External HDD from PC to MAC...

jrazz wrote on 9/26/2007, 1:42 PM
I have some footage I am going to capture to an external drive in HDV (M2T files). I will capture either using HDV Split or Vegas. This footage will be handed over to another person who will edit it on a Final Cut Express HD machine.

My question: If I captuer this footage on a NTSF or FAT 32 external drive, will the MAC user be able to "see" the files and utilize them off the hard drive?

j razz

Comments

farss wrote on 9/26/2007, 1:45 PM
The lastest OSX can mount both FAT32 and NTFS volumes.
FCP will not handle the m2t files.
Think they need to be run through Slipstream on the Mac.
Just be warned that's a one way street though.

Bob.
Stuart Robinson wrote on 9/26/2007, 1:51 PM
Depends on the Mac OS version. From OS X onwards, Macs can read NTFS volumes, and supposedly from 10.3.5 they also have some write abilities. I've read about lots of problems with the latter though, so for the sake of data integrity, the files are best copied to the Mac for manipulation.

Remember that the file structure limits of FAT 32 will always apply, so if your files are larger than 4GB or the volume itself larger than 137GB, you'll have to use NTFS.
jrazz wrote on 9/26/2007, 1:58 PM
Yeah, I've read about and previously experienced the limits of FAT 32. But, I have an external 500 gig Hitachi drive that is USB2 and shows up as being formatted in FAT 32. Did something change?

Bob, thanks for the information on slipstream. If I mention this to this guy, should he know what I am talking about? If he doesn't, where should I point him to pick up this utility?

j razz
Jay M wrote on 9/26/2007, 2:16 PM
There is a program called MacDrive that a friend of mine uses so Windows can see mac hard drives. That might be helpful to have when you are working with Mac people.

Working with video files in FAT32 would be very frustrating if the file size is limited.

~Jay
farss wrote on 9/26/2007, 2:25 PM
My bad, wrong name. Should have said Streamclip:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html

I've seen it used on file from the HD60, works. Just be warned getting the files back from the Mac is pretty well impossible.

Bob.
Cheno wrote on 9/26/2007, 2:45 PM
MpegStreamclip is actually a pretty nice program. Will work fine for the conversion - Ideally if it were me, I'd prefer to capture the tape into FCP myself and capture to an intermediate rather than have to do the conversion in MpegStreamclip. If HDD is the only option, MpegStreamclip will work fine - it's free and the Apple MPEG-2 add on is only about $20 and worth the price if you're going ot be doing much if this back / forth thing.

-cheno
jrazz wrote on 9/26/2007, 3:08 PM
There may be more in the future, but right now, this guy has no way of capturing HDV as his tv station does not have a deck or a camera. So, if we were to capture straight to his system, it would be from one of my cams. What I would rather do is capture via my pc and copy the footage onto another drive to give him as I think that would be easiest and the tapes would only have to be ran over the heads 1 time for playback instead of two times.

Anybody know if anything changed regarding FAT32 or is my Hitachi external reporting wrong? (I've used two of these so far and both report FAT32 and they are both 500 gigs).

j razz
Laurence wrote on 9/26/2007, 3:09 PM
Neo HDV will work with both Macs and PCs at this point. If the Mac guy doesn't have Neo but you do, you probably will be able to do m2t or .avi conversion to mov Cineform, and he could use the player software to work with the Cineform mov. clips, rendering into one of the regular FCP mov formats for his final render.
Stuart Robinson wrote on 9/26/2007, 3:51 PM
"Anybody know if anything changed regarding FAT32 or is my Hitachi external reporting wrong?"

If it helps any, I saw this thread the other day, coincidentally on the Apple forum:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1065556

Evidentially some hit a limit, others do not. I suppose you could try filling up the drive to see what happens. NTFS seems like the only reliable option.