How much hard drive do I need to capture 5 hours of raw footage? at DVinfo.net

February 17th, 2002, 10:20 AM

I have 5 hours of raw footage I need to edit. How much drive space do I need? Do I need a separate external drive? I'm thinking of buying the new imac (because of price) and I wanted to know what's the best way of capturing my footage and working with it.

Thank you.

Gilbert

Peter Koller · February 17th, 2002, 10:45 AM

Hi Gilbert,

I just looked at my files and they range from 12,2 to 13,2 GB per 60 minute tape (miniDV). The difference comes first, from the actual length of the tape as most of them actually run around 62 minutes and second, how close to the end of the tape I filmed.

As for harddisk space: No matter how many Gigabyte, Terabyte or Exabyte you have, you will NEVER EVER have enough of it. :-)

Cheers, Peter

Chris Hurd · February 17th, 2002, 11:12 AM

A commonly available 80 GB drive will hold 6 hours of DV. Make sure it's an IDE drive that spins at least at 5400rpm. It doesn't have to be an external drive, but it should be used for nothing else but DV... no programs, operating system, etc... just video storage.

Ed Smith · February 17th, 2002, 11:19 AM

Gilbert,

For every 5 minutes of footage it would take roughly 1gig of hard disk space, and so for 5 hours worth of footage you need something pretty big probably a 60 or 80 gig disk would do the job.

I suggest that you use this drive only for video footage and nothing else due to the amount of space one might need.

You don't really need an external hard drive, but with no experience with Macs I could be wrong, but you could probably get a way with internal ones. Your best bet would be for fire wire disks but these can cost quite a bit, or you could use an IDE 5400rpm standard hard drive much more cheaper.

All the best,

Ed Smith

John Locke · February 17th, 2002, 11:47 AM

I was going to mention the new offlineRT feature of Final Cut Pro 3.0, and the fact that you'd need less than 4 gigs space to edit 5 hours of footage

...but I don't want to start another PC/Mac war.

;)

February 17th, 2002, 07:11 PM

Thank you for the help!

Gilbert

Adrian Douglas · February 17th, 2002, 11:30 PM

This is an article on IDE RAID that might help.

http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/cgi-bin/getframeletter.cgi?/2002/01_jan/news/cw_avidds5ships.htm

Rob Lohman · February 18th, 2002, 03:03 AM

Keep in mind here that you do not only need storage for
your raw material! You also need space for temporary
files, preview files (if you use Premiere at least) and space
for output files! If you output straight to DiVX or MPEG2 it
might not be much space. But if you are going to output
back to DV your going to need more space again.

I just bought myself a brandnew 60GB 7200 RPM Maxtor
drive... Very nice, very needed!

Good luck

Edward Troxel · February 18th, 2002, 10:38 AM

5 hours * 13 Gig/Hour = 65 Gig

You will need a minimum of 65 Gig to hold 5 hours of footage. You will also need additional space for rendering and other associated pieces of overhead. I would recommend a minimum of 80 Gig.

February 17th, 2002, 10:20 AM	#1
vuduproman Posts: n/a	How much hard drive do I need to capture 5 hours of raw footage? I have 5 hours of raw footage I need to edit. How much drive space do I need? Do I need a separate external drive? I'm thinking of buying the new imac (because of price) and I wanted to know what's the best way of capturing my footage and working with it. Thank you. Gilbert

February 17th, 2002, 11:12 AM	#3
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	A commonly available 80 GB drive will hold 6 hours of DV. Make sure it's an IDE drive that spins at least at 5400rpm. It doesn't have to be an external drive, but it should be used for nothing else but DV... no programs, operating system, etc... just video storage. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

February 17th, 2002, 11:47 AM	#5
John Locke Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Austin, TX USA Posts: 2,882	I was going to mention the new offlineRT feature of Final Cut Pro 3.0, and the fact that you'd need less than 4 gigs space to edit 5 hours of footage ...but I don't want to start another PC/Mac war. ;) __________________ John Locke SursumFilms.com

February 17th, 2002, 07:11 PM	#6
vuduproman Posts: n/a	Thanks Thank you for the help! Gilbert

February 17th, 2002, 11:30 PM	#7
Adrian Douglas Trustee Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Chigasaki, Japan. Posts: 1,660	This is an article on IDE RAID that might help. http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/cgi-bin/getframeletter.cgi?/2002/01_jan/news/cw_avidds5ships.htm __________________ Adrian DVInfo.net Search for quick answers Where to buy? From the best in the business...DVInfo.net sponsors

February 17th, 2002, 10:45 AM	#2
Peter Koller Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Brunn am Gebirge, Austria Posts: 161	Hi Gilbert, I just looked at my files and they range from 12,2 to 13,2 GB per 60 minute tape (miniDV). The difference comes first, from the actual length of the tape as most of them actually run around 62 minutes and second, how close to the end of the tape I filmed. As for harddisk space: No matter how many Gigabyte, Terabyte or Exabyte you have, you will NEVER EVER have enough of it. :-) Cheers, Peter

February 17th, 2002, 11:19 AM	#4
Ed Smith Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Hampshire, England Posts: 1,545	Gilbert, For every 5 minutes of footage it would take roughly 1gig of hard disk space, and so for 5 hours worth of footage you need something pretty big probably a 60 or 80 gig disk would do the job. I suggest that you use this drive only for video footage and nothing else due to the amount of space one might need. You don't really need an external hard drive, but with no experience with Macs I could be wrong, but you could probably get a way with internal ones. Your best bet would be for fire wire disks but these can cost quite a bit, or you could use an IDE 5400rpm standard hard drive much more cheaper. All the best, Ed Smith

February 18th, 2002, 03:03 AM	#8
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Keep in mind here that you do not only need storage for your raw material! You also need space for temporary files, preview files (if you use Premiere at least) and space for output files! If you output straight to DiVX or MPEG2 it might not be much space. But if you are going to output back to DV your going to need more space again. I just bought myself a brandnew 60GB 7200 RPM Maxtor drive... Very nice, very needed! Good luck __________________ 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 18th, 2002, 10:38 AM	#9
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	5 hours * 13 Gig/Hour = 65 Gig You will need a minimum of 65 Gig to hold 5 hours of footage. You will also need additional space for rendering and other associated pieces of overhead. I would recommend a minimum of 80 Gig.