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External Hard Drives (1 Viewer)

Chris-C

Stunt Coordinator
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Dec 7, 1998
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Well having read the thread below i'm a little hesitant to attempt this,but I feel I need an external HD for my laptop to process video (converting SVHS to DVD).

The video program I use even mentions using an external HD.

Saw an Maxtor 80G at Best Buy-do you think this is a good idea???
Or will i screw up my new laptop?

Regards

CC
 

NickSo

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If you're worried about an external drive screwing up your laptop? If so how do you think it could damage your laptop?

Though I have no experience with external HD's, i see no reason the HD could damage your notebook. It basically plugs into your notebook via firewire or USB2.0, and power is provided usually by an AC Adaptor. Nothing risky in the connection...

There may be something im overlooking, however, so take my advice with a grain of salt (I never knew how the hell this saying works... Grain of salt? Meh, whatever, i know how its used though)
 

Ken Scott

Agent
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Oct 27, 2003
Messages
25
ya nickso's right. theres almost nothing that modifies your laptop whatsoever. and thats if, and only if your OS doesnt happened to have a driver for the specific drive you get. and if you have win XP you'll have a 99.99999998% chance your laptop will recognise it. i left that .00000002% just incase through a miracle im wrong.

if you haven't got the drive yet go here and you'll find an awesome deal on an ex drive.
 

Gary_E

Second Unit
Joined
May 6, 1999
Messages
366
Chris,

If you haven't bought the drive yet, Best Buy has a Maxtor 120 GIG on sale for $169.00 after rebates. If you plan on working with video, I would suggest you get the biggest drive you can afford. Video files are HOGS.

I have 3 of these drives and they install easily and function quite well. This particular drive does not have a FIREWIRE connection but it is still a good drive for the money.

Regards,
-Gary
 

Seth--L

Screenwriter
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Jun 22, 2003
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A drive that connects to your computer through a firewire port though is most recommendable.

You can only potentially cause damage to the drive and the computer if you disconnect/reconnect it while the computer is on. Always shut the computer off before adding and removing.
 

Chris-C

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 7, 1998
Messages
126
Thanks for all the Help!

I do have firewire,and USB 2.0-should I definately go for a firewire only unit?

Or is USB 2.0 fast enough for video transfers?

Thanks again

CC Rider
 

JamesHl

Supporting Actor
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May 8, 2003
Messages
813
Theoretically USB 2 is actually faster, but in my practical experience firewire has always been faster (this is with apple products, though).
 

Chris-C

Stunt Coordinator
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Dec 7, 1998
Messages
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Thanks again-you guys are the best!

Picked up the Maxtor 120G today,and will try to connect tonite-Yikes!!!

Should be no problem,and look forward to it.

Evidently-external HD's cannot help when burning DVD's,but can help with capturing video from vcr's???

I'm wingin it here folks.
I plan on tranfering a lot of my old tapes (svhs)to DVD.
Hopefully this ext hd will help with the tapes.

CC
 

Ken Scott

Agent
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Oct 27, 2003
Messages
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in reply to chris c and seth l's post, i like usb2 because it is more PnP compatible compared to firewire, you can unplug and plug them in when ever u want (even while in windows). the transfer rate is slightly in favor for firewire but ease of use wise i say go with usb 2. slightly slower but isnt a huge deal unless speed is desperately needed.
 

JamesHl

Supporting Actor
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Messages
813
Uh... firewire has the same level of pnp compatibility as USB 2. I'm not sure what you're talking about there.
 

Chris-C

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Dec 7, 1998
Messages
126
Moot point about the firewire as the Maxtor I bought is USB 2.0 only (probably why it's on sale).

ok to reason it out though.

Looks like it will monday for the setup (too busy tonite)

It says to disable your toolbar before ?? close all programs???

Is this necessary for XP?

Thanks

CC
 

Chris-C

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 7, 1998
Messages
126
When copying DVD's-they're stored in the tempory internet files/folders? which takes up room on my HD.

Hopefully they delete,but i'm watching my internal HD fill up as we speak.

