USB stick/pen drives & external HDD's questions

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi all,

I do not know if this is the correct section to use, but If in the wrong section please feel free to move.

I am thinking of trying some webcam astrophotography. My questions are:-

Q1. USB stick/pen drives & external HDD's - are they ok to use to save the 'live' .avi file or is it best to use the built-in HDD?

Q2. If "Yes!" for USB stick/pen drives, then what minimum capacity I should consider?

[Steve Ward]

Both are fine to capture onto , I have just got a 3Tb HD for £90 for the purposes you describe , I record all my shot data straight onto it both DSLR frames and AVI's so as to stop clogging up the laptop with multi-Gigabyte files.

Was looking as USB stick-thingies but decided to opt for a big lump instead as I'd still want to save the data elsewhere anyway.

Going to pick another up at the weekend for additional back-up purposes , can't see me filling it up too soon .

[wxsatuser]

I would think you want the biggest fastest USB flash drive you can afford.

I would go for USB3 and look for the fastest transfer rate.

Of course this depends on the file sizes.

Steve's HD set-up is most likely the better solution as USB drives do have limited writes,

although these are in the thousands.

[Jannis]

Q1: yes

Q2: Largest you can aford. I recommend 16GB minimum, 32-64GB prefered for sticks/cards. For HDD i think 2TB gives you the most value for the money right now, but i'd go for no less then 1TB.

I recommend a USB3 stick/card/HDD either way. They don't cost much more (if any more these days), but will give you plenty more speed to copy to/from, or work directly on when used on a USB3 port. USB2 is simply outdated for external storage.

HDDs will usually give you around 70-120MB/S when on a USB3 port, but have slower access time then a memory card/stick, but this is not generally an issue for this usage, and it gives you way more capacity for the money.

Sticks/memory cards will give you much faster access time either on a USB2 or 3 port, but transfer speed will depend on the memory stick/card. Some are slow, some are very fast. Access time is unimportant for storing live video anyway.

Either way a USB2 will limit you to around 22-25MB/s, while a USB3 will, if the memory stick/card/HDD allows it, give you 100MB/S++.

USB2 is still fast enough to capture on, either you choose a HDD or memory stick/card, but stay away from the cheapest USB sticks, as they're often so slow they won't even work to capture on. Get one from a decent/trusted brand.

Personally i stay with Sandisk after 2 of 3 Transcend SD card i've had failed on me, and the 3rd is falling apart - but any decent brand will do as long as you stay away from the "NoNameUltra 32GB Super Deluxe Ultra Cool 32GB USB stick with multiple Super Awsome LEDs" found in the food shop for £10, lol

SSD is anoterh option, but a rather expencive one, and i don't recommend it for the moment unless you have a lot fo money to use and plan to use it for other stuff too that requires very high speed.

Keep in mind,

Memory cards + reader:

+ Can be used in a camera as well'

+ Is completly shock resistant

+ Can be waterproof

+ Small

- Expencive when it comes to size compared to a HD, plus you might need to buy a card reader unless you allready have one.

Memory stick:

+ Simple to use

+ Completly shock resistant

+ Can be waterproof

+ Small

- Can't be used in a camera

- Expencive when it comes to size compared to a HD

HDD:

+ Very high capacity for little money

+ Very high speed through USB3, usually 70-120MB/s on pretty much all of todays HDDs.

- Very sensitive to shocks. Drop it in the floor and chances are high you've lost all data on it unless you send it in for recovery professionaly ($$$$$$$$$).

- Larger then memory card/stick

- The 3.5" versons required an additional power supply in 99% of the cases. (2.5" usually gets enough power from the USB port)

- Rarly waterproof