I purchased and installed a Hitachi Deskstar T7K250, 250 GB hard drive,
housed in an Ultra Mini Portable hard disk enclosure. It has USB and
firewire interface, and I'm using firewire. I tried using USB earlier and it
didn't work and a number of junk files were created, so I'm leery of doing
that again. Hitachi says the drive doesn't need special drivers, that it
uses Windows drivers. Windows couldn't find drivers for it.

I'm running Windows 98SE, which the seller listed among the operating
systems that supported it. However, since then I'm told Win98SE may not
support such a large drive.

I was able to partition it into three partitions--60GB, 80GB, and 100GB,
respectively, and I formatted each partition in Windows.

I can launch Premiere, import clips, create a project, and play the clips.
But if I try to render, i.e., to create preview files, the render freezes,
and either Premiere stops responding, or the computer loses communication
with the hard drive altogether. In that case I can only see the partitions
again if I shut down the computer, power down the drive, power the drive
back up, and reboot.

I have tried changing the settings in Device Manager, but no change.

Am I beating a dead horse here, or is there something obvious I'm missing
that I should be doing? I'm not very well-versed in installing drives. The
partitions are formatted in FAT32.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Steve S.
ssake@goldthread.com

"Steve S." <ssake@goldthread.com> wrote:

inappropriate for almost anything in the video world - large drives,
large files, modern i/o hardware. Smash the piggy and treat yourself
to a cheap (if cost is an issue) copy of XP Pro, and upgrade it if
necessary to SP1 at least. (Note that among other things SP2's Movie
Maker won't make DV-AVI files, and it's a handy capture tool)

I have a large, crucial video project completed on my internal drive that I
don't want to risk losing functionality with. I may want to modify it in the
future and I still want to be able to export it. I had incredible problems
getting my system to function properly--took my about a year--and I'm not
willing to make major changes to that computer now. When I can afford to,
I'll simply buy a new computer, since I need to upgrade anyway.

In the meantime I can't afford a new computer. I want to leave that project
intact on the internal hard drive, and I need to have editing capability
now. So for now, I was trying to get more space by adding an external drive.
It almost works, but not quite, and I'm hoping someone will have some ideas
as to how to get it to work.
Steve S.



"JT" <NgPoster@missing.org> wrote in message
news:gijl01p92n69sog92u5q0p13rbe2if1vqh@4ax.com...

True the drive itself does not need a driver. Only the 1394 card needs a
driver to use your hard drive. My question would be about the way the drive
is hooked up. Obviously it is hooked to some form of 1394 input, but the
question is, is that input on the same card you use to capture video? Or is
it hooked to a video capture card such as the Matrox RT2000 or DV500? If
this is the case you need a separate 1394 card in addition to these cards
because they are not meant to be used for hard drive control over the
onboard 1394 input/outputs. Each of these cards uses their respective 1394
1/O's for realtime output of video - even during the rendering stage a
preview of frame by frame video is output to these ports, or the port is
being readied for output to a camcorder, a sort of standby mode is put in
place.

My next question would be about the Scratch Disk setup within Premiere. Are
those entries for captures, video previews and audio previews set to the
drive in question? If the drive is hooked to the same 1394 card you use to
capture try disabling Device Control in the capture settings during editing.
If you can import the files from this drive and play the clips there is
nothing wrong with the way the drive is setup on the 1394 interface.

The problem is created by some conflict that exists during the rendering
process, but the information you provided is very vague. You did not state
whether you are using video from one partition and rendering to another
partition on the drive. You did not say which version of Premiere you are
using, nor the capture device you utilize. All these can be factors to
solving your problems. Also, the Hitachi Deskstar (IBM) drive should have
some sort of software that came with it to overcome any drive size
limitations which may exist in Windows 98. I believe that software can be
run from inside Windows without any problems.

