Re: [Hampshire] Firewire external HDD

On 04/01/07, Chris Aitken <cs.aitken@???> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I'm after an external firewire HDD > 320 Gb. However, cost is an issue.
>
> I can buy a large IDE HDD, and install it in my system, then buy a
> firewire enclosure at a later date, or wait and get an external HDD.

Internal HDs are faster than external ones due to protocol involved
and associated CPU overheads. If you are getting a HD nowdays, I would
get a SATA (Serial ATA) one if you motherboard supports SATA.

>
> I have lots of DV to edit and burn to DVD, so I could do with this

Converting DV to DVD is very CPU intensive.
The DV from a video camera takes up a lot of HD space due to the
inefficient compression method used. One then edits it in kino or
whatever tool one prefers. Once one has the edited result, one can
then write the output to DVD. DVD uses a very efficient method of
compression, MPEG-2, and the conversion from DV format to MPEG-2 is
very CPU intensive, so the final step can take hours to process, so
the faster the CPU you have the better.

> sooner rather than later. It does need to be external at some point so
> I can back up all our photos etc.
>
> Is there any difference/advantage in buying a complete external HDD,
> compared with buying ann IDE drive and installing it within an

Internal HDs are cheaper and faster. Later on, you can always move the
HD into an external enclosure if you wish. The enclosures are easy to
get hold of and normally support both USB 2.0 high-speed and Firewire.

> enclosure? Either way, can anyone recommend somewhere cheap for large
> HDDs - looked at ebuyer & novatech already.

I always go for Seagate HDs, but they are not the cheapest, but I have
more luck with them reliability wise.

>
> Cheers
> Chris
>