[Simon Young]

I'm using my iMac to run Final Cut Pro 2.0 under Mac OS 9.2.2, and have run out of space. I reckon I could us another 60-100GB, as I want to transfer DVD VOB files to DV files, which (as many of you will know) take up a lot of space.

Can anyone recommend me a good external hard drive with this capacity, and does anyone have any useful tips or things to be wary of before I buy? My main concern is that it be fast enough to access the video files in Final Cut, so I guess it will have to be Firewire rather than USB, and have a fast access rate. One I'm currently looking at has a seek time of 10ms and a data rate of 50MB/s. Any good?

[Camelot]

First, FireWire's max speed is 50MB/sec, which is probably why the drive you're looking at is rated at that speed. In short, you're not going to get any better than that under any circumstances (and you're not likely to actually get 50MB/sec anyway).

Second, the choice of drive is going to depend on how serious you are in your video editing. If you're a low volume user just doing video transfers then almost any external FireWire drive will suffice. If you're a professional, though, doing lots of real-time video work, effects, transitions, etc. and for whom time is money, you'd be better off with a LVD SCSI array and a SCSI Ultra160 card.

Obviously, cost is going to be a difference here.

In any case, if you're serious about FCP, get a FCP-certified drive.

Remember, virtually all external 'FireWire' drives are really ATA drives with a FireWire bridge to let them connect via FireWire.

For the professional user, I highly recommend ProMax. They not the cheapest, but have been around forever and really know their stuff.