Working with multiple external drives on MBP at DVinfo.net

Alex Savage · February 5th, 2011, 01:25 AM

I'm starting a new project which is bigger than anything I've worked on before. The end result will be a 1.5 hour DVD and HD download. I live/work on the road and edit with a 17" MacBook Pro with a 1TB Lacie rugged external drive. That drive is already getting close to full and I'm only a quarter of the way with filming. Since I'm restricted to working on a laptop how will I work with multiple drives if I only have one firewire port? Will I be forced to use USB drives?

I film with a Panasonic GH2 at 720 60p and log and transfer to Apple ProRes.

Thanks for any help!
Alex

R Geoff Baker · February 6th, 2011, 11:53 AM

You can daisy chain Firewire drives -- I have three attached to a single port as a matter of course. If you have a drive that is FW400 make sure it comes 'later' than the FW800 drives -- I believe the system will slow downstream of a slower connection. I can state though that my chain of FW800 drives maintain their full speed even when my slower FW400 drive is attached to the end of the chain ... I can't test my advice as the FW400 drive is the one drive I have without a second port, so it is always the end of the chain.

Cheers,
GB

Ed Roo · February 6th, 2011, 12:07 PM

I have been using the NexStar 3 HDD enclosures. They provide USB2, eSATA and Firewire 800/400 connections. When a HDD fills up, I swap in a new one. I have had now problems with daisy chaining Firewire drives.
For eSATA I have a Sonnet Expresscard dual port eSATA card for my 17-inch MBP.

Alex Savage · February 7th, 2011, 10:29 AM

I found this Nitro AV 8 port Firewire 800 hub that eliminates the need to daisy chain. It's $150 but might be worth it to maintain speed to all your drives.

Arnie Schlissel · February 8th, 2011, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Savage

I found this Nitro AV 8 port Firewire 800 hub that eliminates the need to daisy chain. It's $150 but might be worth it to maintain speed to all your drives.

Going through a hub is really the same as daisy chaining. All of the drives are sharing the same amount of bandwidth in the MBP's single FW port.

David W. Jones · February 8th, 2011, 10:37 AM

I use one of these. It has multiple interfaces and is safe when formatted correctly.
OWC Mercury Pro Qx2 4-Bay RAID 0/1/5/10 eSATA, FireWire 400/800, USB2 Desktop Removable Bay Storage Solution - up to 12.0TB

Good Luck!

Dave

Daniel Epstein · February 8th, 2011, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arnie Schlissel

Going through a hub is really the same as daisy chaining. All of the drives are sharing the same amount of bandwidth in the MBP's single FW port.

While you are correct about the speed as there is only one bus you do have a different point of failure for the connection so I like the Nitro AV hub for hooking up more than 3 drives. Also some drives don't loop the 800 port so a hub can help you if you have multiple drives like the Lacie Ruggeds.

Sareesh Sudhakaran · February 8th, 2011, 10:03 PM

An expresscard with two firewire ports will give you a total of three ports.

David W. Jones · February 9th, 2011, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sareesh Sudhakaran

An expresscard with two firewire ports will give you a total of three ports.

And an express card with esata ports and the above unit I mentioned will fly compared to firewire.

Good Luck!

Dave

February 5th, 2011, 01:25 AM	#1
Alex Savage New Boot Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Atlanta GA Posts: 10	Working with multiple external drives on MBP I'm starting a new project which is bigger than anything I've worked on before. The end result will be a 1.5 hour DVD and HD download. I live/work on the road and edit with a 17" MacBook Pro with a 1TB Lacie rugged external drive. That drive is already getting close to full and I'm only a quarter of the way with filming. Since I'm restricted to working on a laptop how will I work with multiple drives if I only have one firewire port? Will I be forced to use USB drives? I film with a Panasonic GH2 at 720 60p and log and transfer to Apple ProRes. Thanks for any help! Alex

February 8th, 2011, 10:37 AM	#6
David W. Jones Trustee Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Little Rock Posts: 1,383	I use one of these. It has multiple interfaces and is safe when formatted correctly. OWC Mercury Pro Qx2 4-Bay RAID 0/1/5/10 eSATA, FireWire 400/800, USB2 Desktop Removable Bay Storage Solution - up to 12.0TB Good Luck! Dave __________________ David W. Jones www.joneshdfilms.com

February 8th, 2011, 10:03 PM	#8
Sareesh Sudhakaran Trustee Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 1,385	An expresscard with two firewire ports will give you a total of three ports. __________________ Get the Free Comprehensive Guide to Rigging ANY Camera - one guide to rig them all - DSLRs to the Arri Alexa.

February 6th, 2011, 11:53 AM	#2
R Geoff Baker Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Ottawa, ON Posts: 471	You can daisy chain Firewire drives -- I have three attached to a single port as a matter of course. If you have a drive that is FW400 make sure it comes 'later' than the FW800 drives -- I believe the system will slow downstream of a slower connection. I can state though that my chain of FW800 drives maintain their full speed even when my slower FW400 drive is attached to the end of the chain ... I can't test my advice as the FW400 drive is the one drive I have without a second port, so it is always the end of the chain. Cheers, GB

February 6th, 2011, 12:07 PM	#3
Ed Roo Major Player Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Columbus USA Posts: 312	I have been using the NexStar 3 HDD enclosures. They provide USB2, eSATA and Firewire 800/400 connections. When a HDD fills up, I swap in a new one. I have had now problems with daisy chaining Firewire drives. For eSATA I have a Sonnet Expresscard dual port eSATA card for my 17-inch MBP.

February 7th, 2011, 10:29 AM	#4
Alex Savage New Boot Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Atlanta GA Posts: 10	I found this Nitro AV 8 port Firewire 800 hub that eliminates the need to daisy chain. It's $150 but might be worth it to maintain speed to all your drives.