Hi there. I'm thinkin of buyin a Firewire external harddrive(5400RPM), Maxtor perhaps, for video editing.

I'm wondering if the drive is fast enuff to not have any speed related problem when used for video editing. Ive noticed somebody posted a problem associated with the speed of those slower harddrive.

Though I believe I won't go wrong buyin faster drive, I'd rather not pay more if I'm sure it's not quite necessary.

Anybody had success or problem with those Maxtor 5400 rmp drive doin video editin and stuff? Hopefully I'll hear good news.

i don't do any video editing, but from what i understand, 7200RPM drives are necessary to do quality work.

-r.

A 5400RPM drive will be just fine if you aren't doing high end commercial stuff. All of the drives that come pre-installed Macs are 5400 RPM. My wife does quite a bit of iMovie editing with her 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders (who have very critical eyse) and haven't had any problems. In fact, she burns some of the iMovies to DV, and some back to tapes for parents and they love the quality and can't believe it was done by the class and not professionally....
so you should be fine with a 5400 RPM drive.
good luck
dave
btw, we have a maxtor 80GB, Lacie 40 GB, and Western Digital 30GB, and haven't had problems with any (we like the Maxtor the best because of the sheer size)

Thank you guys. I think i'm gonna go with 5400 maxtor sicnce I'm not doin anythin too professional.

The recent MacNN review of the Maxtor Firewire drive said that it did fine with digital video. I hear a lot about needing 7200 RPM for video, but it doesn't appear to be critical for non-professionals. It may have more to do with the Firewire bridge used than the drive itself.

How about the LaCie 4200rpm Firewire PocketDrive for video? Is that usable?...