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Writing QuickTime Movie file to External USB Drive

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  • Michael McKune

    Posted: 18 May 2009 08:29 PM

    I am trying to write a 8 gig QT Movie (Animation Codec) to an external HD connected via USB to my MacBook.  It’s a core 2 duo running 10.5.6.  The drive is formated FAT 32 and I have permission to read/write.  I can copy other files to it, but not this movie.  It’s telling me there is an “unknown error -0.”

    This is a video project I am working on between 2 macs.  The other one is a G5, so I was hoping the intel mac could convert the file quicker (which it did), but now I can’t move the file.

    Any help or suggestion is greatly appreciated.

         

  • Intruder

    Avatar Administrator

    Posted: 19 May 2009 01:43 AM #1

    The file is too big for FAT32. Maximum file size allowable is 4GB. You need to format the drive as HFS+.

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  • Michael McKune

    Posted: 19 May 2009 07:38 AM #2

    Thanks.  There had to be a reason

         

  • Spider

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    Posted: 19 May 2009 12:52 PM #3

    Yeah, drive format for video is not fun. HFS+ is the way to go if editing on Mac.

    As well, using USB for video editing is not suggested. For the purpose of moving files back and forth it is fine, but if you are going to edit from an external drive that is not RAID then Firewire is the way to go, or eSATA.

    The problem with USB is, and always has been, the dropping off the bus. USB still, to this day, has problems intermittently dropping from the bus then cycling back on. While the theoretical speed is faster than Firewire 400 it is not a sustained speed, but bursts. Firewire 800 blasts it anyways.

    Where editing video is concerned using a bus that is prone to dropping (of which USB 2 does less than USB 1 did) also means that you will have dropped frames, bad renders, and all sorts of issues.

    For the usual set up I can’t stress Firewire enough, or even eSATA. If money is available a RAID is most perfect.

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  • Dave Hamilton

    Avatar Administrator

    Posted: 19 May 2009 01:03 PM #4

    Good opportunity for discussion. 

    FAT32 has a 4GB limit for individual files and a 2TB limit for partition size
    HFS has a 2 GB file size limit and a 2 TB partition size
    HFS+ has a a limit of 8 EB for both files and volumes (meaning you can have one file fill the volume, save a bit of space for Volume Info/Headers).
    NTFS has a limit of 16EB for both files and volumes.

    In short, Intruder’s advice is absolutely correct.  Go to HFS+ and you’ll be fine (as long as you don’t need to read the files on Windows machines).

    Note that you need Mac OS X 10.4 or later to have volume sizes greater than 16 TB (terabytes), I believe.

    1 GB = 1024 MB*
    1 TB = 1024 GB*
    1 PB = 1024 TB*
    1 EB = 1024 PB*

    *Of course, drive manufacturers routinely swap 1000 for 1024 in any/all of these calculations, but don’t get me started on conspiracies (or perhaps this is as good a place as any to do so! wink.

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  • Michael McKune

    Posted: 21 May 2009 07:35 PM #5

    Thanks for the help everyone.  I was using the USB drive to move the file between computers only.  The next morning, it hit me!  Use my iPod.  I have a 20 gig Ipod (Mac format) with plenty of space.  I copied the file to the Ipod and moved it over.

         
     

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