I was hoping to use the external HD in this situation,but they sat I can't.
As long as the files delete automatically I guess that will be ok-I just wanted to use the external HD to save wear and tear on my tiny laptop HD.

CC
 

Dan Mercier

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 24, 1999
Messages
56
One thing to note is to make sure the drive you get is a
fast drive. I read that 7200rpm drives are the required
minimum to get no dropped frames for DV editing. Not sure
about the specific drive you picked up but some of the
external drives on market are actually just 2.5" laptop
drives which are rarely 7200rpm.

As for copying dvd's I think you can set your temporary folder
in winxp to be any folder on any drive you want. Sorry I
haven't looked this up for you but you should be able to
find info on doing so somewhere.

Dan
 

Chris-C

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 7, 1998
Messages
126
Spin Rate on box sez 7200-looks like i'm ok-thanks.

Still haven't loaded it up yet (can you say chchchicken)

Trying to figure out what this "quit all application's,including the applications icons on your taskbar-right side)????

Not sure how to do this,and it's creeping me outtttttt!

Do they just want me to "hide my toolbar" ?
Only programs running I think are Norton AntiVirus (which I know how to disable) WeatherBug,and Wireless internet connection-

Sorry to be clueless
Don't want to F**kup the install.

CC
 

NickSo

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Jul 2, 2000
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Nick So
The hard drive should be pretty much plug and play as people have stated earlier...

The safest way i would do it is:
1. Shut down computer
2. Connect external hard drive
3. Reboot computer.

Windows should install some drivers, but once thats done, itll just show up as another hard drive in your "my Computer" and windows explorer.

As for shutting down the toolbars and whatnot, i dont think its necesary to do anything special when installing the hard drive. Maybe you should shut down background programs for downloading video to the drive, but not to install it.

However, like i said, i have no experience with external HD's or the one from maxtor, but If i had one, that's what I'd do.
 

Chris-C

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 7, 1998
Messages
126
It's in/on,and working like a champ!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't even wet myself once :)

Even reformatted it for NTFS(sez to do that for video work)way cool!!!!!!

Now have additional 111 gig's to play with.

Can't belive how smooth it went-with all your support of course!

Now it's on to Video editing and transfering-can't wait.

Thanks again

CC
 

Ken Chan

Senior HTF Member
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Ken
I read that 7200rpm drives are the required
minimum to get no dropped frames for DV editing.
The only time drive speed is actually critical is during video capture, because the video is coming in real-time, and isn't stopping. So that depends on sustained write speed.

If your burner does not have some sort of buffer under-run ("BURN-proof") protection, then the hard drive's sustained read speed is also important when trying to burn the disc, because the burner needs data to write, and can't stop, or you get a coaster. But buffer under-run protection is becoming standard.

When you're playing the DV off the hard drive, then read speed also matters. But the data rate for DV really isn't that high, and in comparison to the first two cases -- because read speed is almost always faster than write speed, and you're not using another drive (the burner) at the same time -- any modern drive should be able to keep up. And if you're actually editing the video, then a slow drive would just be an annoyance, and dropped frames are not an issue. (Of course, if your editing involves multiple simultaneous DV streams, like doing a picture-in-picture, then read speed is much more germane.)

Getting 7200 RPM is a decent rule of thumb, and RPMs are generally correlated to drive speed, but there are 5400 RPM drives (especially more recent, huge ones) that should have no trouble with DV. A 5400 drive would tend to run quieter and cooler, although they seem to be getting more scarce.

You should be able to plug in a FireWire/USB drive into a computer that's running. That's what those interfaces are designed to do. You can also unplug it while the computer is running, but you must use the "Safely Remove" gizmo first, to make sure the OS is done writing to the drive. (Watching the drive light is not sufficient.)

//Ken
 

Chris-C

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 7, 1998
Messages
126
Where the heck is that "safetly remove" button????

Hopefully will find it-

right now i'm able to power it off with the switch behind with no problem,but as yet haven't found the remove/disconect button (probably right under my nose).

Regards
CC
 

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