--
Larry Johnson
Digital Video Solutions
webmaster@digitalvideosolutions.com
http://www.digitalvideosolutions.com
877-227-6281 Toll Free Sales Assistance
386-672-1941 Customer Service
386-672-1907 Technical Support
386-676-1515 Fax



"Steve S." <ssake@goldthread.com> wrote in message
news:neWdnQq774L9XJffRVn-tA@comcast.com...

On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 21:07:02 -0500, "Steve S." <ssake@goldthread.com>
wrote:

Firewire hard drives shouldn't need drivers; USB will not need them
under Win2000 or XP. It is the controller, not the hard drive itself,
which needs drivers, and Windows includes them.

Win98 doesn't, but intelligent controllers in external enclosures
and hard drive controller cards can support larger drives. So if
Hitachi says that the enclosure supports 250GB drives, it should be
fine. Using external enclosures is a good way to get around the hard
drive size limits on many systems.

Is any clip larger than 4 GB? That limit often hits when running
FAT32, one big reason to jump to NTFS is how well large files are
handled.

Overheating could do it too, but it should take a while before that
kicks in. If that was the problem, you should have some successful
runders and operations on the drive before it locks up.
--
*-__Jeffery Jones__________| *Starfire* |____________________-*
** Muskego WI Access Channel 14/25 <http://www.execpc.com/~jeffsj/mach7/>
*Starfire Design Studio* <http://www.starfiredesign.com/>

On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 22:22:33 -0500, "Steve S." <ssake@goldthread.com>
wrote:

I agree that it's time to upgrade your OS.
There's no need to lose any functionality with this; you have an
external drive you can move your data files to so they won't be
affected by any OS change. Just move the project's files to the
external HD, and disconnect it so there's no possibility of losing the
files.
I think you'll find that WinXP is a far better OS for video than 98SE
is.
There's no reason to think that WinXP won't let you edit this crucial
project; if it's really crucial, in fact, and upgrade to WinXP makes a
lot of sense; you're much more likely to have a better editing
experience with XP than with 98SE.

--
Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"

On 2/10/2005, Big Bill managed to type:
But do find a way to compare the backed up version of your data file
with the original. With large drives, OS and BIOS problems can lose
data.

This isn't just paranoia - I lost some video files that way (although
my new drive was internal IDE).

Otherwise I agree with BB and others.

Gino

--
Gene E. Bloch (Gino)
letters617blochg3251
(replace the numbers by "at" and "dotcom")

First, thanks to everybody for taking the time and for making insightful
comments and questions.

First of all, I have discovered that if I assign the preview files to a
folder on my internal drive, I can edit normally. This in itself is a
satisfactory work-around, just annoying and obviously not the perfect
solution. I have 15 GB left on this internal drive I can use for preview
files.

Now, I am capturing and exporting through a Pinnacle DV200 capture card
(that's a long story--did you know that Pinnacle made *two* versions of this
card--one that doesn't work and one that does work, made by different
manufacturers--and kept putting it in the same package? I discovered that
tidbit in the depths of the *Adobe* website after months of struggling with
the first version of the card). However, I have a separate 1394 card that
the hard drive is using. Again, it does function normally in every respect
except for rendering. Now, if I am rendering to the internal drive, it
functions 100% normally, at least as tested so-far.

I also discovered that about half the time I can render to the external
Hitachi drive without it freezing/disconnecting. About half the time it
freezes, and Windows loses sight of the drive altogether and the system
crashes.

So, configured so that it works now, capture is set to the Hitachi drive;
video and audio previews are set to the internal drive.

I am running Premiere 6.01. I am using a Panasonic PV-DV200 mini-dv camera
for capture. I am converting all files on the timeline from square pixels to
DV1/DV-NTSC (0.9) (something I recently found makes a big difference in
exporting to tape).

I, too, was surprised at the lack of software with the Hitachi drive.
Perhaps the reseller who I purchased it from neglected to include that in
the package, and that is my biggest problem. Included was a CD with drivers
for USB connection, but nothing relating to setting it up with firewire. I
will get back with the seller and ask them about that.

The Hitachi website did not seem to offer anything like this.

Steve S.



