Hard Drive choice at DVinfo.net

Matthew Pugerude · September 13th, 2006, 11:26 PM

Hello everyone,
I was wondering what hard drive brands do you all like for editing? I am putting together a Cineform Prospect HD system. So I need to put a raid together.
Thanks Matt

Matthew Pugerude · September 14th, 2006, 03:43 PM

Hello All,
No one has a hard drive brand that they like, do people just don't care or did I ask a taboo question. I have always had good luck with Western Digital but the Seagate drive crashed on me. So I am a little reluctant to get Seagate but it seems like the way to go. Any input would be great thanks.
Matt

Dan Keaton · September 23rd, 2006, 03:55 PM

All disk drive manufacturers have drives that fail. Some more than others.

I recommend purchasing the drives with the 5 year warranties, however this is not a guarantee that your drives will not fail. Personally, I have had good luck with Maxtor, Seagate, and Western Digital. I recommend purchasing "Enterpise" or "Server" class drives as they then to be more durable at a slight increase in cost.

For video editing I recommend using 7200 rpm drives. The 10k or 16k drives give off more heat.

I highly recommend against using Raid 5 for video ediiting.

In my opinion, I recommend using SATA drives and keeping them cool. Some drives run very hot and the cooling systems in many computers can not keep the drives cool.

In my opinion, I recommend againt using drives in small firewire enclosures. Many of these enclosures do not keep the drives cool enough. The failure rate of these is high.

For a desktop sytem, if you want to be unconventional, you can use SATA drives, with long SATA cables, and place the drives external to your computer. Then add an external fan to keep the drives cool. With this unconventional setup, you can swap out one drive for another easily as your storage needs grow.

Caution: If you choose to use a Raid Setup, you will have to swap out all drives in the raid array at one time.

If you choose this unconventional setup, I would recommend against any type of Raid, and then keeping all of the data for one video project on one drive. Then you can remove this drive and replace it with another when you start another large project. Of course, you may be able to put may projects on one drive.

Betsy Moore · January 4th, 2007, 07:38 PM

Dan, what should one do if they have a project too large for even a 500gb hard drive? I'm working on something mammoth. It'll eventually be over two hours in length, is in HDV and the raw footage (98% of which I have to load onto the computer) is probably close to 80 hours. Any advice? Is there any way I can string together a few external hard drives and use them all at once? Currently, I've filled up one 500gb drive with the footage for the first couple of sequences.

Thanks:)

Dan Keaton · January 5th, 2007, 08:21 AM

Dear Betsy,

I have two answers to your question.

First, Seagate currently makes a 750gb drive. I have had one for about three months now and it has worked flawlessly. I consider www.newegg.com to be a great place to purchase computer hardware.

Second, all of your footage does not have to be on one drive.

I recommend using a computer that has SATA disk drive interfaces. SATA is either on your computer's motherboard, or you can purchase SATA adapter cards that plug into your computer. (I am speaking mainly of the PC world, the Macintosh world may be different, I have not studied the options available for the Macintosh.)

If your computer has SATA you probably have 4 or maybe even 6 SATA ports. This means that you can support 4 or 6 SATA drives. But, you may or may not have room in your computer for 4 or 6 drives.

Personally, I needed to have a lot of storage as I edited a movie in which we had over 70 hours of footage.

I have the side of my computer open, and I purchased long SATA cables (18").

I have two SATA drives mounted in the computer. Then I have two SATA cables and power supply connections coming out of the side of the computer.

This allows me to plug in two extra SATA drives at a time. The beauty of this is that then I have four drives available at any time, and the two external drives can be swapped for another set of two at any time.

I swap the the two external drives for two new (or empty) drives when I start another large project.

Ideally, I would have an "External SATA" card installed in my computer so that I would not have to keep the side open. However, this does work very well.

My internal SATA drives are setup as C: and D:.

My first set of external drives are J: and K:, the next set is L: and M:, and my currently mounted set is O: and P:.

The neat thing about this is when I remount another drive or set, the system immediatly recognizes it as the proper drive or drives.

I will be happy to assist. Please feel free to email me privately and I will give you my phone number.

It will be just a few dollars more to purchase two 500gb drives compared to one 750gb drive.

