Advice on External Firewire HD 80 or 120G?

[RobertBaker5]

HI ,
another Newbie question . But , I want to add a firewire external
Hard drive to store those huge AVI files the DV camcorder makes to work with in Ulead or MyDVD . 13 GB per hour . Do I go ahead and buy the 120 GB or can I settle for the 80 GB ? I am planning to burn them to DVD(in mpeg2files of course ) immediately after
editing in the applicable software .I understand it is best to work in avi first then burn to mpeg when through . The difference is about $ 25 . not sure how much overhead space I need for system files etc ? I am running on W-98 SE .
TIA , Robert Baker
The most DV files I can imagine working with at once is about 2 hours .Mostly Climbing and sports stuff.

[shiny#3]

if it is only 25 bucks more i would use the 120 gb version.
but there are also other aspects of performance
that are important for a HDD.

-like the amount of data that it can transfer within a second
(if not limited by the IEEE or firewire connection)
-the time it needs to allocate the requested data.
- the mtbe (meantime between error) value.
I would check that also!!

[RobertBaker5]

Thanks , Shiny G.

I will be sure to keep those in consideration when purchasing .
RB

[shiny#3]

You´re welcome!

[rsquirell]

Speed of the drive is also important...try to get the fastest you can, I got an 80GB because it was the only one immediately available at circuit city (so I could take it back if it didn't work)...and running at 7200RPM I've had no regrets. Most HD's come in FAT32 format...and you need to change that to NTFS in order to transfer files larger than 4GB through the portal to another drive. Reformatting a drive to NTFS is a lot easier if you do it right away after initial installation ( before you have anything on it).

[Oriphus]

Yeah leaving your drive in FAT32 can lead to big problems with DVD Authoring. Best thing is to format as NTFS as you install it, because switching from FAT32 to NTFS can have its own problems. Get a HD with 72,000 rpm.