HDV editing from an external scratch disk?

I use FCE to edit High Def video from my HCR HC1 and at the moment have my scratch disk on my internal hard drive. In the past i stupidly put it on my USB 2.0 external hard drive but quickly found i had problems with dropped frames etc. during playback. Can anyone give me feedback on using an external fire wire hard drive for a scratch disk (with HDV) and playback results/any problems encountered?
Thanks.

Hi Ross, I don't currently use an external scratch disk, only my internal 500Gb disk, but my experience may still have some relevance. My external 250Gb USB is used purely for copying files around via Finder.
I use two HCR-HC3 camcorders to do multi-cam edits. I have found that I get an occasional dropped frame during playback, especially if I am scubbing the timeline too agressively, or have another app in the background.
Good luck with the comments from other folk.

Similar Messages

Is it possible to boot or Time Machine restore from an external Thunderbolt disk drive?

(There are several questions - search for "?".)
I purchased a Seagate Backup Plus for Mac Desktop Drive 3 TByte with default USB 3.0 interface, and also acquired the Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter for Backup Plus Desktop Drives and Thunderbolt cable.
I do a redundant backup to the Seagate Drive using both Carbon Copy Cloner (nightly) and Time Machine (hourly) using its Thunderbolt adapter. BTW: One never knows when Time Machine will choke - see discussion titled, "UPDATED: Serious Time Machine bug on Mountain Lion", which I had; Rest In Peace Pondini (James Lewis Pond).
Booting from the external Seagate Backup Plus via Thunderbolt inteface from System Preferences -> Startup Disk:
I select the Time Machine OS X, 10.8.5 Startup Disk (Thunderbolt attached drive), click Restart, confirm my choice, the computer reboots, however, it reboots from the internal Macintosh HD OS X, 10.8.5, NOT the selected external Thunderbolt drive. The SSD drive was used as the Startup Drive, not the selected external Time Machine volume as indicated by the display free disk space command (df(1)) and seeing that the Macintosh HD OS X, 10.8.5 volume is mounted as root. That is very deceptive in that both the internal and external drives will appear in the same manner from a GUI point of view! OS X doesn't even inform me that it did not boot off the selected volume. This is the first half of the problem, that is, Is it possible to boot from an external Thunderbolt disk drive? In my case, the answer is deceptively No. Can anybody else boot off a Thuderbolt attached disk drive? Note that if I remove the Thunderbolt adapter, and attach the drive via its USB 3.0 cable, the MBP boots off the external Seagate Backup Plus just fine, as is expected.
Booting from the external Seagate Backup Plus via Thunderbolt inteface from boot-time "Option - Select startup disk" method:
When I restart the MBP using the startup Option key to select the startup volume, the externally connected Seagate drive ONLY SHOWS UP if it is attached with the USB 3.0 cable, not when it is attached with via the Thunderbolt interface. Can anyone else boot off a Thunderbolt drive with the startup Option key sequence? At least the MBP doesn't deceive me in this case - I know right away that the external Thunderbolt drive is not an option when connected as such.
Time Machine restore from the external Seagate Backup plus via Thunderbolt interface from the "command-R - Recovery Parition" method:
After booting from the recovery partition, I attempt to perform a Time Machine restore from the Thunderbolt connected Seagate Backup drive. When Time Machine attempts to present me with a viable backup Time Machine volume, the external Thunderbolt drive is never offered as an option. So I switch the Time Machine volume to use its USB 3.0 interface, and then Time Machine displays that drive as an option, and the MBP proceeds with the restoration as expected. The interesting thing to note is that while booted in the recovery partition via the Thuderbolt cable, the MBP Disk Utility may be selected, and the Thunderbolt attached drive may be operated on just fine. Can anybody else restore their MBP using Time Machine and the Recovery Partition via the Thunderbolt interface?
This is also a big problem for me in that I am forced to restore my MBP via Carbon Copy Cloner using the USB 3.0 interface, because I cannot even boot off that volume's Thunderbolt interface. Of course, the option may be that I could use yet another eternal USB 3.0 drive, boot from it, and then use Carbon Copy Cloner to restore the Macintosh HD via the aforementioned drive connected by a Thunderbolt cable, but that is less than ideal and not elegant, so I'm not going there.
Another side issue is that the commercially available program, TechTool Pro 7's eDrive, which I installed on the Time Machine volume, will not boot off that eDrive as advertised, but I won't got through those steps here, because that would be beyond the scope of this issue, however, I must say, It does not work either when the Time Machine volume is connected via the Thunderbolt interface, but works just fine when connected via the USB 3.0 interface.

