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External Storage
  • davhardavhar
    I'm new to this digital universe of HD and my beautiful little GH2 has forced me to shoot and shoot until I've sucked up my 1T hard drive and so, obviously, at the risk of getting sucked into the infernal vortex of some kind of Stonebat Syndrome I'm in the needy mode of buying gear. I.E.- I need an external drive to safely store and quickly provide me with said footage to edit on my Imac. So I'm looking for advice on which company and model to buy. Thanks guys.
  • 16 Replies sorted by
  • PsycoPsyco
    I have a Lacie quadra 500GB external harddrive sitting on top of my MacPro and its doing quite well. Be sure to get fast connections - mine has not only USB 2.0 and Firewire400, but also Firewire800 and eSATA (I'm using it with FW800). Its not that expensive and as far as I know you can even open the housing and change the harddisc.
  • telesterictelesteric
    i have 2 of this and several harddisks

    http://www.pccomponentes.com/sharkoon_sata_quickport_duo_usb3_0_v2.html

    they have usb3 so not very fast for editing but i only use them for storage.
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    @davhar

    Search gear category for my solutions.
    I use USB 3.0 dock and also Acer server with 4 bays for 2Tb drives.
  • stoneystoney
    @davhar your iMac could have two internal 2TB drives. Internal bus speed is the fastest.
  • davhardavhar
    @ stonebat

    Really? It's last years model 27" core duo. I'll check on that. Is that the "supported hardware raid device" that info tells me my system doesn't have? I'll phone the shop tomorrow. Obviously internal would be faster than going thru firewire…and if it can be put in then it can be pulled out if my little miss imac has a bad period or whatever and wants to cut me off.
  • stoneystoney
    You'd need to remove the optical drive to install 2nd hard drive. Then you can put the optical drive into enclosure with USB connected to iMac. I don't have iMac. Google about it. But this will void the warranty. So you gotta undo it before taking it to Apple shop if you must. My MBP warranty expired. I will install 2nd harddrive like that.
  • davhardavhar
    Thanks for the info but I'm not tech saavy enough to loose a years warranty on taking a chance. Think I'll opt for an external once I know which one I can afford to take a chance on. Hmm
  • DrDaveDrDave
    Thanks for the recommendation Vitaliy--I picked up a USB dock on eBay. Hoping it will hot swap drives with no puff of smoke.
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    @DrDave

    I can tell you one good advice.
    Do not hot swap SATA drives frequently.
    Do it only if they are inside special bays with special connectors.
  • mrmukkemrmukke
    i'm recently using this one:
    http://www.inxtron-shop.de/macpower-inxtron-md4-super-s-combo-sata-esata-fw-usb-2-0-md4-safba5u2oa.html

    4x 3tb Seagate AS-Series HDDs by eSATA in raid 5. no problems at all so far ;)
  • davhardavhar
    What do people think about Seagate, Western Digital, LaCie and G-technology? They're in the shops around here. Any thoughts and/or experiences with any of them? I've got to buy me something for my imac that I can trust. And what about Raid 0 vs Raid 1? One is faster and the other safer, correct? One mirrors a back up and the other makes you gasp at how quick it is. So its 2TB and speedy while the other is just 1TBx2 but as safe as an accountant. Correct? Just learning here…

    But as MP said- being an accountant is dull, boring and dull, dull, dull. I wannabe a lion tamer!
  • fdairafdaira

    G-Technology and LaCie are trusted brands for Macs. You have to shop Firewire 800 using a Mac you save up CPU and it's faster than USB 2. I don't like any WD Book Studio when the disk is not use they go to sleep to save power but it takes 3 to 5s to get up and it's noisy. That's my opinion. I strongly suggest Raid 1 (mirroring) so it's a little bit safer.When Writing you have only the speed of 1 disk but reading will be twice the speed of 1 disk. It's just a matter of availability. If you wanna be a lion tamer, you have to take a Raid5 with a minimum of 4 disk, you can afford to lose 2 disk at the same time and good performance. The Acer Server is a good choice if you are looking for something simple to use. I hope you have your answers.

  • dirquedirque

    I recommend synology NAS kits to my consulting clients. Preferably with a 4 drive bay set-up. In the long run, you'll thank me.

  • everoevero

    I find external HDs often being a bottleneck, so put a little money into a modern interface. I bought the Lacie quadra 3TB with USB3/esata/FW800. It's nice with a disk with fast connections for both PCs and mac.

  • No_SuRReNDeRNo_SuRReNDeR

    I have a 2TB G-Raid with an E-Sata connector and E-Sata card for my MBP.... works frickin awesome virtually same speed connection as an internal drive and looks nice too shiny brushed metal, you would think apple made them if you didnt know better. :)

  • davhardavhar

    I ended up buying a 2TB G Technology with 800 firewire for my imac. Seems a good start to me. Perhaps the next one I get will be a G-Raid when I start shooting 'important' stuff that must not get lost. Question- when editing should I be ejecting it and shutting down FCPX when not using or just let them sleep overnight? What's easier on it?

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