Hello,

I am looking to increase the storage of DV footage and editted sequences on my Laptop.

(Dell Inspiron 848Mhz with 512 Ram. Currently has one 30GB disc for System and progrmans and a 20GB for DV footage. One firewire port and two unused PCMCIA slots. I'm running Avid Xpress DV 3.5)

My question is what's the best way to run footage from the camera to a new external hard drive with only one firewire port on the laptop?

Do I need to add another firewire port using one of the PCMCIA slots? Could my computers spec cope with this stream of data passing through?

Can I somehow "daisy-chain" the camera and the external hard drive into my one existing firewire port.

OR is my only option to digitise to my existing built in hard drive, disconect the camera, connect the external hard drive and then pass the clips to it? I'll just do this if its the safest, drop-frameless way!

Any answers greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Andrew

do u have usb 2.0? They make USB 2 compatible external drives as well....Video Performance wise I have no idea, but i do kno pc haqrdware. The cheapest way of doing it is buying a harddrive and an external housing. You might also want to check out the maxtor OneTouch if u want seemless backups ...Quite expensive tho
link

__________________
2.6b at 3.3
1 gig of OCZ Platinum Limited Edition PC3200(2-2-2)
Abit IC7
Seagate 80gb sata
Aspire X-Alien
460W Enermax
9800 Pro
SP-94 with Tornado
Panasonic GS200 on its way with:
3 DV Tapes, Tripod, Bag, Telephoto Lens, Lens Cleaning Kit

Thanks for that,

I don't have USB2, and am keen to stick to Firewire with its proven video abilities, and besides my camera is fitted with a firewire output. I am interested in the External Hard Drive because of the extra ability to take footage and edits to other collegues computers.

Anyone else with further info on this?

Cheers,

Andrew

Why not simply capture to your internal HDD, then transfer to the external drive?

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Also, consider what s/w you are using. For example, I'm not sure there are any 'real' problems but I believe that Adobe do not support external drives for use with Premiere.

Just a thought.

Alan

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I'm not young enough to know everything!

There are other threads on this forum regarding the same topic so I'd recommend to read through those.

It is correct that Adobe says on their web site that they don't support external drives. I am using one without any problems whatsoever and I also attach my camera to the FW port on this drive (adobe also says that they do not support this). It is a WD 250GB Media Center drive.

I am also using a laptop (P4 2.2GHz, 512MB RAM) and actually I have better performance on my external drive than what I get on the internal 60GB drive (with Canopus EZDVtest.exe test program).

DrGonzo

You could also just get a firewire hub

__________________
2.6b at 3.3
1 gig of OCZ Platinum Limited Edition PC3200(2-2-2)
Abit IC7
Seagate 80gb sata
Aspire X-Alien
460W Enermax
9800 Pro
SP-94 with Tornado
Panasonic GS200 on its way with:
3 DV Tapes, Tripod, Bag, Telephoto Lens, Lens Cleaning Kit