I'm a slave to the master of VS and HD.

[garjobo]

I'm about to set up a Master / Slave hard drive setup (don't ask me how i do this..assuming other forums will enlighten me!! ). However, ALL i want to know...simple question..simple answer please...

I have a Panny 700 camcorder, plenty of HD footage, ALL i want to do it upload via USB cable from Panny to computer all my footage onto my 'slave drive'. Simple - yes? And then using Videostudio X5 ..I will bring into VS some of the footage I've got on my slave drive.

SO - is that all there is too it? Simple...and importantly...Keeping this footage on slave drive...will the quality be lower for some reason? when i bring it into VS..OR is it best to import DIRECTLY from my Panny camcorder into VS?

Thanks for any replies and help towards understanding working with HD footage. Any better way of uploading all these SD cards of HD footage I have PLEASE let me know. Assuming Slave drive the way to go though?

cheers
g

[Ken Berry]

Many of us here use external hard drives (equivalent to your 'slave" drive). I have one connected to this computer right now, and I have my own HD video clips on which I insert into VS for edting. It works just fine and there is no degradation in quality either on the slave drive or the final product.

The only minor thing you need to keep in mind is that if you turn off or disconnect the external drive and in the mean time connect other USB devices, then reconnect the slave drive, it may be assigned another drive letter by Windows. This will then result in VS asking for a relink to the video clips since the original drive letter it had in the VSP file will no longer be correct. But this is easy enough to do. (I speak from first hand experience...!!! )

[erdna]

Choosing a drive letter for the external video HDD at the end of the alphabet avoids its change ( mine is "V").
And also: when using the Proxy workflow, first start the external drive before VSX starts, because otherwise the Proxy files you made before, are gone.

[garjobo]

Thank you both for you quick replies although as per the norm with me the answers always seem to complicate things further! One thing that you mentioned, Ken, was that the quality 'shouldnt' be and lower grade...and all this 'linking'..is a worry.

I had assumed ( not having properly looked into this..and merely having another hard drive on standby waiting to connect internally to my pc )....i had assumed that this was a very simple matter..that basically my slave HD ( would be called 'V' etc ) and i simply upload to 'V' drive...turning it on / off...etc is unimportant as is quality..i was assuming my 'V' drive may as well be my 'C' drive..except it doesnt have Windows7 etc all loaded on it.

Clearly..im missing something..and it isnt as simple as that....again please let me know how far i am off the mark. Just I have a ton of SD cards, I have VS X5...and basically all i want to do is upload ALL this HD footage ( which in the past really crammed up my harddrive..by its nature HD footage really takes its toll on a PC it seems!! )...to my PC - all in one easy location, and quality would not be an issue at all - no matter how many times i mess about with it...bringing it into my mini VS productions etc

thanks again for your help.

[canuck]

It is hard to fully understand what your question is. You have a lot of words in your posts but what is it you are really asking?
The quality of your video is the same no matter where it is stored (internal drive, external,SD card, etc) since a bit is a bit is a bit.! The only time the quality will change if your encode it and even then you may not totice the difference. Whether W7 is loaded on a drive is immaterial.

Simply copy the video from your SD card whatever drive avaialble that has enough free space.
If for some reason you have to relink to your source files then that is no big deal whatsoever.

[Ken Berry]

... And if you are worried about the drive letter, then take Erdna's advice and make sure it is a letter towards the end of the alphabet which is unlikely to be bumped by other USB devices being connected. You use Windows to do this. Otherwise, just make sure you leave the drive connected or switch it on before you boot your computer.

As for relinking, it really is simple. If VS comes up with a message saying the clips in a project need relinking, just navigate to the drive in question and find the first clip, click OK and it will then relink that file and the other files in the project. Done.

[lata]

Hi garjobo

Your video files are stored on the pc on a hard drive.
When we insert a video file to the timeline it is represented by a thumbnail, a virtual clip.
Editing this clip does not alter the original file on the hard drive.
Video Studio knows where the files are and links to them when you open the project.
You will see a progress bar as the clips are loaded to the project. If it could talk it would say "I know where you are and can display you"

Now if you re-name, move or delete the files, (maybe the drive letter gets changed) then Video Studio looses their location and requests a re-link, practically shouting "now where have those files gone, they were here??"
The re-link window will indicate the name and last known location..........
You follow the re-link browse to find the files. Make sure you do link to the correct file as it is possible to fool the program.
--------------------
The easiest way is to try it for yourself:-
Copy a few files to a new folder, images will do Jpegs
Start a new project.
Add the images to the timeline and save the project.
Close the project
Using Windows Explorer Re-name the folder.
Open the project.
The program will request a re-link for the first clip.........
If all files are under the same folder then all will be re-linked.