My MBP doesn't have FW800...what's my best on-set CF backup config?

[Jason Kalinoski]

Hello all,

I've got an older MBP without a Firewire 800 port...I've got a FW 400, express34 and USB ports. What's my best configuration for on-set CF offloading and backup?

Expresscard CF reader to FW400 drive?

Expresscard esata adaptor with drives and use a FW400 reader?

Expresscard dual FW800 using a FW800 drive and FW800 reader?

I'm not sure where the bottleneck would be.

Our plan was to upgrade the internal MBP drive to 500 gigs, then simultaneously backup the CF cards to the internal and two external drives during the shoot.

Thanks for your help,
Jason

[Paul Hazlett]

are you sure? I have a 1.33 ghz MPB from 2004 and it has the fw800.

you would not be able to do anything with these files but transfer since you need an intel chip for anything else.

I would seriously consider one of the just released MBP's

[Jason Kalinoski]

Thanks for the response.

It is an Intel MBP 2.0 Core Duo...it was one of the first Intel models...and 100% sure there's no FW800.

Jason

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Yeah, the first edition of the Intel MBP did not have FW800 on the 15" models (bastards, what was Apple thinking!!??).

I would go with a USB2 reader (maybe a FW400 reader) and dump everything onto an eSATA drive (or RAID).

Either way, the bottleneck is going to be with the Firewire or USB port. Your fastest backup solution would probably be an EC34 CF reader onto the internal HDD (especially if you upgrade to 320GB 7200 or 500GB). But I don't know if that would be an ideal solution. I think going to an external eSATA RAID would be better as it would be faster for secondary copies to other backups and editing systems.

Personally, I wouldn't put much into upgrading that nearly 3 year old notebook. Use it for what it is... Or ebay the thing and buy a new[er] one.

[Jason Kalinoski]

Thanks Jeff.

I've got my eye on the new Sonnet Dual CF express reader, thinking like you that the fastest backup (if speed is at a premium) would be to copy to the internal drive.

The yet to be released Sonnet is the only Express card reader I've seen that says it works at PCI-E speeds...are you aware of any other? Or can you recommed a expresscard CF reader?

Thanks,
Jason

[Paul Hazlett]

wow, thats f'ed up that they eliminated the fw800 on you. is there a express card FW 800 card anywhere?