Looking for a storage drive (need help)

[Jake_-_-]

I'm looking for a storage drive that I can record videos to, if someone could tell me how much MB/s write speed I need for 720p 30/60 fps and 1080p 30/60 fps and recommend a good hard drive that is cheap like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178356 (if that one fits let me know, I might want to buy it while it's still on sale)

Please help, and thanks for anything useful!

 

[kenrivers]

Are you recording gameplay using FRAPS or DxTory or some other capture software? Are you recording from a desktop or laptop?

 

[Jake_-_-]

kenrivers - I'm on desktop using dxtory on a desktop, would the hard drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178431) be able to capture 1080p 30fps? I'm using the lagarith lossless codec.

 

[kenrivers]

It might be fine but it is a 5400 rpm drive and personally I would feel better about it if it were a 7200 rpm drive. For that price it might be worth aa risk.

 

[Jake_-_-]

Do you think it will at least be able to get 720p at 30 fps?

 

[DonQuixoteMC]

While USB 3.0 may theoretically have a higher bandwidth than SATA III, converting from USB to SATA protocol actually decreases the write speeds, which are critical for writing large video files. For example, while writing to a hard drive with a SATA connection (How internal hard drives are traditionally connected), you may get 70 MB/s. With USB 3.0, you may only get 30 MB/s. (I'm just pulling some benchmarked numbers I've seen comparing SATA III and USB 3.0).

The moral of the story is, you get more space and performance for your dollar if you go with an internal hard drive which you connect via SATA than if you went with an external hard drive that connects with USB 3.0. I also recommend you get a hard drive with a 1 TB+ capacity. Video files stack up quickly!

I personally record 1080p/30fps gameplay with one of these (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339) and have never encountered any bandwidth issues.

Is there a particular reason you went with External vs Internal?

 

[kenrivers]

Do you think it will at least be able to get 720p at 30 fps?

I can't honestly say whether it will or won't as I've never tried it. Though I have an external USB 3.0 drive I can't test it under the right conditions to give you a correct answer. I'm not a gamer and I don't use Dxtory. I will say that I agree that an internal drive is the way to go.

 

[DonQuixoteMC]

Respond if you're still interested in an answer on this. I have the opportunity to test recording onto a USB 3.0 External Hard drive, and would be willing to if you're still unsure of what to buy. I'm beginning to think I should take back what I said about USB 3.0 write speeds. While copying very large video files, I attained an average write speed of 110-150 MB/s. I'm not sure how the source I referenced had a 30 MB/s transfer speed. (Granted, the drive I'm testing is a 3.5" WD Green, not a 2.5" HDD. Under no circumstances should you get a 2.5" HDD for this)

@kenrivers: Have you ever spent time on the Lightworks forum? I have the strangest feeling that I've seen you there! 😛