Grama Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 we are looking at buying my father, a video editor, a usb harddrive for his birthday. i am no expert on these things, however i am hoping he can use this thing specifically for video editing (free up some harddrive space) his computer is 2 or 3 years old now and has not an eSATA port or else i would get him one of those! will a usb harddisk be up to the task speed wise? i think 480mb/s is fast enough, but again i am no expert. thanks for your time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~pcwiz Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Well I'm not sure of the speed needs. A USB drive would work, its not going to be the fastest, but it should work well enough. If you really need it, you can buy an eSATA expansion card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iPirate Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Remember USB is only 480mbps in BURSTS so it actually works out as the slower hare to the 400mbps constant "Tortoise" of Firewire 400 (I was amazed at the difference, it felt like 4 times faster at least). With Firewire 400 you can transfer a GB per min (roughly) whereas with USB a Gig takes ages. eSata however is just plain insanely fast. If you want it for video editing, don't insult him with USB. If need be get a Firewire Card. He'll thank you profusely, I bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impulsion Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 i have a WD 320gb external i use for music and dj'ing with serato scratch live. has sata, firewire and usb 2.0 ports on the back of it, and i agree firewire is stupidly fast when it comes to transfer rates! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grama Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 well i think you have very nicely laid out the situation.... my guess is i will be buying him a hardrive with all three outputs then. thankyou very much for your input! Grama Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Software Updater Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 There isnt a removable HDD with all three outputs from my experience but hell I have been wrong before. I would suggest getting a firewire HDD and some even have Firewire and USB but firewire 800 freaking screams! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~pcwiz Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 I've seen drives with FireWire and USB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iPirate Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 I have a drive with Firewire 800, 400 and USB 2.0. MacPower Icecube Gen II. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Software Updater Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Well I mean one with eSATA, USB and Firewire all on the same drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermatea Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Well I mean one with eSATA, USB and Firewire all on the same drive. What?! An external drive with quad-interfaces? Those are everywhere! Like: http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-301110U-FireWi...5310&sr=8-1 and: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=374 Seriously, how do people NOT know?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ongeloof Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Why does he need an external one, when he has one computer (going off the post) wouldn't another internal, faster one be best? Think Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~pcwiz Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 External is portable. I think thats the point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REVENGE Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I run an external 500 GB USB 2.0. Responsiveness in Vegas 8 is pretty good, and rendering times aren't much different vs. using an internal hd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~pcwiz Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I run my entire Leo 10.5.2 install from an external HD. There isn't any visible speed decrease when using it as opposed to a fast 3Gbps SATA drive, you can only see the difference when transferring large files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Software Updater Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Well I am glad I prefaced my post with "Well I have been wrong before." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zellkyo Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 i'm also a video editor i use an external USB hardrive for capturing and used it also as my scratchdisk no problems experienced about it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermatea Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 More external hard drive goodness from OWC: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/13...FW800_FW400_USB These drives look just great along side your other Mac hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts