I have an opportunity to get free access to color 0.3-meter
digital orthophotography for two areas in which I'll be producing new
vegetation maps. Aggregate data sizes for the two areas are 130GB and
60GB. The most efficient way to get the data is to purchase a 250GB
drive for the agency to download the data to. The data provider uses
Windows machines. Data use will be primarily on Windows machines.
However, to expedite the data acquisition and minimize bureaucracy, I
will buy the hard drive with personal funds. I'm primarily a Mac user
and I want the drive to be Mac usable after the project is
finished.
I know that MacDrive software purports to allow Windows machines
to mount Mac-formatted hard drives, but I have some questions before
making the purchase. I've read a bunch of drive spec sheets, but I'm
hoping that some of you have some real world experience and
advice to guide me.
1) Is the Windows+MacDrive+Mac-formatted HD a good solution, or
is there a better way (i.e., does using MacDrive result lower data
transfer rates that can be avoided by some other solution)?
2) Is there Mac-based software to mount a Windows-formatted hard
drive, and how might that compare to the MacDrive solution?
3) How does the real world performance of Firewire 800
compare to Firewire 400 and USB 2.0? Is it worth the added cost? The
data provider would use USB 2.0, but I have a dual 1.8 GHz Power Mac
with the faster Firewire 800 as well as USB 2.0
4) Does using a Firewire 800 port at 400 speeds (via a port
plug/cable adapter) cause a speed penalty beyond the drop to 400
speeds?
5) Do 8MB hard drive buffers provide significantly improved
performance over 2MB buffers? I assume so....
6) I also have a 1 GHz Titanium PowerBook with USB 1.0 and
Firewire 400. Is it worth considering a CardBus adapter for USB 2.0 or
Firewire 800? If so, which?
To minimize traffic on the list server, you could reply to me
directly, if you wish, and I'll post a summary.
Thanks,
Jeff
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Jeff Kennedy
Vegetation Ecologist/Biogeographer
Information Center for the Environment
Dept. of Environmental Science & Policy
University of California, Davis, CA 95616
Home Office:510-658-7645
Campus Office:530-752-1768
Mobile:510-708-9655
E-mail:email@hidden
Internet:http://ice.ucdavis.edu
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