firewire or U160 scsi?

[xyyz]

I'm adding an upgrade to my mom's system so that she can do video editing.

I already got the Adaptec firewire card... and i'm looking to get the Adaptec 29160 SCSI card...

but i'm a bit torn now, because I don't know if I should get a firewire drive or an U160 10k HD (maxtor atlas v)? Which has better performance? Is the firewire drive esentially an IDE HD with a firewire interface? Which will put less stress on the processors?

 

[NiceGuyEddie]

If money is not an object, go with U160 Seagate Cheetah 15K RPM

 

[PH0ENIX]

SCSI would definately have less overhead, and therefore put less strain on the CPU, because there's a dedicated I/O processor on the SCSI card itself.

But, i'm not exactly sure what you're talking about - I thought firewire was only an external interface...

Fibre-Channel SCSI would be nice; but unless you're insanely rich - I dont think it's much of an option

Definately Seagate for the drive.

 

[xyyz]

unfortunately, money is an object... otherwise I would definately get a 30gig 15k drive.

how much are the Segate 10k or 15k U160 18gb drives? right now, I can get the Maztor Atlas V for under $200.

as for the confusion... yes the firewire are for external devices... but I was thinking of having an external 80gig firewire vs. a 18gig U160 drive...

 

[CQuinn]

<< SCSI would definately have less overhead, and therefore put less strain on the CPU, because there's a dedicated I/O processor on the SCSI card itself. >>



Not true, Firewire devices are designed with the same idea as SCSI, the controller has its own processing, and firewire devices
are designed to communicate independently of the CPU.

AFAIK the firewire drives (external) are IDE internal, and the performance of the drives and bus is good enough for
simple video editing. If she is looking at doing more intensive video work, she's probably better off with a fast
internal drive as a workspace, and maybe using a firewire drive as additional storage/ a source drive.

Did you get the firewire card to hook a DV-Cam up to? If so, you are already making use of the interface,
so investigating a FV drive to add on to the setup seems like a good idea.

The Atlas V is several generations old, (and is a 7200 rpm drive) ; on benchmarks at storage review it is only
slightly ahead of modern 80G drives. And almost neck-and-neck on the linear load pattern (most likely to
reflect a video editing usage pattern).

What type of drive is she booting off of right now? You want to find a good balance between speed
(for launching the OS and apps) and storage (for saving lots of video data). If you are happy with the boot
drive the system has now, then I would go for storage over speed, as video eats up HD real estate faster than
you would believe.

 

[xyyz]

<< AFAIK the firewire drives (external) are IDE internal, and the performance of the drives and bus is good enough for
simple video editing. If she is looking at doing more intensive video work, she's probably better off with a fast
internal drive as a workspace, and maybe using a firewire drive as additional storage/ a source drive. >>



this is exactly what I want to do, once I get a bit more cash. I'll give her a 80gig storage drive so that I don't need to share the samba server. my files are really small compared to the massive photoshop, premiere she creates.



<< Did you get the firewire card to hook a DV-Cam up to? If so, you are already making use of the interface,
so investigating a FV drive to add on to the setup seems like a good idea. >>



This is the reason I have the firewire card... after I got it, the thought occured that I could buy a firewire storage and use that instead.



<< The Atlas V is several generations old, (and is a 7200 rpm drive) ; on benchmarks at storage review it is only
slightly ahead of modern 80G drives. And almost neck-and-neck on the linear load pattern (most likely to
reflect a video editing usage pattern). >>



Really? I could swear it's a 10k drive.

This is the drive and i'm pretty sure it's the AtlasV

18GB SCSI 10K RPM 68PIN WIDE 3.5LP Mfr#:KW018L2
Ultra320
4.5ms access time
8mb buffer
622MBps max internal transfer rate
320MBps max external transfer rate

What's the deal with the internal and external transfer rates?



<< What type of drive is she booting off of right now? You want to find a good balance between speed
(for launching the OS and apps) and storage (for saving lots of video data). If you are happy with the boot
drive the system has now, then I would go for storage over speed, as video eats up HD real estate faster than
you would believe. >>



The main drive is an ATA100 Maztor 30gb... which I have paritioned for apps and for the OS.

Right now, I have some storage space on ummm two samba (can configure more more if needed) servers. This is why I want to eventually get a large drive... for storage of the finished product.

 

[Goosemaster]

I believe you are refering to the Quantum(Now Maxtor by name) 10kIII drive ($180 is what i can get it for)

I have the 10kII and it's great. THer is no point in getting a cheetah because they are too expensive nad are definitely overkill. Video editing uses about 6-8Mbps at most and that is for high quaity stuff..


THe only reason I would recommend either of these expensive options for you is if you want the luxury of multitasking. I have scsi because I want to. In most situations it is not really needed, but it is nice to know that on those frequent ocassions when I really need the speed, I get it.


Firewire drives still have transfer and acess time limits do to the inefficientcy of present controllers. Technically the drives should be screaming fast, but as of yet they are only the fastest EXTERNAL drives, easily losing to any IDE internal drive.

Scsi is my choice because it is a developed interface that will assure you the best speeds. Firewire is awesome, but its still to new to have shone its colors.