Upgrade hard drive

M

Marcel

I can't afford an external harddrive for now, since they are over double the price of internal harddrives.

I'm looking at a 80g or 100g harddrive as my secondary, as I do have 40 one, but my 'pinnacle studio 9' takes up almost half of it because of all the extra stuff that comes on the CD.

I would like to upgrade my RAM but can't do that to date. I know it's still worthy to get the bigger harddrive, and hopefully my editing program will work in it.


Editing with Pinnacle Studio 9. I had problems, because my footage wouldn't be in equilibrium in movement and sounds. I did upgrade one part so far and that was up Windows XP.

Pinnacle minimums: 800 mhz, 256 ram, 98 se (have) windows XP

Hopefully when I upgrade to a larger secondary harddrive, this will solves some problems in my editing program.

My system:

384 ram
***upgraded*** to windows XP from ME
two harddrives C: 20 gig, D:40 gig.
runnning at 733 Mhz

1. Is having and 'external' harddrive better than having an 'internal' harddrive?
2. Do you think the larger harddrive will take away some of editing problems?

thank you

marcel
 
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Imo, having an external is handier than an internal one. You can just keep expanding with them, simply by plugging them in. It's convenience more than anything else.

The new larger drive is not going to solve your editing problems, though, unless the previous drive you were using was a slow spinner. (Needs be 7200RPM or better to stop drops). The only thing it will allow you to do is store more stuff on it... which can be useful, I guess, but it's not going to improve anything else.

The two things that you could do to vastly improve performance would be to:

1) Increase RAM to at least 512mb.

2) Upgrade your CPU. If it's an older board, I think you could get it up to 900-ish?

_________

Also... you should have your editing software on a different drive than to where you capture the audio/video.

Countdown to thread getting moved to another forum... 5... 4... 3... 2...
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Moved to Technology. Please post in the forum that best suits your post. Thanks

LOL @ Zen!
 
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I have close to 14 miniDV tapes of shot footage of my film (some full, some not), and I need to get them edited.

And I don't have anything to sell of value. I'm to old and out of shape to be a Gigolo for at least one week. Crap.

marcel
 
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Actually I lied I have 617 mhz, and this is an upgraded computer. My previous computer had 733.

How can I tell if I can upgrade up computer to a higher processor?

Either way, it looks like I have to upgrade to larger harddrive, higher processor, and more RAM.

thanks for the advice.

marcel
 
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How can I tell if I can upgrade up computer to a higher processor?
Click to expand...

You need to identify your motherboard. When you have that model#, you can then look up the maximums to which it can upgraded for cpu & ram.

It may actually not be that expensive to do, btw. It sounds like you have an older computer (if at 617... that sounds odd, btw) but in that ballpark you should be maxed at 900-ish and 512. A 900mhz processor would be dirt-cheap these days and small blocks of RAM are a dime a dozen.

You have a friend who can take a peek inside the box and identify things? Or even possibly install the components?

_______

Btw, if you got an external drive you'd want to make sure it was connected with either FireWire or USB2. I just mention this, as older computers may not have those plugs as standard. Regular USB connection won't be fast enough for an a/v drive.

_______

to old and out of shape to be a Gigolo for at least one week
Click to expand...

There's always time for the ladies.
smiley_creepy.gif
 
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i get my stuff through pricewatch.com (not necessarily the best way to get good product, but the way to get cheapest) and since I'm just an IT guy, I can identify what I want, etc.

You can get a firewire external enclosure for $35 then get an ide hard drive and connect them togther, you are set, so there's your external firewire hard drive that works well (I have 3) and price wise,the same as an internal ones :) (except for the case)
 
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I'll have to take my computer to a PC shop and get the scoop on what I can update. I know I have USB ports and that other stuff.

And I know how to install most of the other stuff.

I'll keep track of your information and present it to the better knowledged experts.

marcel
 
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probably your PC has a USB 1.1 port and may not have firewire. You'll probably need a card for that. I'm also concerned about P9 filling up a 40Gig drive, VERY hard to believe. If it's on a CD then it's less than a GIG. I am wondering if you could even capture DV footage without dropping frames. With your RAM below 512Megs, and the drive filled up, there might be a problem. If you do get an external firewire drive, that should handle the DV import but it all runs through the PC's processor and memory, so that may be the bottleneck...
Also, make sure your harddrives are at least 7200RPM, otherwise it may not have the continous throughput needed to sustain a steady DV import without dropping frames.
 
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actually I looked at an old folder in my d drive and saw I had a 23 minute film sitting in it. The film was edited on adobe premiere 6, which I still have. Now that was an unstable program if I every saw one, or maybe my other computer was out dated to run such a program.

and pinnacle 9 with hollywood fx takes up 4.4 gigs, but I don't think a 40 gig harddrive cuts it any more. Good for home videos I guess.

I have to see if I can put that 23 minute film together because it's split in two for some reason, and get it off my harddrive and find a distributor for it.

I will follow with what the others said and look into upgrading if I can afford it.

1. Would using Pinnacle studio 9 better to use for editing or
2. Would Premiere 6 be better?

thanks

marcel
 
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Well, personally I moved away from Premier and on to vegas because of the unstableness you mentioned.. actually it was more like the rendering ALL THE TIME. I'm sure the newer versions are better though. I used PStudio for about an hour and tossed it.

BUT it's up to you. You believe that Premier is unstable, so maybe that's not for you. Perhaps you can't cut a 23 minute film with your RAM and drive space and processor with Premier. I would assume there's a LOT of disk caching going on since the RAM can't handle it.

You should be able to burn that film onto DVD. Well that is... if you have a DVD burner.
 
