Which drive should I buy for iMovie? I only have 1 FW 400 and 1 USB2 port.

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Which drive should I buy for iMovie? I only have 1 FW 400 and 1 USB2 port.

I have a 12" 1ghz AiBook and am getting into some iMovie editing, but I need a new hard drive for extra storage, and I need help figuring out what'll work.

Despite having maxed out the drive config (it's a 80 GB 4200 RPM drive, with about 11 GB of free space) there isn't enough to hold a full MiniDV tape's worth of clips, let alone to edit together a decent little project.

So I'm left with the following options:

* Upgrade the internal drive
* Buy an external FW drive
* Buy an external USB2 drive

The first option is obviously ideal, performance-wise, since I can get a speedy 7200 RPM ATA drive, but it's also very expensive, ~$150 for a decent drive, and my battery life will go to heck (moreso), and the install on the 12" is a PITA. So I'd like to avoid that.

For an external drive, I already have a USB2/FW enclosure with an old HD in it, so I'm considering putting a 7200 RPM drive in there and see if that'll work.

So my question is: Will it? Can I capture video to the drive in either USB2 or FW mode? Keep in mind that if I use it as FW, I'll have it on the same bus as the camera, so it'll be splitting bandwidth (or something). USB2 of course has its own problems...

What's the best way to go here? Should I just suck it up and upgrade the internal drive, or is a decent USB2 drive sufficient for capturing DV (not high-def) from iMovie? (After capture, I could always re-connect the drive via FW to keep throughput higher for DVD burning.)

Just looking for advice before I plunk down my hard earned cash.

Thanks in advance!

AiBook G4 12 1ghz Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Jun 11, 2006 7:54 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Karsten Schlüter

Level 7

34,086 points

Jun 11, 2006 9:04 PM in response to iNik

for working with large files (as video...) on a Mac it is widely recommended to avoid usb2.. due to its "package transporting" nature, usb2 can "interrupt" the file transfer => drop-outs, stuttering video, etc...

most camcorders (Canon not...) allow to daisy-chain the firewire connection, most fw-cases have two connectors...

or, as long you're doing movies just for fun, you could import first to internal, than drag'n drop project to external drive...

when you but a new ext. drive, format first: in Utilitys Folder you'll find "Disk Utility", choose drive, choose MacOsExtended as format (not FAT32, with which most hds are delivered... your Mac handles that too, but not for video....)

besides:
iDVD needs 10 - 15GB free on internal drive, to work smoothless...

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Answer 2

Jun 11, 2006 9:06 PM in response to iNik

Hi iNik,
I think your best option is to go with a Firewire external of at least 160GB. A USB2 external is OK for storing data, but you can use a Firewire external as a start up disc and create bootable back ups of your OS. You can also run your iPhoto and iTunes libraries from a Firewire Ext HD, thus freeing up you Powerbook hard drive.

As for only having one Firewire port. You can 'daisy chain' connect most firewire devices. This means they have both an in and out firewire plug. So your configuration would be to plug the external into the powerbook and your camera into the external hard drive.

Hope this helps you decide.

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Answer 3

iNik Author

Level 1

25 points

Jun 12, 2006 5:24 AM in response to iNik

So am I to understand that even if I daisy-chain my drive in-line with my camera (thus splitting the available I/O bandwidth, and giving priority to the camera -- which FW will automatically do since it's a streaming source), I won't get drop-outs or otherwise lose video when streaming directly to the FW drive?

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Answer 4

Jun 12, 2006 6:11 AM in response to iNik

I've never had any dropouts running any Sony camcorder "daisy-chained" through an external FireWire drive as long as the external drive has a 5400rpm or faster disc in it.

That's been true for G3 and G4 laptops, a Mac mini ..well; for all the Macs listed below (in small print).

But be aware - as Karsten says - that many Canon camcorders just won't do that: they won't work properly if any other FireWire device is connected to your Mac besides the camcorder ..so they will not work "daisy-chained" through an external disc ..see Karsten's suggestion about importing to the internal disc, then moving all that video to the external disc for editing. However, if you have next to no space on your internal disc, you'll need some other strategy, or to simply MAKE some space there.

I've upgraded alumin(i)um PowerBooks (12" and 17") to 120GB fast internal discs, and that doesn't seem to have diminished their running-time on battery power. But it's a finicky job with a 12" PB ..especially getting the F1 keytop to re-seat properly afterwards!

So if you don't have a Canon camcorder, it's probably best to get a fast external FireWire drive and capture and edit on that. If you DO have a Canon camcorder, it may be better to upgrade your internal disc, but you'll need concentration, steady hands, patience, and persistence (..trying to get that F1 keytop back on again!)

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Answer 5

iNik Author

Level 1

25 points

Jun 12, 2006 7:34 AM in response to David Babsky

Thanks for the info, everyone. I'll give the FireWire daisy-chain a try. I have a Panasonic camcorder, so it should be free from Canon weirdness.

It IS tempting to upgrade to a 120 GB HD (or one of the fancy new 160 GB parallel drives!), but I think the external firewire drive is the way to go.

I'll post back here with results if there's anything strange.

Thanks again!

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Answer 6

PT

Level 7

20,888 points

Jun 12, 2006 10:26 AM in response to iNik

I'll add my comments and experiences to the discussion. First off, Firewire connection is the preferred method with video. USB2 will sometimes work fine, but sometimes not. So FW! As far as a Firewire only vs. a combo drive (USB2 and FW ports), I don't think it really matters as long as you use the FW port on the drive.
In my case, I use a combo 250GB drive hooked up with FW. My camcorder is an older Sony Digital8 model. For my setup, I found for importing video, that daisy chaining the camcorder off the back of the drive and importing directly to the external drive worked very well. However when I went to export ("share") my projects back to digital tape for archiving, it didn't work, lots of stuttering and dropped frames. When I moved the camcorder to directly connect to my eMac (so now the drive and camcorder both were direct connected to the eMac) it worked fine.
Also, many Mac laptop users report very positive experiences simply purchasing PCMCIA Firewire card. They do not cost very much and will give you additional Firewire ports that show up as a new/separate bus from your built in FW port, so there is no conflict. And now you can hook up both the camera and the drive at the same time without daisy chaining. But first you might simply try the daisy chain and see if it works with your setup.
Patrick

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Answer 7

iNik Author

Level 1

25 points

Jun 12, 2006 10:34 AM in response to PT

Since I have a 12" PB, I can't expand at all. No PC-card slot, only one FW port. 😟

Just another reason to upgrade to a 17" MacBook Pro, I suppose... 😀

I will probably experiment with USB2, but I suspect that my (slow) processor will become a limiting factor, even with just the one drive on my USB bus.

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