.

Allan Black · June 17th, 2009, 06:59 AM

By all reports yes, but don't quote me I'm not certain.

BTW I think we're in the wrong forum. Pickup your skirts I hear the posting police coming.

Cheers.

Robert M Wright · June 17th, 2009, 07:36 AM

I've used USB external drives with my old laptop, to record live DV and HDV. It can work, but you are skating on fairly thin ice to do it. Make sure the hard drive is defragged, and you don't want to be running other apps (especially anything that accesses the disk) while capturing.

I'm not a fan of pre-built external drives. They tend not to be very well designed to keep the drives cool. I suggest getting drives that are known to run cool (some Hitachi drives are good for this) and put them in external enclosures that have good fans built in. Newegg sells some generic ("Rosewill") enclosures with 80mm fans, that cool the drives quite well.

Jim Miller · June 19th, 2009, 06:26 PM

Get an e-sata card and plug the drive into that. It will be the same speed as your internal drive. Much faster than usb 2.0 or firewire

Don Xaliman · June 19th, 2009, 07:37 PM

I am just recovering from a data dilemma related to failing Seagate Barracuda drives. I chose to replace them with two WD Caviar Black 1 TB in an external enclosure with RAID 1 redundancy. Now I feel safer :)
I have installed an e-SATA PCIe card that allows for two outputs. Nexstar Welcome to Vantec ? Leading Brand of Storage, Thermal, and Mobile Accessories!
make a variety of cards that allow for multiple eSATA, Firewire 400/800 and USB outputs.
I am just about to try out the eSATA x2 output model. It promises great speed and redundancy.
It's always possible to add more Firewire ports.

June 17th, 2009, 04:46 AM	#1
Howard Churgin Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Marlboro, NJ Posts: 85	Will this drive work? I am looking for a new external drive for HDV capturing and editing. I am looking at the Western Digital 2tb My Book Studio edition II Quad Interface. I want to use it with a USB 2.0 connection. Will it be able to keep up with HDV capturing? Does anyone use this drive? Any other suggestions? I really want to use a usb 2.0 connection because the camera will connect to my firewire 400 port and I have found over the years that I can not share it successfully during capture. Also Adobe products do not like sharing ports on the same card. Western Digital \| 2TB My Book Studio Edition II \| WDH2Q20000N

June 17th, 2009, 06:13 AM	#2
Allan Black Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney. Posts: 2,887	Howard, I've got that WD 2TB external drive. It's 2 1TB drives in the one tin. Mine is configured as RAID 1 (it mirrors the files to the 2nd drive) running on FW800. So I've got backup in case a drive dies. I've now got 260GB of archival files stored and I don't think USB2 will work once you get many files stored. Could be wrong but I think it'll be too slow. One thing that did happen, a file got corrupted on one of the drives. Then when I powered the system up, it announced it was taking over and rebuilt the whole suspect drive. Took 22hours straight. I don't like WDs software either, IMO they have too 'many' models, the software update site is a jungle of clicks, links and wonder. Cheers. Last edited by Allan Black; June 17th, 2009 at 02:56 PM. Reason: added 'many'

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June 17th, 2009, 06:47 AM	#3
Howard Churgin Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Marlboro, NJ Posts: 85	Would you suggest installing an e sata card in the computer and using the e sata cable for the drive? Would this give me the best results? I see the e sata cards are inexpensive.

June 17th, 2009, 06:59 AM	#4
Allan Black Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney. Posts: 2,887	By all reports yes, but don't quote me I'm not certain. BTW I think we're in the wrong forum. Pickup your skirts I hear the posting police coming. Cheers.

June 17th, 2009, 07:36 AM	#5
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	I've used USB external drives with my old laptop, to record live DV and HDV. It can work, but you are skating on fairly thin ice to do it. Make sure the hard drive is defragged, and you don't want to be running other apps (especially anything that accesses the disk) while capturing. I'm not a fan of pre-built external drives. They tend not to be very well designed to keep the drives cool. I suggest getting drives that are known to run cool (some Hitachi drives are good for this) and put them in external enclosures that have good fans built in. Newegg sells some generic ("Rosewill") enclosures with 80mm fans, that cool the drives quite well.

June 19th, 2009, 06:26 PM	#6
Jim Miller Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tampa,Florida Posts: 236	Get an e-sata card and plug the drive into that. It will be the same speed as your internal drive. Much faster than usb 2.0 or firewire

June 19th, 2009, 07:37 PM	#7
Don Xaliman Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Vancouver BC Posts: 96	I am just recovering from a data dilemma related to failing Seagate Barracuda drives. I chose to replace them with two WD Caviar Black 1 TB in an external enclosure with RAID 1 redundancy. Now I feel safer :) I have installed an e-SATA PCIe card that allows for two outputs. Nexstar Welcome to Vantec ? Leading Brand of Storage, Thermal, and Mobile Accessories! make a variety of cards that allow for multiple eSATA, Firewire 400/800 and USB outputs. I am just about to try out the eSATA x2 output model. It promises great speed and redundancy. It's always possible to add more Firewire ports.