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External HD for video: Opinions

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benwa02

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 6, 2004
288
0
I am planning on buying a external HD and at tigerdirect.com there are only a couple with FW800. The one I am thinking about buying has 2MB Buffer memory. I am not too sure what that does but I have seen in other posts people talking about that part of a hard drive.

Will the whole 2MB thing suck for video editing? Also any opinions on this drive brand?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1121801

This was the one I was originally planning on buying but it does not have FW800

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1112201&Tab=11&NoMapp=0

Thanks.
 
CanadaRAM

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
Oct 11, 2004
12,417
6
On the Left Coast - Victoria BC Canada
Well, 16 Mb cache is better than 8 Mb cache is better than 2 Mb cache.

iomega tech support sucks, bigtime. Maxtor tech support doesn't suck as bad, but if the case fails, they don't allow you to remove the mechanism to recover your data -- you either have to lose your data or lose you warranty.

Instead of these, I would get a MacAlly Firewire 800 case (or an OWC Mercury FW800 case) and install my own Seagate Barracuda (8 Mb cache) or Maxtor MaxLine III (16 Mb cache) IDE drive. Both of these drives have 5 year warranties. (instead of 12 freakin' months)

If I have more money to spend, I would get a Firmtek external SATA dual-drive enclosure and a SATA PCI card. That way you can swap drives in and out of the the box, and have 2 full-speed data drives online at any one time.
 
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benwa02

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 6, 2004
288
0
CanadaRAM said:
Well, 16 Mb cache is better than 8 Mb cache is better than 2 Mb cache.
Click to expand...


what do those numbers do?

$250 is my limit and i want atleast 250GB
 
CanadaRAM

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
Oct 11, 2004
12,417
6
On the Left Coast - Victoria BC Canada
benwa02 said:
what do those numbers do?

$250 is my limit and i want atleast 250GB
Click to expand...

The cache is some memory on the hard drive controller board that 'buffers' your most recent reads and writes. This improves the effective speed of the drive*, and in general allows it to respond faster to the Mac. More cache is better.


*The effect of having a large cache will vary depending on how your program utilizes the hard drive.

These are rough prices, in US$
MacAlly or OWC FW800 case $109
Seagate Barracude 300 Gb (8Mb) drive $150
Seagate Barracude 250 Gb (8Mb) drive $115
 
A

AlmightyG5

macrumors 6502
Jul 7, 2005
284
0
B

benwa02

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 6, 2004
288
0
AlmightyG5 said:
I just got a 250GB External HD from TigerDirect for $110. I bought the Seagate HD (8mb buffer) that is on sale for $69 after Rebate....And then I got an external enclosure that has two firewire ports. It's a great deal and half the price of the links you showed us.

Here's the HD:http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1265028

And Here's the external enclosure:http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1215795&CatId=1204
Click to expand...

That enclosure also doesnt support FW800.

I am thinking about the Seagate but I think i may go with the HD in my newest post with 16mb cache.

Will that hard drive and enclosure work fine & do I need any additional parts to put these two together???
 
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