If this helps anybody else make a decision about whether to consider Apple because of Apple's superior customer service:
Apple sells this entire line of drives right in their store, from 1TB to 4TB. I spent 1 and 1/2 hours, yesterday, confirming that the 3TB model IS NOT 100% Thunderbolt compliant. A MBP cannot boot, nor can it Time Machine restore from this drive, though EVERYTHING about the drive is normal.
Apple's South Coast Plaza store management had at least two responses to me personally about how to proceed:
1. Buy a different drive from another drive manufacturer, and to attempt to return the drive to COSTCO. A lead genius suggested going with GTech drives, for instance.
2. Wait for Seagate to fix their problem.
I told Apple management in the store that the drive is advertised as Mac Compatible (see picture) and that it is advertised as being a Thunderbolt drive (see picture). I pressed management that my purchasing decsion to get the best possible MBP Retina was based on the availablity of Inexpensive Devises (raID), and that not having this complete compatibility is a show-stopper for my needs, and that I wanted a refund. Their response? They needed to talk with "Merchendising" to see if they are on or off the hook for these kind of 3rd party assertions, and would get back to me.
I am not holding my breath.
Note: I do not hold this against the Geniuses that helped me, nor against the management I've dealt with, nor the upper level engineers that I've corresponded with through Apple Care - their problem solving skills were helpful - although I could have arrived at similar conclusions given enough $$$. (For instance, try a Lacie TB drive and see if that works - we did, and it did not work. Or, we have a different TB cable and a different TB adapter, let's try those - we did, and it did not work.) I blame myself for not doing enough homework before going with Apple's solutions.

Is it possible to run two different versions of Apple operating system (for ex. 10.6.8 and 10.9) on a MacBook Pro, either on the same disk or from an external hard disk? If so, where would I find the details?

Is it possible to run two different versions of Apple operating system (for ex. 10.6.8 and 10.9) on a MacBook Pro, either on the same disk or from an external hard disk? If so, where would I find the details? (In order to be able to use the older applications no longer supported in 10.9)

If you want to add a second partition to the internal drive (in Disk Utility, select the drive, then open the partition tab and just click the + button), you should first be sure that you will have enough room to accommodate whatever the second volume will be. I am currently doing this for Snow and Mountain Lion.
To get to whatever volume is not the startup disk, restart and hold down option/alt at the chime, which will bring up a selection of the two volumes. Use the left or right arrow keys to select it and then hit enter/return.

How do I prevent Premiere from placing the scratch disk onto the 'same as project" folder

I start a project by resetting the default scratch disc settings from “same as project” (which is on my “G” drive) to another hard drive where I have always stored defaults on CS3 (the “D” drive). I never had to redo my scratch disks when I created a new project in CS3. Now I need to redo them every time. If I open an older project in CS5 it automatically places all scratch disk files onto the G drive. How do I prevent Premiere from placing all scratch disk information onto the G drive before I open an older file? By the time I get around to changing the location, Premiere has already begun saving scratch disk information on the wrong disk.
However I have another related problem. When I import an older project to nest it in a new project, the scratch discs mysteriously change back from the D drive where I set it up to the “G” drive. I finally discovered this when I reopen the project and all previews disappeared and it had defaulted back to the G drive.

Thanks. Now I know that anytime I import a CS3 project file into a CS5 project, that it will change the whole project scratch disk settings to the default without warning.
One wouldn’t think that just one imported file would change the whole overall project file (out of many imported files…not project files that do not); it is odd that Premiere changes the setting of the new overall Cs5 project without warning.

