Firestore FS4

Mathew Hamilton Green · July 2nd, 2005, 02:27 PM

Hi

I am about to buy a Z1 and have started looking Direct To Disk. Firestore seems to pretty much the only solution- unless there are any others out there??- but they are expensive.. The 40gb solution is ok (£600 ish) but the hard drive is not very big.. This is my idea.. Replace the 40gb hard drive with a 100gb hard drive -£120 off ebay for a Hitachi 5400rpm 8mb cache-..
Has anyone looked inside a firestore device? I would imagine it is simply a matter of changing the drives..
If there is a partition with "system" files on it then connecting it up using a 2.5 " to 3.5 " converter (£10 off Ebay) one could Ghost the image from the 40gb drive to the 100gb drive, after connecting it to a PC running XP, Linux, OS X etc..
Has anyone tried something like this?
What do people think?
For £140 one could upgrade their 40gb drive to 100gb and increase the recording time from 3 hours to 7.5 hours!!

mat

Ray Liffen · July 2nd, 2005, 11:37 PM

Interesting idea, but until the FS4 has a bigger battery available, the limitation for mobile use is power, not disk size.

Ray Liffen

Todd Kivimaki · July 3rd, 2005, 12:24 AM

Sounds like a very possible idea, I took mine appart and took a couple of pictures

http://www.videomemoriesinc.com/pics/firestore.jpg

http://www.videomemoriesinc.com/pics/disk.jpg

Also I have an external battery pack (do a search Jon East has a write up) that powers the FS-4 for about 7 hours, and costs around 80 bucks.

7 Hours of video and power would be great!

Mathew Hamilton Green · July 3rd, 2005, 03:18 AM

As i suspected it is jsut a standard 2.5" drive..
Funnily enough the 100gb is a Hitachi aswell.

To check to see if there is anotrher small partition with "system" files on it one could do the following!

Connect the drive to a PC running Windows XP
Right click on the MY COMPUTER icon in Windows XP and left click on MANAGE.
Then left click on DISK MANAGEMENT and on the right hand window you should see a list of drives C, D etc.
One of those will be the FIRESTORE drive
If one could report on what they see it will tell us if there is a partition on the drive ..

cheers

gonna check out the exteneded battery pack idea..gotta be good..

matw

Daniel Kohl · July 3rd, 2005, 03:02 PM

Matt,

There are no system files on the drive.

Mathew Hamilton Green · July 3rd, 2005, 04:06 PM

Welll there you go!!!
Purchase a 2.5" Hitachi 100gb Drive
Replace the 40gb Drive with the newly purchased one..
7.5 hours of recording time..

Jsut a thought..
I am about to buy the Sony Z1..
If I shoot in HDV mode will the output from the Firewire port be in HDV format?
If so I would assume that I would need the HDV updated Firestore device?
7.5 hours would equate to how much HDV??

mat

John McGinley · July 3rd, 2005, 10:29 PM

Assuming it remains an m2t it should be about the same as DV size wise.

Mathew Hamilton Green · July 5th, 2005, 12:34 PM

Hi
I have done a search for Jon East and ofund nothing about upgrading the battery?? Does anyone know where it is??
cheers
mat

Frank Peterson · July 5th, 2005, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mathew Hamilton Green

Hi
I have done a search for Jon East and ofund nothing about upgrading the battery?? Does anyone know where it is??
cheers
mat

Mathew,

I think this is what you're looking for:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=43420

Mathew Hamilton Green · July 6th, 2005, 06:40 PM

aha..thanks!

Frank Peterson · July 7th, 2005, 09:15 AM

Deleted...wrong thread

Kevin Shaw · July 8th, 2005, 04:54 AM

So can anyone confirm whether it's a fairly simple matter to replace the hard drive in a Firestore FS-4? I already have an 80GB laptop drive I could swap in if I buy the 40GB model, so that would be a handy thing to be able to do.

Mathew Hamilton Green · July 8th, 2005, 10:31 AM

HI

I havent tested it as I do not own one but I do have extensive experience with computers and a hard drive is a hard drive.

Mark Geiser · July 8th, 2005, 10:57 AM

Kevin..

I have taken mine apart also and from what I can see its a very simple change over..HOWEVER....what we dont know until you try is if their is something in the firmware that limits your FS4 to 40GB, or if a format on it when its installed will show the increased store time...

I don't suspect Focus will be too eager to chip in as the upgrade is a small fraction of the cost of an 80GB pro unit. Here in the UK its about a £400 difference, and after having used both I only really need the extra space the 80GB gives me. The other features I can live without..

Bottom line I think is someone is going to have to 'bite the bullet' and see, although I don't see why you should do any harm, so long as you don't do anything to the original HD..

Mark

Mathew Hamilton Green · July 8th, 2005, 02:09 PM

If nothing happens with the new drive for wahtever reason jsut swap the old one and u r back where u started.. if u have a 40gb hard drive u might want to test it with that.. i doubt very much it would blow anything up!! it is after all still a hard drive..just bigger!!

