I filmed an event today, came back to import and have been having a terrible time. FCP 5.1 quits importing after about 60 seconds, dropped frames. I unchecked dropped frames and re-imported and as I'm watching smooth motion video on the camcorder window, same thing. I then tried iMovie and even though it's 30 minutes of total footge, iMovie only pulled in 15 minutes. I then tried non-controllable and played back and it played smooth in the camera but the capture window literally froze on Capture Now while it played. I watched the footage and where it froze on screen during capture, it was a still image that just played down the timeline. The only thing that would import the entire thing was directly using QuickTime Pro 7.5 (149.5)

FW 400 Sony VX2100 capture NTSC DV
eSata Express 34 card connected to external eSata drive (7200 RPM)

MacBook Pro
2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
10.5.4

eSata cable, FW cable, something else?

Any thoughts on what may be going on would be appreciated.

Thanks

Edit: As I finished writing this, I realized I had captured the QuickTime to my HDD and it worked fine. Copying the 5 GB file to my eSata drive is taking 10-15 minutes and in bursrts. It must be the eSata cable, express card or the port on the computer.
Connecting the USB 2 connection to the same (dual connections) external drive, the 5 GB file copied over in about 4-5 minutes.

Without knowing the exact hardware models you're using for the external HDD connectivity it's impossible to make direct recommendations, however I'd suggest you first look at the drivers for the ExpressCard 34 interface and see if they are up-to-date. Work outward to your HDD from there.

Contact tech support for the vendor of the expresscard.

Without knowing the exact hardware models you're using for the external HDD connectivity it's impossible to make direct recommendations, however I'd suggest you first look at the drivers for the ExpressCard 34 interface and see if they are up-to-date. Work outward to your HDD from there.

Contact tech support for the vendor of the expresscard.

Seagate eSata/USB PN 9NL6A6-500

I pinned it down to the eSata port on the Seagate. I just plugged in a WD eSata/FW400/USB external and file transfer of a 5 GB file copied in about 3 minutes over eSata, everything else the same (cable/express 32 card/drivers, etc..) Properly ejected the WD, powered down the eSata card, re-connected the Seagate and it hangs on file transfer of that same 5 GB file. Time for a warranty exchange of the Seagate

That same Seagate HDD transfers the file over the USB 2 port with no problems. Just frustrating when in the middle of a rush video edit to have all the import issues, so I thought I'd post to see if I was overlooking something obvious. One of those fluke things I guess. Thanks for the feedback. The video project is ready to be delivered despite all the issues with the Seagate drive.