4 ms·

USB3 'plug & stay' drives seem like a better option for expanding laptop storage than SD cards these days.

by qyv 10y ago

soylentcola 10y ago
I'm thinking the early uses will be primarily video cameras and similar recording devices that need small, easily swappable "drives" that can handle large files. When you're on a shoot, you don't want to keep swapping storage media every 30 or 60 minutes. In our little studio (university setting so not as high end as a pro shoot) we use swappable drive bays in a recorder. Those just hold standard SSDs and can be popped out and plugged into an edit station for capture and transfer. Still not cheap though and ours are typically 512GB drives.
- dingaling 10y ago
  > When you're on a shoot, you don't want to keep swapping storage media every 30 or 60 minutes. You really should, though. Not in the filming domain but in stills, I've shot airshows in the company of professional[0] photographers who changed their cards for fresh ones after every act. No point losing a whole day's shooting to one bad card. Apparently this is also common at weddings, though even more so as the photographer might be taking shots of the same scene on two different cameras and then changing cards in both. Just in case. [0] as in, they are paid for their output
  - rodgerd 10y ago
    > Apparently this is also common at weddings, though even more so as the photographer might be taking shots of the same scene on two different cameras and then changing cards in both. Just in case. More common is the requirement to have a camera that supports dual cards, so you can either write to both cards, or write JPG to one and RAW to the other, so you'll never lose everything.
  - FireBeyond 10y ago
    Absolutely. I will typically take 4-6 cards to shoot a wedding, though I could buy a 64/128GB card and shoot everything on one. Touch wood, though, I am yet to have a CF failure. But I also pay for the most reliable.
kabdib 10y ago
When I looked at the overhead for USB3 bulk transfers on Windows the system was spending a lot of time in the I/O and memory system stack (doing lots of page-wiring, and just going through layers). External USB storage is find for archival and low volume use, but not great for anything you want performance out of. Then again, on a laptop you probably don't have much choice . . .
- voltagex_ 10y ago
  UASP should help with that - but both the host and device need to support it.

USB3 'plug & stay' drives seem like a better option for expanding laptop storage than SD cards these days.

by qyv 10y ago

USB3 'plug & stay' drives seem like a better option for expanding laptop storage than SD cards these days.

I'm thinking the early uses will be primarily video cameras and similar recording devices that need small, easily swappable "drives" that can handle large files. When you're on a shoot, you don't want to keep swapping storage media every 30 or 60 minutes. In our little studio (university setting so not as high end as a pro shoot) we use swappable drive bays in a recorder. Those just hold standard SSDs and can be popped out and plugged into an edit station for capture and transfer. Still not cheap though and ours are typically 512GB drives.

dingaling 10y ago
> When you're on a shoot, you don't want to keep swapping storage media every 30 or 60 minutes. You really should, though. Not in the filming domain but in stills, I've shot airshows in the company of professional[0] photographers who changed their cards for fresh ones after every act. No point losing a whole day's shooting to one bad card. Apparently this is also common at weddings, though even more so as the photographer might be taking shots of the same scene on two different cameras and then changing cards in both. Just in case. [0] as in, they are paid for their output
- rodgerd 10y ago
  > Apparently this is also common at weddings, though even more so as the photographer might be taking shots of the same scene on two different cameras and then changing cards in both. Just in case. More common is the requirement to have a camera that supports dual cards, so you can either write to both cards, or write JPG to one and RAW to the other, so you'll never lose everything.
- FireBeyond 10y ago
  Absolutely. I will typically take 4-6 cards to shoot a wedding, though I could buy a 64/128GB card and shoot everything on one. Touch wood, though, I am yet to have a CF failure. But I also pay for the most reliable.

kabdib 10y ago

When I looked at the overhead for USB3 bulk transfers on Windows the system was spending a lot of time in the I/O and memory system stack (doing lots of page-wiring, and just going through layers). External USB storage is find for archival and low volume use, but not great for anything you want performance out of. Then again, on a laptop you probably don't have much choice . . .

voltagex_ 10y ago
UASP should help with that - but both the host and device need to support it.