How do I copy a home made HD video file (MP4 codec) of 10 GB from an external hard disk to my Mac Book Pro? Thanks

How do I copy a home made HD video file (MP4 codec) of >10 GB from an external hard disk to my Mac Book Pro? Thanks

I will never know if the problem was one of transfer or format compatibility. The movie would not copy from one external hard diask to another, both attached to my MAC. But when the movie (which was in mpg by the way) was downloaded directly (without any other intermediary) into my external disk from the computer (a PC) where the movie was originated, the file did copy. And when I attached that external hard disk to my MAC, i could see it using the MPEC streamclip app.
Thank you anyway!

How do I import an old iphoto library from an external hard disk while keeping my editing and organization in tact?

I am running iPhoto '08 on a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz Intel C2D (MacBook Pro 3,1). I backed up my hard drive contents onto an external hard drive, then formatted my computer and installed Mountain Lion. I then re-installed iPhoto '08 and ran all the updates. Now, I would like to import my old library from the external disk onto my computer without losing my editing and organization; however, when I select "import to library" from iPhoto, the old iPhoto library is not a selectable option.
I know how to "show package contents" and import directly from the Original and Modified folders, but I don't want to lose my organization. Can I simply drag the content of those folders into my new Original and Modified folders? Will iPhoto read that correctly?
I tried to open the old library from the external disk, thinking to export them all to a folder and import from there, but that just opened my new library and none of the old photos were imported or available.
I'm running out of ideas and would appreciate any help you guys can give. Thanks!!

You don't import it.
Just drag the iphoto Library from the external to the Pictures Folder.
Then open it:
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
Never import one Library to another. Every version and thumbnail is imported like a distinct photo, you lose all your Albums, Keywords etc., the link between Original and Previews is destroyed, the non-destructive editing feature is ruined and so on. In summary: it's mess.

PE6 +External scratch disk

Good evening,
just added (via PE6 Editor -> Performance ->F:\) an external USB scratch disk and now PE6 Editor refuses to open, error displayed:
Could not initialize Photoshop Elements because the file is locked. Use the 'Properties' command in the Windows Explorer to unlock the file.
1. There is no such command in Windows Explorer (WIN 7 Ultimate 64 Bits)
2. If I eject the USB drive then the Editor opens properly ??? but I cannot remove the scratch drive from the settings because it is not visible anymore. (viscous circle).
any hints or workarounds ??? Is it there a settings file somewhere that can be deleted or manually modified so the Editor does not try to open the external scratch drive ???
Workstation: 4GB RAM, internal 250GB HDD (2 partitions, OS:50GB, DATA:185GB usable/89.3GB free where the data and scratch disk are located)
Kind regards,
Luis
Message was edited by: scaigs

Hi John,
Ok thanks but this doesn't resolve the fact that I cannot use an external USB drive as a scratch drive.
Tried the Ctrl-Alt-shift thingy and well it never asked me to reset
Any hints anyone.

Importing songs from an external Hard Disk

As I am using a laptop, with a small amount of hard disk space and due to my excessive amount ofmusic I wish to hold my music on a external hard disk (there for is not anywhere on the c:). However when I tried to import this music into my i-tunes libary previously the itunes program could not find the information for any of my external hard disks. I was hoping someone could help me, as I cannot store all that music on a 50bd hard disk with all my other data.
This is info on the Hard Disk it may help:
Make: Lacie
Connection: USB 2.0
Plug and Play: No, drivers have to be installed off the lacie disk that came with that product.
ANy help would be appreciated so much!!!

