SATA drive data transfer
 

Hi

Now I am beginning the understand why all these large HDD, my 80 gig "ain't gona cutit" I only have sata hookup 1 &2 on the motherboard, HDD in 1 and DVD in 2, there are duplication docks for around $100 and software I have found for around $50, I am not real familiar with the SATA stuff, I have known people in the "IDE" days to have a master and slave HDD, is this an option or is there a another option?

Thanks

Look at using HuffYUV lossless compression, which takes up about 30-40GB/hour of footage.

Granted, that still won't last long if all you have is 80GB total drive capacity. Not the mention writing to>from the same drive takes longer, as does using the same drive where Windows is installed (along with the temp/swap files).

Anyway...

1. How many PCI or PCI Express slots are open and available in the computer?
2. Any Firewire ports?
3. What's your total budget?
4. Do you live near a Microcenter or Fry's Electronics?
5. Is there no IDE in this computer?

I don't think I've ever seen a SATA 80GB drive -- seems so tiny. Must be an OEM computer? (Dell, HP, etc?) Smallest SATA I've ever owned was a 400GB.

I have 2 standard pci slots and a pcie16, and 1 ide.

Okay, that's #1 and #5. Now how about #2-4? :)

Sorry...

#2 - no

#3 - no more than I have to

#4 - no

Forgot a few more:

6. Do you have space inside the computer to add more hard drives? Is there either a physical bay open, or maybe some space on the bottom of the case where a disc could lie "loose"? (I'll tell you how to tie it down easy+cheap, if needed.)

7. Are you seeking an internal or external fix, or does it not matter? Personally, I go for internal drives first, when available.

It's a standard desktop tower so yes and yes

Okay, I'm looking at a few options here. Which one interests you the most?

1. Adding two or more internal SATA-II connections.
2. Adding one internal SATA-II, and one e-SATA external connection.

On one computer, I have a card with one internal SATA, one internal IDE, and one eSATA -- I wanted that eSATA. However, on another computer, I have four extra internal SATA's, there was no need for external -- I just use USB2 on that system, if needed (and it's almost never needed).

Which scenario strikes your fancy the most? All internal, or less internal at the bonus of an external?

Note that eSATA drives cost more than Firewire or USB drives. If you have Firewire, then that suffices for most video work -- my eSATA needs are due to loading raw DSLR images quickly, and using an external RAID-1 drives that I can take on-site to events.

I got another computer I thought was like this one, this one only has sata 1&2 connections on the MB, the other has sata 1-4, no firewire, but maybe that needs to be the unit I do all this on? How would you set this up, I think I saw a 1 TB HDD with like 64 mags cashe for around $100, I could do that and put XP pro on it, what else would you suggest?

Adding more drives isn't a big issue. I don't see any need to move computers unless you just want to. Personally, I like having ALL of my systems edit-ready, just in case work overflows and I need more space to process/etc.

You do NOT want your operating system (Windows) to reside on the same drive as your videos that you're working with. Most OS, especially Windows, use temporary hard drive space for temp files, cache, swap files, virtual RAM, etc. All of that I/O on the drive will interrupt the flow of video data, as well as help to fragment the video data. Neither of those is good. It's best to dedicated a drive to Windows and programs (or other user files like Word docs, MP3, photos, etc), and then use a separate drive for your video work.

A 1TB drive is probably fine. If you want great deals on hard drives, there are only two places I suggest: Geeks.com for online shopping, or Microcenter (or Fry's) for in-store local shopping. Some people like Newegg, but I find them to be overrated and often overpriced. Amazon has good deals from time to time, too. (If you're shopping around, be sure to use our links, if you don't mind.)

There's nothing wrong with refurbished hard drives, FYI. I buy them all the time, no complaints here. I've had worse luck with "brand new" drives sold online or in stores. I bought about a dozen drives last year, mostly refurbs, and mostly from Geeks or Microcenter.

As far as adding a SATA drive to the system that has run out of SATA ports...

All you have to do is add a card. I asked you a lot of questions, trying to decide what card you really need, as there are quite a few options.

However, I just now came across this card from Promise: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B0032GPZPO
Promise is a well-known name for expansion cards, be it IDE, SATA or RAID (or all of the above!). This exact card has two internal SATA-II (3Gb) connections, an IDE, and an external eSATA connection. This card is a new product from Dec 2009, and did not exist when I put together my last system in July 2009 -- I wish it had!

Prior to finding that item, I had been looking at these:

• 2 internal SATA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B002GHBVSA
• 2 internal SATA, 2 external SATA (not eSATA): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B001K8K236
• 1 internal SATA-I, 1 external eSATA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B00199EPKW --- this is a card I use, also bought from Amazon

The promise is the cheapest, fastest and has the most port options. Unbelievable. I'm tempted to buy myself one, and toss out my current card. (But I won't, because I' m too busy to tear apart the computer.)

Hope that helps. :)

So you save your files to another drive...That sounds good but you can't work on the other drive with out having the program and the O/S...can you?

C: = Windows + programs, other stuff if there is space for it
D: = video files

Two drives.

Ok...so you just use drive D for transfer/write storage, I think that would be a good idea.