usb drives : are they okay for video streaming ?

sirbellog wrote on 5/8/2005, 8:14 AM

I have a couple of 7200 rpm 80Gb ide drives currently unused, (no more room for them inside my PC).
So, I consider purchasing one of those boxes which accomodate ide drives and allow to plug them into the PC via usb2 or firewire.
Just wanted to know if some people here successfully use that kind of thing for streaming their video material when editing with Vegas.
Thanks in advance !

Comments

John_Cline wrote on 5/8/2005, 8:28 AM

Either USB2 or Firewire will work fine. Firewire is preferable because it requires less CPU horsepower than does USB2.

John

sirbellog wrote on 5/8/2005, 8:59 AM

Thanks John,
Just what I needed to know !
I was unaware of usb being more hungry than firewire...
anyway, I have both options on my machine, so.... let's go for IEE1394.

Laurence wrote on 5/9/2005, 12:34 PM

Firewire is theoretically better, but on my system at least, it's hard to tell any difference. BothUSB2 and Firewrie seem to work equally well.

Jayson H. wrote on 5/9/2005, 3:35 PM

Also, if you have data going from one device to another (for example, DV cam to HD or HD to DVD Writer), I think it's beneficial to put them on separate interfaces because it allows the data not to fight for the same bandwidth. For example, I have a DV camcorder that connects via firewire, and a hard disk that connects via USB, and a DVD writer that connects via fireware. So, capturing video from camera to HD uses two interfaces, and writing from HD to DVD also uses 2 interfaces. If your equipment allows you to use firewire or USB (some devices support either connection), you might keep this in mind.

-Jayson