Downloading to Hard Drives: Rookie ?

[Isaac Babcock]

Can someone set me straight?

1. I download from Red Drive or CF reader via FW800 on a Macbook Pro (I'm in the backcountry - limited power) and send it out to a external hard drive (bus powered I hope - limited power...). If the external storage drive has a slower connection (ie. USB 2.0, FW400, etc because my FW800 is already in use) do I risk corrupting data (like dropped frames back in DV capture days when using FW400 in - USB 1.0 out). Does that question make any sense? Does my external storage drive need a FW800 or SATA connection to keep up with the FW800 input? In which case I need the appropriate Express 34 card right?

2. Are the 2.5" bus powered HD's OK for this task? I've read about a couple people using them...I think? I'd back them up on the reg. size HD's (3.5"?) when I get in to the front country

3. Are there Hard Drive brands to steer clear of (in both 2.5" and 3.5")? Fantom HD's seem cheap at $80 for 500gb, but I don't want to be too cheap when it comes to the prospects of crashing HD's. Sometimes you get what you pay for I guess... Opinions are fine... I'm listening...

Now that I've admitted what I know about computers I'm going to go back to some serious gaming on my Apple IIc.

[Jason Ing]

you won't drop frames. dropping frames happens when you're trying to capture a video image. what you're talking about is just transfering data from one storage to another storage. your potential issues will be about the speed of the data transfer, firewire is faster then usb, etc. now that i've shared all of my tech knowledge, i'll go back to playing on my Atari. :)

[Dylan Reeve]

A FW800 reader to a USB2 external drive is fine. The maximum read speed of the CF cards is fairly close to USB2 anyway.

Things to watch for - use a verified copying method, especially when relying on bus power from a laptop battery, weird things happen when batteries get low.

Also, it's good practice to copy to two drives, in case the worst happens.

For Mac-based copying I've been using RsyncX, which seems to do a good job. It's quick and verifies as it goes.

[Herring]

As far as I know, the FW800 and FW400 are on the same controller. This means that the maximum speed of the FW800 will drop as soon as you plug in a FW400 drive. Anyway, the faster medium will always adapt to te slower one. Bus-powered drives drain your laptop battery very fast.

Is it not interesting to make a small powerhouse that has a 100-240v output? I have a sealed led acid battery, a charger and a 12v->110/220v inverter fitted in a Pelican case. It is heavy, but you can even feed your laptop with it. You can charge it in a car or even with a solar cell. And you can use any harddrive you want.

Maybe you can even find HD's who run on 12v natively, so you can connect it to a V-lock battery directly. Be sure to use a V-lock plate with a regulated 12v output, because a fully charged battery can deliver output up to 18 volts!

[Isaac Babcock]

Thanks - helpful. Yes, I will use an external battery/inverter at times. But I also like the idea of buspower when your far enough out there. Good thought w/V-lock batteries...I'll research that a bit more.

[Anders Holck]

On my MacBook Pro the RedDrive shuts down when the battery meter goes below 20 mins. Something to look out for....

[Dylan Reeve]

The external drive we were using went really weird then the MacBook Pro got to about 30% I think... Still seemed to be mounted, but made a horrible clicking noise and files couldn't be written.

[Jeff Brown]

I can recommend a Sonnet esata/expresscard adapter to give you 2 drives on a different bus. Then I use R3D manager for verified copies. Quick and secure.

Cheers
Jef Brown
RED 708