OK just so were clear, theres 2 features in iTunes. One is File>Import which will COPY the song from its current location (Be it on an external drive or CD) to the "iTunes Music" folder on the C drive by default.
The Other feature is File>Add File (Or Folder) to Library which does not move or copy the song, it just "Points" iTunes to where the song(s) are located on the system. If you don't want these files on your laptops harddrive, you need to use this.
Now anything you buy on the iTunes Music Store are, by default put in
C;//........My Music/iTUnes/iTUnes Music folder
If you buy things from the store on this laptop, you may want to go thru iTUnes (Not Windows Explorer) to move this folder to the external. Goto Edit>preferences>advanced tab>General Sub Tab and here is where you can change the location of this file tothe external by hitting the "Change" button

Photoshop external scratch disk to improve performances?

Hi
I have performances issues with Photoshop CS2 (and with LightRoom) on a 2.16GHz Intel iMac (45GB free disk space). This is perhaps due in part to the Rosetta engine. Small files are OK to work with, but when it comes to several hundred MB files, everything slows down. There are already 3 GB of Ram installed. I wonder if using an external (FW-800?) scratch disk could improve the performances? (What about a fast USB stick? Silly?) Or would I see a big change if I upgraded to an Intel written version of Photoshop? Thanks!
Paul

George,
I do not believe that having a second partition will reserve any particular area of the drive so partitioning the drive may not buy you much
Years ago there was this utility: FWB Harddisk Toolkit, which could set a scratch volume on the faster tracks of the drive. This was more needed at the time due to small size drives (9 Gb was huge!) and lower input/output. Nowadays, the processors, drives, memory and busses are blazing fast, but the resources needed to operate the OS and programs are way bigger too, and so are the digital camera files... One day shoot can easily reach 16 Gb of RAW files.
The idea is to keep your files stored on the external like you are doing but have the immediate files you are working on saved and opened from your desktop. Once you are finished working on it, copy it to the external then delete from desktop. If this is not going to work well for you the next best thing would be to get a FireWire 800 drive. The read/write speeds will be double that of the USB external.
Years ago I would spend $800 or more for a 500 Gb FW-800 drive for there was no other choice, but now when you need another 1Tb drive every 6 months or so, the FW-800 are still relatively expensive and the USB-2 very cheap! ... And so is the iMac in comparison to a MacPro! I suppose that I get what I pay for.
Thanks!
Paul

Requirements for an external scratch disk

Hi guys
I am looking into buying an external hard drive to use as a scratch disk for editing. I was wondering what the requirements are for it to work as a scratch disk.
Thanks

Sorry Luke to correct, but Firewire is the way to go. USB2 does not guarantee sustained data transfer as video requires. Even though some posters claim they had no problem with USB2.
Even though slightly more expensive I'd always buy firewire for video.
Piero

Best External Scratch Disk ?

I have a MacBook Pro with a 250GB drive and I wanted to get a portable external hard drive to store all my videos on and use as scratch disk. My question is, does anyone have any suggestions on which external drive would work best? I was looking at a 320GB Iomega eGo with firewire interface. My only concern is the data transfer rate, I don't want there to be any problems when I'm editing off an external drive.

Depends on the type of footage you work with. If it's just DV, any drive with FireWire 400 will work just fine (though you'll of course want to read reviews to determine one with good reliability. NewEgg.com is a good place to start). If you're getting into HD, you'll want FW800 at least. You may also want to use this handy tool:
http://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/videospace/
to calculate how big a drive you want based on how large your projects tend to run.
If you're looking for my personal recommendation, I've used the OWC Mercury Elite Pro for a while now and it's served me well.

External Scratch disk disappears when DV camera plugged in.

Tried searching for this but there are so many things it could be I couldn't find anything that helped....
Hello Everyone,
My Dad's new imac seems to be having trouble accepting his firewire DV camera.
He has an external Lacie hard drive connected to the iMac via FW800. This is his scratch disk for Final Cut Pro.
When he just plugged his DV camera in to the FW400 port of the iMac, the Lacie drive (it's partitioned in to 3) disappeared.
When he unplugged the camera, it re-appeared. We tried plugging the camera in to the spare FW400 port on the back of his external, but this made Final Cut think that the drive was set to "read only" which, doesn't allow Final Cut to operate.
The External drive is partitioned correctly. He's used it fine since he got it.
I am suspecting that it has something to do with the DV camera or the Firewire 400 (6 circuit to 4 circuit) cable. I'm actually away from him at the moment and he doesn't have a second cable to try out but his next door neighbor may do so he's going over to ask tomorrow.
The Camera works fine. The iMac is only a couple of weeks old, if that. It was a reconditioned model so I also suspect there may be an issue with the FW400 port on the mac.
Is there a way to check the integrity of the firewire ports?
Has anyone experienced this problem?
We are trying to eliminate things as we think of them so I will post back any results. Thanks for your time.
Double_ohh7

