External vs. Internal, FW400 vs 800 HELP! at DVinfo.net

Ray Lindsay · July 8th, 2007, 02:08 PM

I have a Dell XPS 410 with dual 2.3 mhz dual core processors. I have 1 GB RAM. I have 1 250 GB hard drive and the capability to add another internal hard drive.

I want to edit HD footage in Premiere Pro. If I store this stuff on my 250 GB hard drive I will fill it up fast and probably bog down my machine. (I only have 150 GB left)

I am planning to use an external hard drive to capture HD footage from my Canon XHA1. I then would like to edit this footage into projects using PPro 2.0. Once my project is completed I plan to burn a few DVD's and leave my project on my external hard drive for a while, and then delete later keeping the dvd's as the storage medium.

I have a G-Tech G-RAID on order that is 500 GB RAID 0. I have a firewire A (400 mbps) card in my PC. I was planning to install a firewire B board in my PCI slot that would give me 800 mbps speed. (faster is better right?) I found out that my PC does not have any 64 bit PCI slots available so I should forget about adding the new board and use my existing firewire 400 slot since the firewire b board would be limited to firewire a capabilities anyway.

Here's my question before I open my box when my G-RAID gets here. Will this idea/plan work? Is the firewire 400 connection fast enough? Should I be looking at a serial ATA external drive, or would that not matter. (I really like what I have heard about the G-RAID) Should I punt all of this and get a 500GB internal HD from Dell and install it on my machine?

Should I also consider adding 2 1GB memory boards which will give me 3GB's of RAM?

I want to make sure I do what is best long term. I may be overthinking this, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

I apologize for the very long post. I wanted to give you all as much info as necessary so I didn't force you to come back to me for more info.

Thanks!

Harm Millaard · July 8th, 2007, 11:34 PM

I would definitely add a second internal HD to your system, but not from Dell, since they overcharge so much. Get a SATA disk and install it yourself. Dell currently uses Samsung Spinpoint disks. If you shop around you will probably find a 500 GB model for around $ 100.

For external storage check if the G-Raid supports eSATA. If it does I suggest you get an eSATA PCI card. It is way faster than Firewire A or B.

For memory make sure you populate all 4 slots. If you currently have only one slot populated, you could limit yourself to adding just one identical stick, if you currently have two sticks, you can add two sticks. Minimum suggested memory would be 2 GB.

July 8th, 2007, 02:08 PM	#1
Ray Lindsay Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Parkville, MO Posts: 30	External vs. Internal, FW400 vs 800 HELP! I have a Dell XPS 410 with dual 2.3 mhz dual core processors. I have 1 GB RAM. I have 1 250 GB hard drive and the capability to add another internal hard drive. I want to edit HD footage in Premiere Pro. If I store this stuff on my 250 GB hard drive I will fill it up fast and probably bog down my machine. (I only have 150 GB left) I am planning to use an external hard drive to capture HD footage from my Canon XHA1. I then would like to edit this footage into projects using PPro 2.0. Once my project is completed I plan to burn a few DVD's and leave my project on my external hard drive for a while, and then delete later keeping the dvd's as the storage medium. I have a G-Tech G-RAID on order that is 500 GB RAID 0. I have a firewire A (400 mbps) card in my PC. I was planning to install a firewire B board in my PCI slot that would give me 800 mbps speed. (faster is better right?) I found out that my PC does not have any 64 bit PCI slots available so I should forget about adding the new board and use my existing firewire 400 slot since the firewire b board would be limited to firewire a capabilities anyway. Here's my question before I open my box when my G-RAID gets here. Will this idea/plan work? Is the firewire 400 connection fast enough? Should I be looking at a serial ATA external drive, or would that not matter. (I really like what I have heard about the G-RAID) Should I punt all of this and get a 500GB internal HD from Dell and install it on my machine? Should I also consider adding 2 1GB memory boards which will give me 3GB's of RAM? I want to make sure I do what is best long term. I may be overthinking this, but I would rather be safe than sorry. I apologize for the very long post. I wanted to give you all as much info as necessary so I didn't force you to come back to me for more info. Thanks!

July 8th, 2007, 11:34 PM	#2
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	I would definitely add a second internal HD to your system, but not from Dell, since they overcharge so much. Get a SATA disk and install it yourself. Dell currently uses Samsung Spinpoint disks. If you shop around you will probably find a 500 GB model for around $ 100. For external storage check if the G-Raid supports eSATA. If it does I suggest you get an eSATA PCI card. It is way faster than Firewire A or B. For memory make sure you populate all 4 slots. If you currently have only one slot populated, you could limit yourself to adding just one identical stick, if you currently have two sticks, you can add two sticks. Minimum suggested memory would be 2 GB.