Comments

discdude wrote on 12/26/2001, 5:28 PM
For video editing, at the very least I would recommend a 7200 RPM Hard Drive of suitable size (60 GB is pretty cheap these days, i.e., less than $150).

If you have a few $$$, I would get a Promise RAID card(http://www.promise.com) and an extra HD. This setup allows you to read and write from both drives simultaneously, doubling hard drive speeds. Assuming 80GB-100GB drives, this would cost you around $400-$500.
wvg wrote on 12/26/2001, 6:27 PM
As an alternative you can pick up a Maxtor 80GB external firewire drive or similar for under $300. The advantage not only 400MBPS a minute transfer, its portable. Operates on its own AC power supply.
discdude wrote on 12/27/2001, 7:36 AM
Just to clear up a possible point of confusion. IEEE-1394 (nee Firewire or iLink) maximum transfer rate is 400 MbPS (notice the lower case "b").

Many people don't realize the difference between a lowercase "b" and an uppercase "B". A lowercase b means bits, an uppercase B means bytes. There are 8 bits in a byte.

Futhermore, communications speeds (i.e., modem speeds, serial port speeds, IEEE-1394 speeds) are measured in bits.

Hard drive speeds on the otherhand are measuered in bytes.

So 400MbPS is really 50 MBPS.
Compare this with an ATA-100 drive which has a max transfer rate of 100MBPS.

However, this is a rather moot point since most modern drives don't even approach theoreticaly maxes and all DV editing requires is a sustained transfer rate of 3.6 MBPS (not a problem for most 7200 RPM drives). Some kinds of analog editing require greater transfer rates and that is where a RAID setup has an advantage.

However, if all you do is DV editing, wvg's recommendation of a IEEE-1394 hard drive is a somewhat pricey, albeit extremely easy to install and flexible solution.
wvg wrote on 12/27/2001, 9:04 AM
Oh gosh, you don't really think anyone thinks a drive can transfer at 400MB (megabytes) a second, do ya?

ROTFLMAO. No explanation required. :-)

Couple advantages of a external firewire are it is hot swapable and portable. I take one with me wherever I go. Well almost.
rjpear wrote on 12/27/2001, 5:44 PM
Thanks..But I would probably loose the darn Firewire Drive if it wasn't nailed down..G!(but at $300+ I would keep it VERY close)...

The Promise Card ..I assume it is PCI..would that interfere with other IDE drive..subtracting from my number of IDE Drive allowed?
Thanks!
discdude wrote on 12/27/2001, 6:06 PM
Yes, the Promise card is PCI. No, it doesn't subtract from the number of drives allowed. You can still use your built in controllers.