Studio X,
From your comment on Cartoonguys post I should mention that my Dad's DV camera is a Canon too.
We narrowed things down a bit and it backs up what you've said. With Final Cut closed down, and the DV camera off, the external drive is ok. Turning the DV camera on does not affect anything. Opening FCP does not affect anything. Upon opening the capture window however, the external drive gets ejected and we get finders "Device Removal" warning.
Based on what you told me I searched around a bit and found plenty of comments from people experiencing problems on a single bus. A lot of them seemed to be the DV camera not working alongside FW800.
The next thing we will do is;
1) reset the scratch disk to the Primary Drive and try to capture from the Canon DV camera.
2) try plugging the external drive in to the FW400 port of the mac and then daisy chaining the DV camera through the FW400 port of the external.
3) if that doesn't birth any success then I will try reformatting the drive as a single partition and try it via both FW800 and FW400. (Thank you Gary).
I have a G4 Powerbook and have daisy chained until the cows come home and never had a problem. I have a very fuzzy recollection of trying to capture some of my Dad's skiing footage once and not being able to do it. I couldn't swear on the finer details but this has certainly got me wondering.
Randy,
The "read only" issue confused me as I knew the drive WAS set to "read write". That issue only came up through Final Cut and only when we attached the Canon DV camera. If it happens again whilst we are trying out our options I will open info and check while it is all connected but I think it was caused by a bad relationship.
Studio X, Gary, Randy,
Armed with all your advice we'll play around and see what happens. Thank you very much for taking the time to help and putting us on the right track. We'd be lost without you!
I shall post all results...
Double ohh

How can i copy files from one external hard disk to another using macbook pro with retina display

How can i copy files from one external hard drive to another using macbook pro with retina display?

That's odd - if you open Disk Utility (Applications->Utilities) and select the disk(s), how are they formatted? If you're only going to be used with your Mac, they should be formatted as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
Clinton

HT1295 Is it possible to use vst plugins for garageband from an external hard disk? (Without installing to the system hard disk)

Hi,
I got my MacBook pro 17" installed a 250GB of SSD as a system disk.
And i got 4TB of Thunderbolt External Disk.
The thing that i want is: to use my VST plugins for Garageband or Logic without fulling the system disk. Is it possible use them from an external disk?
Thnx

Garageband can't use VST plugins.
If you're talking about AUs: you could try to put an alias into the HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components folder instead of the actual files, and see if GB loads them.

External Scratch Disk?

I notice in CS4, that in the Performance Preference, Photoshop is giving me an option to use my 2 external drives as scratch disks. Is it now okay to do this? If not, what happens if you do?
Thanks!

Of course Photoshop allows a scratch disk on a non journaled drive. That is what we used before we had the option of journaled drives in Panther.
I thought all this was covered in the Adobe Knowledgebase regarding optimizing Photoshop performance but a second look indicates it is not. Adobe does not appear to make any distinction regarding journaled and non-journaled drives for scratch drive use.
In addition to journaled volumes, scratch drive performance can be affected by Time Machine, anti virus/malware scanners, background defragmenting (ie: Hot-File-Adaptive-Clustering), content indexing and any other odd process that runs in the background reading/writing to your drive.
Even when you disable all this fluff on your scratch drive partition, another journaled partition may still be stealing the attention of the drive heads. So I like to keep a dedicated, non-partitioned drive for scratch.

HDV editing from an external scratch disk?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for