"Digital Video Solutions" <video@digitalvideosolutionsNOSPAM.com> wrote in
message news:W1BOd.8813$pc5.1218@tornado.tampabay.rr.com.. .

Check the manufacturer website for drive set up software. Firewire has no
effect on the size of the drive and that part of the drive setup. Firewire
is merely a control device, just like the internal IDE channels when it
comes to drive control.

"Steve S." <ssake@goldthread.com> wrote in message
news:O7GdnbLdwp2LXJbfRVn-1g@comcast.com...

I know the manufacturer's website says "there is no driver for this unit, it
uses the drivers in Windows". I didn't see any mention of additional
software but I'll check again to be sure, it might have been listed in a
separate section.

Thanks,
Steve S.


"Digital Video Solutions" <video@digitalvideosolutionsNOSPAM.com> wrote in
message news:WWPOd.35299$qB6.17795@tornado.tampabay.rr.com ...

Hitachi wrote back very quickly, affirming that they do not provide any
drivers for their drives, and do not make external drives (hence, no
software to make external drives compatible with Windows 98, as I interpret
the response).

They gave general tips including checking to be sure the drive is jumpered
as a master (it is), and that it is powered (it is). They also said if I
could install it internally they have a diagnostic I could run, but I don't
want to go there with my system. They also suggested contacting the
manufacturer of the housing, and they gave me the contact information to
call their Technical Support.

Very good customer service in my opinion, despite the fact they did not have
a fix for this particular problem. I'll probably try calling them, although
basically I have a work-around that's acceptable if not ideal now.
Steve S.




"Steve S." <ssake@goldthread.com> wrote in message
news:O7GdnbLdwp2LXJbfRVn-1g@comcast.com...

Again, and I have said this several times that a driver was not the issue,
and no driver for a hard drive is needed. As long as the 1394 card is
present in the system that 1394 card controls the hard drive in question. No
matter what is said you keep looking for a driver, and have even written to
Hitachi who told you exactly what I was saying - no driver is needed.

My entire dialog concerned the number of partitions on the hard drive which
can affect the performance of your drive, especially when attempting to
access a file from one partition while writing to another partition.

There is software provided for creating a partition utilizing the full size
of the drive. Maxtor has one, Western Digital has one, Seagate also has one
and there must be one for the Hitachi drives.

"Steve S." <ssake@goldthread.com> wrote in message
newsZydnQDYDtk_aZbfRVn-tA@comcast.com...

I'm just reporting back what Hitachi said. I didn't specifically ask them
for drivers, I presented the problem asking them for help, and they
responded talking about drivers. They did not volunteer any information
about software, and I tooki their response at face value to mean that they
don't offer any software, drivers or otherwise. What they said was that
since it's an internal drive, and they don't manufacture external drives,
they don't offer anything to help you use it as an external drive. They
basically said they don't support that configuration at all. There is also
no indication of software available on the Hitachi website relating to this
product.

I'm okay with the three large partitions I created. It would be nice if I
could render directly to these partitions without getting the "blue screen
of death" half the time stating Windows can't write to the disk, but I can
work around it by rendering the preview files (only) to the internal drive
and working with the rest of the project on the external drive.

The moral of the story seems to be that you can buy a housing to turn an
internal drive into an external drive, but the manufacturer may not provide
software to use it that way with Win98, even though the drive may be sold as
being compatible with Win98.

Thanks for the input,
Steve S.


"Digital Video Solutions" <video@digitalvideosolutionsNOSPAM.com> wrote in
message news:jN4Pd.15864$pc5.13913@tornado.tampabay.rr.com ...

"Steve S." wrote ...
Your issue is with the manufacturer/vendor of the external case.
They are the ones claiming Win98 compatibility. The maker of
the disk drive has no control over how you connect it to your
computer and can't be responsible for what happens with the
external case (and whatever drivers, etc it requires).

I would be extremely dubious about Win98 compatibility of ANY
USB or Firewire product, and disk drives in particular.
Another good reason why I have eliminated Win98 from my life.