Ext HDD Encloser vs Ext?

[BTs_hooks]

So recently i got a MBP 2.16 15" and im loving it but now my hard drive is starting to get extremely low and i have a few video projects coming up that i just dont have the space for so im looking into my options for and ext drive of sorts, i dont want to have USB cause my use will be for video and it will give me drop frames, so it has to be a 320+ gb drive with a 16mb cache perferably that either is going to be firewire or SATA, now here comes my question which is going to get the job done the cheapest buying a encloser with a hd or just go for the ext hd. any and all comments are appreciated.




hooks

[.vooDoo.]

As far as I know USB 2.0 is faster then firewire, but SATA is the way to go.

[BTs_Mysterio]

eSATA is definitely the best; for USB 2 v. FireWire 400/800, Barefeats.com has a good comparison to look at (http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html) if you plan to go that route.

[BFG]

well hold on it depends on exactly what your doing. for dealing with DV res footage you can work on Firewire 400 drives (7200 speeds) but obviously if your working with large amounts of media then FW800 makes a big difference when it comes to moving your media around.

Im guessing if your working from a laptop your not working with Uncompressed footage or HD - but if you were then you would want to looka at a SATA Raid consisting of 2 or 4 drives... anyway.

Id highly reccommend the range of G-Tech drives. we have over 18TB's of G-Tech drives both Firewire RAIDS and SATA RAIDs and on the whole i have very few problems with them. inportant, if you do go with a SATA drive for gods sake don't skimp on the quality of cables - cheap cables are suicide and i can't recommend enough that you spend good money on making sure you buy good quality thick well shielded cables.

The master plan would be the new G-TECH RAID2 which has a triple interace with FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 connectivity. you can get it with up to 1500 GB. These RAIDs consist of two  7200 RPM SATA II drives with up to 16MB cache.

So my advice would be go get a 500GB G-Tech Raid which has FW4&8 and is more than good enough for dealing with full res DV footage.

Hope that helps mate, feel free to shout otherwise!!

ps drop frames don't occur becasue of the size of the drive - its the bandwidth of the interface your using and the speed of the drive. with any of the drives/interfaces i've mentioned you shouldn't get dropped frames - question would you be digitising over firewire directly from a camera and how many FW ports does your laptop have?

[BTs_hooks]

 i was looking at those actually but those are a bit out of my price range im looking to spend around 200/250 for 320 to 400 gigs, my laptop has 1 FW400 slot on it and i would be capturing over firewire and i am dealing with DV footage, so thats also a problem for me because i am restriced with the fw ports i have

[BFG]

Ok you have a problem, i was over at the BBC the other week and they had some guys with laptops and were trying to daisychain the deck and hardrive together to the laptop... fatal!

If you only have one firewire port you need to keep that one free for connecting your deck/camera.

So your option is either a USB2 drive (it will handle DV footage but i wouldn't recommend it i don't like USB2!) or getting a SATA express card for your MBP (like this one from firmtek) barefeats has a review of the card and it certainly does the job.

However that said your talking about spending some money here so if your really wanting to keep the $$$ down then i think your only option is a drive with USB2 interface (id recommend one with FW400 and USB2 so you can use your FW when your not campturing)

[|MP|Nomad]

Ok, what you need to ask yourself is this...is this for hobby or is this your actual job?  If its the ladder then, dealing with some advice given here is sound.  However, if your doing this video project using iMovie or FCE/Pro, you can still do a great job sticking with most common type HDs.

I will recommend going for LaCie.  They are pricy, but soo worth it.  Stay away from Maxtor.  Although, I agree that a HD is a HD is a HD, but when it comes to the many features, and stability and reliability, I have yet to meet another HD that beats LaCie's. And they make beautiful enclosures (Apple and LaCie work together on some of the same design engineers - don't ask how I know  )

Ok, BFG is correct w.r.t. the dropping of frames, most often than not, its the drive speed.  If you're using a MBP, then you have 5400 rpm which is plenty without risking droppage, but of course, if you upgraded the internal HD to 7200 rpm, then your laughing.

As far as USB 2.0 vs Firewire - many people, especially sales reps at Sony, will toy with you and tell you how USB 2.0 is faster than FW.  This is Hogwash - Firewire ALWAYS beats out on USB 2.0 when talking about sustainment.  First off, whether your using iMovie or FCE/Pro, you need FW as it doesn't recognize USB interface.  Second, USB 2.0 is faster than FW when referring to "spurts" of data transfer, usually when transferring some file sizes, but when your talking about transfering huge files (ie. 20, 30, 40 GB +), ie. sustainment of speed over longer periods, FW always beats out USB 2.0.

Also, my PO on having more than 1 HD within the same Enclosure - I've seen problems when it comes to retrieving data from failed HD, meaning one failed and the other did not - but, I can't say that it happens alot, but it does happen.  My solution, again depending on how serious of a projeect this is, I would buy 2 enclosures and stack them up - LaCies are great for this!