is it wise to source from and render to same external hard drive at DVinfo.net

Graham Jones · February 3rd, 2005, 04:58 AM

I'm using a Matrox 250 GB external firewire hard drive. It's 137 GB Full - with unedited footage. 96GB remains.

Is it wise to render edited scenes to the same hard drive? Is it okay that my source and destination are on the same drive. Does this cause problems or a loss in speed.

Opinions appreciated.

Rob Lohman · February 3rd, 2005, 05:01 AM

No problems, fine to do. You will loose speed ofcourse, since it will
need to read and write to the same drive. I've done a lot of
rendering on/to the same drive.

p.s. you will also increase fragmentation on that drive....

Graham Jones · February 3rd, 2005, 05:23 AM

Thanks Rob. How do I increase fragmentation on that drive? Just go to drive and open disk defragmenter?

I expect my edit to be about 40 GB max, whereas I have 96 left.

Rob Lohman · February 3rd, 2005, 05:33 AM

Decrease fragmentation, you want to decrease it <g>

Right-click on a drive in my computer and select properties. Go into
the tools tab. There will be a button Defragment Now. Another way
is to go to your administrative tools and open computer management.
The disk defragmenter is under storage.

Graham Jones · February 3rd, 2005, 07:46 AM

yeah, sorry I got confused there for a second. You meant that rendering edited scenes to the same hard drive the footage is on will increase fragmentation...

Would you have recommended de-fragging now if I hadn't asked how to do it... should I leave de-fragging until I experience problems?

Thanks again!

Ed Smith · February 3rd, 2005, 11:11 AM

I personally would leave defragging until you have finished your project. De-fragging can take a while with extremely large files on a disk.

You could of course analyse before you defrag that way you will find out whether you would need to do it or not.

Tommy Campbell · February 3rd, 2005, 11:30 AM

Executive Software's Diskkeeper would be a good investment. Its an enhanced version of the disk defragger that comes with windows, but allows for scheduling, defragging the windows swap file, etc... I keep mine set to continiously defrag if I'm not using the computer. costs about $30 or $40.

Bogdan Vaglarov · February 3rd, 2005, 09:06 PM

Hmm... basicly you are OK to read&write to same drive but add to that it's external... - double bottle neck for the speed (although good external interfaces doesn't limit the hardrive phisical speed). But again the FireWire connection should work in both directions so really doesn't sound clever.
Don't you have some space on internal drives to schedule your render to there. Don't be afraid to use the drive with the OS&programs (the system one). It wont hurt performance as most things are executed from the RAM anyway.

Graham Jones · February 4th, 2005, 02:16 AM

I don't have so much space on internal drive that I could be comfortable. I don't mind if rendering takes longer using the external drive, due to the fact that I am also sourcing footage from it. Just needed to know if I would create other problems.. but I think it will be okay.

February 3rd, 2005, 04:58 AM	#1
Graham Jones Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 489	is it wise to source from and render to same external hard drive I'm using a Matrox 250 GB external firewire hard drive. It's 137 GB Full - with unedited footage. 96GB remains. Is it wise to render edited scenes to the same hard drive? Is it okay that my source and destination are on the same drive. Does this cause problems or a loss in speed. Opinions appreciated. __________________ www.irishfilmmaker.com

February 3rd, 2005, 05:01 AM	#2
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	No problems, fine to do. You will loose speed ofcourse, since it will need to read and write to the same drive. I've done a lot of rendering on/to the same drive. p.s. you will also increase fragmentation on that drive.... __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

February 3rd, 2005, 05:23 AM	#3
Graham Jones Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 489	Thanks Rob. How do I increase fragmentation on that drive? Just go to drive and open disk defragmenter? I expect my edit to be about 40 GB max, whereas I have 96 left. __________________ www.irishfilmmaker.com

February 3rd, 2005, 05:33 AM	#4
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Decrease fragmentation, you want to decrease it <g> Right-click on a drive in my computer and select properties. Go into the tools tab. There will be a button Defragment Now. Another way is to go to your administrative tools and open computer management. The disk defragmenter is under storage. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

February 3rd, 2005, 07:46 AM	#5
Graham Jones Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 489	yeah, sorry I got confused there for a second. You meant that rendering edited scenes to the same hard drive the footage is on will increase fragmentation... Would you have recommended de-fragging now if I hadn't asked how to do it... should I leave de-fragging until I experience problems? Thanks again! __________________ www.irishfilmmaker.com

February 3rd, 2005, 11:11 AM	#6
Ed Smith Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Hampshire, England Posts: 1,545	I personally would leave defragging until you have finished your project. De-fragging can take a while with extremely large files on a disk. You could of course analyse before you defrag that way you will find out whether you would need to do it or not. __________________ Ed Smith Hampshire, UK Good things come to those who wait My Skiing web www.Frostytour.co.uk For quick answers Search dvinfo.net \| The best in the business: dvinfo.net Sponsors

February 3rd, 2005, 11:30 AM	#7
Tommy Campbell Tourist Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: GA, USA Posts: 2	Executive Software's Diskkeeper would be a good investment. Its an enhanced version of the disk defragger that comes with windows, but allows for scheduling, defragging the windows swap file, etc... I keep mine set to continiously defrag if I'm not using the computer. costs about $30 or $40.

February 3rd, 2005, 09:06 PM	#8
Bogdan Vaglarov Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Yokohama, Japan Posts: 366	Hmm... basicly you are OK to read&write to same drive but add to that it's external... - double bottle neck for the speed (although good external interfaces doesn't limit the hardrive phisical speed). But again the FireWire connection should work in both directions so really doesn't sound clever. Don't you have some space on internal drives to schedule your render to there. Don't be afraid to use the drive with the OS&programs (the system one). It wont hurt performance as most things are executed from the RAM anyway.

February 4th, 2005, 02:16 AM	#9
Graham Jones Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 489	I don't have so much space on internal drive that I could be comfortable. I don't mind if rendering takes longer using the external drive, due to the fact that I am also sourcing footage from it. Just needed to know if I would create other problems.. but I think it will be okay. __________________ www.irishfilmmaker.com