[MacDV] External hard drive for video work

[Michael Winter]

On Dec 3, 2006, at 9:18 PM, Brett Conlon wrote:

> What's your thoughts on the speed difference between the 400 and 800
> drive? Is it worth the extra cash outlay?

I'm not Steve, but I'll toss in my 2 cents.

Depends on what you're doing. Video capture happens in real time, so  
a faster drive doesn't help. Encoding, say for a DVD, is usually  
limited by how fast the rest of the computer is, not the drive.  
Generally speaking, the drive speed also isn't a limiting factor when  
editing. The only time I've found drive speed to be a limiting factor  
is when I've copied entire projects from one drive to another -and  
that doesn't happen very often.

That's all based on my (limited) experience, which does not include  
any HD work.

-Mike