July 2nd, 2005, 02:27 PM	#1
Mathew Hamilton Green Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Swindon, Wiltshire ENGLAND Posts: 36	Firestore FS4 - 40GB Upgrade to 100GB Hi I am about to buy a Z1 and have started looking Direct To Disk. Firestore seems to pretty much the only solution- unless there are any others out there??- but they are expensive.. The 40gb solution is ok (£600 ish) but the hard drive is not very big.. This is my idea.. Replace the 40gb hard drive with a 100gb hard drive -£120 off ebay for a Hitachi 5400rpm 8mb cache-.. Has anyone looked inside a firestore device? I would imagine it is simply a matter of changing the drives.. If there is a partition with "system" files on it then connecting it up using a 2.5 " to 3.5 " converter (£10 off Ebay) one could Ghost the image from the 40gb drive to the 100gb drive, after connecting it to a PC running XP, Linux, OS X etc.. Has anyone tried something like this? What do people think? For £140 one could upgrade their 40gb drive to 100gb and increase the recording time from 3 hours to 7.5 hours!! mat

July 3rd, 2005, 03:18 AM	#4
Mathew Hamilton Green Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Swindon, Wiltshire ENGLAND Posts: 36	Excellent As i suspected it is jsut a standard 2.5" drive.. Funnily enough the 100gb is a Hitachi aswell. To check to see if there is anotrher small partition with "system" files on it one could do the following! Connect the drive to a PC running Windows XP Right click on the MY COMPUTER icon in Windows XP and left click on MANAGE. Then left click on DISK MANAGEMENT and on the right hand window you should see a list of drives C, D etc. One of those will be the FIRESTORE drive If one could report on what they see it will tell us if there is a partition on the drive .. cheers gonna check out the exteneded battery pack idea..gotta be good.. matw

July 3rd, 2005, 03:02 PM	#5
Daniel Kohl Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Posts: 571	Matt, There are no system files on the drive. __________________ Daniel Kohl Frankenstein meets XL1

July 3rd, 2005, 04:06 PM	#6
Mathew Hamilton Green Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Swindon, Wiltshire ENGLAND Posts: 36	There we have it then.. Welll there you go!!! Purchase a 2.5" Hitachi 100gb Drive Replace the 40gb Drive with the newly purchased one.. 7.5 hours of recording time.. Jsut a thought.. I am about to buy the Sony Z1.. If I shoot in HDV mode will the output from the Firewire port be in HDV format? If so I would assume that I would need the HDV updated Firestore device? 7.5 hours would equate to how much HDV?? mat

July 5th, 2005, 12:34 PM	#8
Mathew Hamilton Green Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Swindon, Wiltshire ENGLAND Posts: 36	Battery Upgrade Hi I have done a search for Jon East and ofund nothing about upgrading the battery?? Does anyone know where it is?? cheers mat

July 2nd, 2005, 11:37 PM	#2
Ray Liffen Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Carshalton, Surrey, UK Posts: 34	Interesting idea, but until the FS4 has a bigger battery available, the limitation for mobile use is power, not disk size. Ray Liffen

July 3rd, 2005, 12:24 AM	#3
Todd Kivimaki Major Player Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Elida Ohio Posts: 217	Sounds like a very possible idea, I took mine appart and took a couple of pictures http://www.videomemoriesinc.com/pics/firestore.jpg http://www.videomemoriesinc.com/pics/disk.jpg Also I have an external battery pack (do a search Jon East has a write up) that powers the FS-4 for about 7 hours, and costs around 80 bucks. 7 Hours of video and power would be great!

July 3rd, 2005, 10:29 PM	#7
John McGinley Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 142	Assuming it remains an m2t it should be about the same as DV size wise.

July 6th, 2005, 06:40 PM	#10
Mathew Hamilton Green Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Swindon, Wiltshire ENGLAND Posts: 36	aha..thanks!

July 7th, 2005, 09:15 AM	#11
Frank Peterson Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 26	Deleted...wrong thread Last edited by Frank Peterson; July 7th, 2005 at 04:23 PM.

July 8th, 2005, 04:54 AM	#12
Kevin Shaw Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 2,488	So can anyone confirm whether it's a fairly simple matter to replace the hard drive in a Firestore FS-4? I already have an 80GB laptop drive I could swap in if I buy the 40GB model, so that would be a handy thing to be able to do.

July 8th, 2005, 10:31 AM	#13
Mathew Hamilton Green Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Swindon, Wiltshire ENGLAND Posts: 36	HI I havent tested it as I do not own one but I do have extensive experience with computers and a hard drive is a hard drive.

July 8th, 2005, 10:57 AM	#14
Mark Geiser Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: london Posts: 59	Kevin.. I have taken mine apart also and from what I can see its a very simple change over..HOWEVER....what we dont know until you try is if their is something in the firmware that limits your FS4 to 40GB, or if a format on it when its installed will show the increased store time... I don't suspect Focus will be too eager to chip in as the upgrade is a small fraction of the cost of an 80GB pro unit. Here in the UK its about a £400 difference, and after having used both I only really need the extra space the 80GB gives me. The other features I can live without.. Bottom line I think is someone is going to have to 'bite the bullet' and see, although I don't see why you should do any harm, so long as you don't do anything to the original HD.. Mark

July 8th, 2005, 02:09 PM	#15
Mathew Hamilton Green Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Swindon, Wiltshire ENGLAND Posts: 36	If nothing happens with the new drive for wahtever reason jsut swap the old one and u r back where u started.. if u have a 40gb hard drive u might want to test it with that.. i doubt very much it would blow anything up!! it is after all still a hard drive..just bigger!!