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Marcel, Pinnacle Studio 9 is limited in options and it is not as powerful as Premiere Pro 1.5 or Vegas.

For Premiere Pro 1.5 to work well enough, I would not recommend anything slower than 2.4ghz, and the faster your computer is, the less you have to render before previewing, and since i've worked with Premiere back when it's 4.2 and now, I can say Pro 1.5 is really better and less prompt for error (now, that also depending what you feed your computer with, and the hardware, etc)...

IMHO, for premiere pro 1.5 to run smoothly, you would need at least a 2.4ghz, or better, go with those HyperThreading ones - 2.8ghz and up, use at least 1gig of DDR1 (PC3200 RAM), 2 hard drives (one for system software, one for video editing, both should be 7200rpm), a firewire card, a decent video card (nVidea FX5200 128meg - $60), a 17" monitor and a camera, Windows SP2 (if you get a 3.0ghz or higher cpu, then you can consider getting a motherboard with SATA connectors and then eventually this computer can also help as basic for HDV editing).... Granted you can do fine with a 1.7ghz computer like Peter John Ross have, but a bit longer time for rendering, etc.

Sony Vegas' is also a very good program, and it's not as 'hardware' intensive as Premiere Pro 1.5 would require, I didn't use much of Vegas because of not wanting to learn a new trick, but, I have played a bit with it and liked what I saw with it.

Ultimately, it's up to you, each have 30 days trial for you to test with, and if you have to choose, choose between Vegas or Premiere Pro 1.5 for PC computers or using Avid when you feel like you are readied for it :)

Johnny
 
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I can't afford to upgrade, but going to have to. I have feature film I want to edit before the last Sundance film festival deadline. The good thing about the Sundance I can under the Aboriginal section because I am part Native. Not saying my film will be excepted, because there are many others doing the same I believe.

Went to a computer shop I deal with, getting an upgrade for $508.22 (canadian price with gst).

amd processer xp 2600
ati video card
ac 97 audio integrated 6 channel card
10/100 ethernet
asus av400-mxs4o62 moterboard
512 ram

I can't get afford anything after that. Good enough or what?

thanks

marcel
 
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I'm a bit of a geek myself so, if it was me (and it was just four months ago...

What kind of ATI video card? (I prefer nVidia, just personal experience, pssst get a GT6600 w/256MB RAM on it ;))

Get 1 (one) single stick of RAM that's 1 GB big and make sure your main board has room for at least 4 GB of ram.

Upgrade to the AMD FX 55 series processor. 64 bit processing is where it's at. If you do, make sure your main board has the right socket to fit it.

Get two Western Digital Raptor drives, make sure they're the same size. Also make sure your main board supports SATA drives and run your rig using RAID 0+1 (fastest).

Don't forget to check out prices at newegg dot com. ;)
 
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I gotta take the upgrade I mentioned. I know it's a bit old, but it's all I can afford. Thanks for the other suggestions on other upgrades, but my budget is very strict. All I want to do is get my footage I have shoot and have it edited by the Sundance deadline.

I think my script to film has a nice potential to bring in some awards, and I can enter it to various film festivals, because of different themes that are within the screenplay. How can it lose money when basically I didn't use any money to film it.

Most of actors are working on deferral, but I do have a budget set aside for everyone if my film makes money.

I think I use around 8 new DVtapes. So that"s about 60 to 70 dollars.
Costumes and accessories I say close to 150 bucks or so.
I have music rights I pay out if my film makes money.
The biggest part of the budget is the upgrade computer.
I'm just hoping that Pinnacle 9 can cut it. If not, I might have to rely Premiere 6.

or do this from one of the postings,
***Ultimately, it's up to you, each have 30 days trial for you to test with, and if you have to choose, choose between Vegas or Premiere Pro 1.5 for PC computers or using Avid when you feel like you are readied for it***** if I use them I hope I have enough time to edit everything and get it out of system.

Where do I download this "vegas"

thanks

marcel
 
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I'm off to the computer shop to exchange my computer. It's putting me under so much stress because of money constraints.

***as for some of you that don't know, I had to give up credit cards due to an injury I sustained around 4 years ago. The led to not working at many times. I couldn't keep up with the bills and finally had to see a bankruptcy trustee and make up deal with my creditors***This is why I can't order stuff off the internet. I have a job that isn't too physical (started around 4 months ago) and have managed to save a bit of money so far, of course I still have bills, they're unavoidalbe it seems like.

I want to start editing my shoot footage, and to pay an editor is going to cost me at least 15-25 bucks an hour. To edit my film I figure around 100 hours of editing time. There really aren't any editors out there that want to work for free and I can understand that.

What I am doing is a big sacrifice, but I seriously have to take a look at my future, and my real passion. Having a upgraded computer will be significant.

thanks for all the advice on the computer.

marcel
 
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All you have to do is ask

Marcel said:
I want to start editing my shoot footage, and to pay an editor is going to cost me at least 15-25 bucks an hour. To edit my film I figure around 100 hours of editing time. There really aren't any editors out there that want to work for free and I can understand that.
marcel
Click to expand...

Marcel,
8 tapes = 8 hours right?

If you have a good script and the footage follows the script, there may be editors that would por-bono the work or work defferred.

All you have to do is ask.
 
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Marcel said:
Most of actors are working on deferral, but I do have a budget set aside for everyone if my film makes money.
Click to expand...

If upgrading you computer is this big of a deal for you financially, then why don't you take this same approach with an editor? I'm sure you could find one that will work on deferral, or perhaps one that will just work to have an editor credit in a feature length film. Plus, you may find an editor with a badass computer, so you won't have to buy one yourself.
 
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