September 13th, 2006, 11:26 PM	#1
Matthew Pugerude Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Redmond, Oregon Posts: 173	Hard Drive choice Hello everyone, I was wondering what hard drive brands do you all like for editing? I am putting together a Cineform Prospect HD system. So I need to put a raid together. Thanks Matt

September 14th, 2006, 03:43 PM	#2
Matthew Pugerude Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Redmond, Oregon Posts: 173	Come on guys and Gals Hello All, No one has a hard drive brand that they like, do people just don't care or did I ask a taboo question. I have always had good luck with Western Digital but the Seagate drive crashed on me. So I am a little reluctant to get Seagate but it seems like the way to go. Any input would be great thanks. Matt

September 23rd, 2006, 03:55 PM	#3
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	All disk drive manufacturers have drives that fail. Some more than others. I recommend purchasing the drives with the 5 year warranties, however this is not a guarantee that your drives will not fail. Personally, I have had good luck with Maxtor, Seagate, and Western Digital. I recommend purchasing "Enterpise" or "Server" class drives as they then to be more durable at a slight increase in cost. For video editing I recommend using 7200 rpm drives. The 10k or 16k drives give off more heat. I highly recommend against using Raid 5 for video ediiting. In my opinion, I recommend using SATA drives and keeping them cool. Some drives run very hot and the cooling systems in many computers can not keep the drives cool. In my opinion, I recommend againt using drives in small firewire enclosures. Many of these enclosures do not keep the drives cool enough. The failure rate of these is high. For a desktop sytem, if you want to be unconventional, you can use SATA drives, with long SATA cables, and place the drives external to your computer. Then add an external fan to keep the drives cool. With this unconventional setup, you can swap out one drive for another easily as your storage needs grow. Caution: If you choose to use a Raid Setup, you will have to swap out all drives in the raid array at one time. If you choose this unconventional setup, I would recommend against any type of Raid, and then keeping all of the data for one video project on one drive. Then you can remove this drive and replace it with another when you start another large project. Of course, you may be able to put may projects on one drive. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

January 5th, 2007, 08:21 AM	#5
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Betsy, I have two answers to your question. First, Seagate currently makes a 750gb drive. I have had one for about three months now and it has worked flawlessly. I consider www.newegg.com to be a great place to purchase computer hardware. Second, all of your footage does not have to be on one drive. I recommend using a computer that has SATA disk drive interfaces. SATA is either on your computer's motherboard, or you can purchase SATA adapter cards that plug into your computer. (I am speaking mainly of the PC world, the Macintosh world may be different, I have not studied the options available for the Macintosh.) If your computer has SATA you probably have 4 or maybe even 6 SATA ports. This means that you can support 4 or 6 SATA drives. But, you may or may not have room in your computer for 4 or 6 drives. Personally, I needed to have a lot of storage as I edited a movie in which we had over 70 hours of footage. I have the side of my computer open, and I purchased long SATA cables (18"). I have two SATA drives mounted in the computer. Then I have two SATA cables and power supply connections coming out of the side of the computer. This allows me to plug in two extra SATA drives at a time. The beauty of this is that then I have four drives available at any time, and the two external drives can be swapped for another set of two at any time. I swap the the two external drives for two new (or empty) drives when I start another large project. Ideally, I would have an "External SATA" card installed in my computer so that I would not have to keep the side open. However, this does work very well. My internal SATA drives are setup as C: and D:. My first set of external drives are J: and K:, the next set is L: and M:, and my currently mounted set is O: and P:. The neat thing about this is when I remount another drive or set, the system immediatly recognizes it as the proper drive or drives. I will be happy to assist. Please feel free to email me privately and I will give you my phone number. It will be just a few dollars more to purchase two 500gb drives compared to one 750gb drive. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

January 4th, 2007, 07:38 PM	#4
Betsy Moore Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 444	Dan, what should one do if they have a project too large for even a 500gb hard drive? I'm working on something mammoth. It'll eventually be over two hours in length, is in HDV and the raw footage (98% of which I have to load onto the computer) is probably close to 80 hours. Any advice? Is there any way I can string together a few external hard drives and use them all at once? Currently, I've filled up one 500gb drive with the footage for the first couple of sequences. Thanks:)