Inspiron external hard drives?

DGrob wrote on 1/4/2003, 10:40 AM
Will be upgrading to VV soon. While I'm at it I thought I'd add a 7200rpm external hard drive to my Dell Inspiron 8200 XP. Given that I've seen many comments about the advisability of leaving my OS on internal drive and doing all else video-wise on another, does anyone have any comments or recommendations? Given that I'll use my single IEEE port for PTT on my miniDV, what about USB or network port connectability? And so on, and so forth. Not much on the Dell forems. Grob

Comments

Grazie wrote on 1/4/2003, 12:19 PM
Hiyah - Grazie here with the 4 external firewire MAXTOR drives!!!!

I use the exsisiting Dell 1394 Video Qualified 4-pin port for nothing more than getting video in and out of the Inspiron 8k - yeah? If I use the externals it's a bit of a pig.

Okay, I also have a MAXTOR PCMCIA firewire card giving me 2x firewire 6-pin connections - still with me? Okay - this is what I do:

1 - Video in/out through the 4-pin Dell 1394 port - yes?

2 - Have first MAXTOR 60gb hd connected to one of the PCMCIA FIREWIRE 6-pin ports

3 - COnnect second MAXTOR 80gb hd daisy-chained to First MAXTOR drive

4 - COnnect third MAXTOR 120gb hd daisy-chained to second MAXTOR drive

5 - COnnect fourth MAXTOR 120gb hd daisy-chained to third MAXTOR drive

YUP - easy init! Yeah right! AND Grob we have the fan/s isssues as well - oooh fun fun fun!

Now then - I run WinME - not XP. Soooo take it from this perspective - yeah?

I've run and run VF very well - okay. I've just upgraded to Vegas Video and it appears to be holding together.

Oh yes - I don't know if this happens in XP, but in WinME I have to "connect" my 4 drives in the same strict connection procedure everytime. WinME will NOT give the 4 drives the letters I would have used in a previous session. Soooo . . . I've actually stuck sticky labels on each plug with the letters "F:" "G:" "H:" "I:" . Are you put off yet? No . . Phew!

I've been told to forget about USB 1.1 ports - maybe the newer USB 2.0 should have a faster rate. But again, I haven't seen or read anything about capturing via the new USBs - sooo I can't say Grob.

Well now . . I have started to think about networked options - but this is really at the edge of my limited IT experience - soooo maybe others would chip in here.

I hope this has been helpful,

Grazie
DGrob wrote on 1/4/2003, 6:23 PM
Whew, well done Grazie. 380gbs external! So, VV resides with the OS on the internal drive and the factory 4-pin 1394 gets your DV in and out. The MAXTOR 6-pin then accesses your external(s) for storage exclusively??? So, PTT routes from an external through the internal OS, and out to camcorder, or whatever?

I mirror your reservations about USB, but it was mentioned to me as an option locally. Networked externals, haven't a clue. Anyone else out there?

Grazie, I remain in your debt. Great input. Thanks, Grob
Grazie wrote on 1/4/2003, 7:06 PM
It's a pleasure - You got my set-up in one. Yup, like you don't no anthing 'bout networks - Although I believe you and I have a network card/port on the rear of the Insipron - hmmmmm.... ;)

Grazie
DGrob wrote on 1/6/2003, 3:10 PM
Been mucking about w Dell et al. Turns out all Dells ship with USB 1.1 since Intel hasn't got theirs together yet. FYI, USB 2.0 is 40X faster thank 1.1, apparently up around 1.2X faster than even firewire when it comes to data transfer rate. What a sweet option that would be. There are cards out there, but I'm reluctant since I haven't seen any positive posts that apply to our uses. Looks like a new firewire card and 120GB external for me. First the hardware in and up. Then the VV upgrade goes in. Why are my hands shaking? What's with this nervous tick in my left eye? The suspense is slowly building...
Grazie wrote on 1/6/2003, 3:27 PM
Hah! hah! - "What's with this nervous tick in my left eye?" Do you remember the Inspector from the Pink Panther series with Peter Sellers as Cleuseau [apologies for spelling Pete!] - I think it was Herbert Lom - Maybe you're just very, very excited n'est pas mon brave?

You wait till you've got the whole rig, straining a the bit - it will be too much! I've just been out shooting with my Canopn XM2 today in beautiful crisp blue-skied weather - fab!

Hope to get a "quick 'n dirty" Vegas edit up on Chienworks site soooon!

Oh the other thing - getting back to Dell and Inspies - Did I mention I use the Dell Qualified 4-pin port for the video in/out? I've found this to be the weay to go for me. Trying the firewire direct video in/out caused a bit of a problem.

The USB 2 thing I've yet to see tried and tested with video. Had enough trouble with getting a tried and tested technology called firewire to start all that again - yes?

Good to hear from again Grob, good luck,

Grazie