DVCPro 50 - Drives, Capture

Hi - I am preparing to digitize footage for a project I shot on the Panasonic SDX900, DVCPro50, 24p(regular), 16x9.
I have about 40 hours of footage and will upconvert the 30-40 minute final film.
I am planning to rent a SD93 deck to capture the footage which I will work with roughing out scenes for the next month or so and then will transfer the material to a beefier system for a real editor to work with. I've never worked with DVCPro50 footage before and would love advice on how to bring it in, drives to use, etc. I'm a director, not an editor, but I like to do my own logging and often rough out scenes or sometimes have small projects that I do all the editing on my PowerBook G4, firewire drives (1 Firewire 800 port and1 400 port that share the same bus), and a DVCam deck. For this project I was planning to buy a couple of drives and upgrade from FCP HD 4.5 to 5, but am not itching to buy a new computer though if that makes way more sense, I could probably justify it. I imagine in the not too distant future I'll be working with HD, though at the moment, I'm not.
So, my questions are:
1)Should I bring the footage in SDI or Firewire, what is the difference?
2)If I use SDI, does that mean bringing it in uncompressed? 10-bit/8-bit?
3) Drives? How much space? Internal SATA, external SATA, Firewire, Raid, I'm confused.
Are these a good choice? http://www.caldigit.com/FirewireVR.asp
4)For FCP presets, should I use:
capture - DV50 NTSC 48kHz anamorphic
sequence setting - DV50 NTSC 48KHz 23.98
5) I'll need to output sample footage during the edit, will that be a problem if we no longer have the SD93 deck, or can I just burn dvd's as I usually do with my DVCam projects?
Many thanks to anyone who takes the time to wade through these questions, I've tried to do my due diligence finding answers in previous posts, but come up still confused. Best, Megan
PowerBook G4 1.25Ghz   Mac OS X (10.3.9)   512SDRam
PowerBook G4 1.25Ghz   Mac OS X (10.3.9)   512SDRam

1)Should I bring the footage in SDI or Firewire, what is the difference?
Yes, it may be better in many ways. I'm sure you can capture it in 8 bit uncompressed staying digital with your friends system.
2)If I use SDI, does that mean bringing it in uncompressed? 10-bit/8-bit?
8 bit
3) Drives? How much space? Internal SATA, external SATA, Firewire, Raid, I'm confused.
Raid a least 2 together if you can. Raid 0
Are these a good choice? http://www.caldigit.com/FirewireVR.asp
4)For FCP presets, should I use:
capture - DV50 NTSC 48kHz anamorphic
sequence setting - DV50 NTSC 48KHz 23.98
This depends on if you are pulling out the 3/2 pulldown and this is an area for others to help you with.
5) I'll need to output sample footage during the edit, will that be a problem if we no longer have the SD93 deck, or can I just burn dvd's as I usually do with my DVCam projects?
DVD for sample footage should be great from this SD project.
If you plan on going HD you will want better equipment.
Good Luck
Z1&V1user

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