SD 702 + external FireWire drive

[amaidadde]

Hi,

For a future project (TV commercial) I will work with the Sound Devices 702 Portable Digital Audio Recorder. It records the audio on a CF card. I also want to record on an external bus-powered firewire drive. I have a Lacie Rugged Hard Disk 500Gb.

Do I have to use a Firewire filter? I tested the set-up with filter, but my hard drive didn't seem to work. Without the firewire filter, it did work. What does the firewire filter exactly do? I didn't hear any noise using it without filter.

Can you guys give me any advice?

Thanks!

[studiomprd]

Hi, and welcome to the discussion forum...they call me Johnny one-note, because I keep offering the same advice: check with the manufacturer, in this case SD.  They have an excellent web site with lots of useful FAQ's, their own technical support forum, email, and telephones.  They can discuss with you, directly, your particular situation (like your choice of drive) and give you the best correct answers to your questions...

[Jim Gilchrist]

The firewire filter is a work-around to compensate for noise the Mapower enclosure Sound Devices chose to be part of their DVD-RAM drive for the 744T and other 700 series recorders puts out via it's firewire port. While the enclosure is light, small, rugged and reasonably priced, it does spew a mess of noise back out its' firewire port when attached to the 2 and 4 track SD recorders and buss powered. When you power the SD DVD-RAM drive via the external power jack, there's no problem. I've used a bunch of different external hard drive enclosures with my 744T and no filter with no problem, including Macally, Lacie and G-Tech enclosures.

Based on my own experience you'll hear immediately if there is a problem if the drive is spinning.

Best regards,

Jim

PS I should not that the 788T has firewire filtering built into the recorder.

[David Waelder]

Aaton also has the capability to record onto an external drive via a firewire port. They recommend using the G-Drives because they have extensive heat sinks that allow the drives to run cooler. High temperatures within the drive are sometimes responsible for a "buss hang" that can interrupt recording. Since the internal drive on the Cantar (and, I'm presuming, on the Sound Devices as well) is also connected via firewire, a firewire buss hang shuts down recording altogether.

That's not to say that your Lacie drive is a poor choice. It may be just fine but I thought Aaton's recommendation was pertinent.

David Waelder

[Matt Mayer]

<snip>

Since the internal drive on the Cantar (and, I'm presuming, on the Sound Devices as well) is also connected via firewire, a firewire buss hang shuts down recording altogether.

For the record, the early 7 Series are PATA and the 788 uses SATA for the internal drive interface. 

The engineers have worked very hard on making sure the machines will continue to record, even if one of the media choke (presuming there is more than one media), for whatever reason.

---Matt

[DonSpaulding]

Not to state something you may already know, but the 702 (unlike the rest of the 7XX line) will not power an external drive while on battery power. Only when the wart is connected. Does this help?

[Jim Gilchrist]

Not to state something you may already know, but the 702 (unlike the rest of the 7XX line) will not power an external drive while on battery power. Only when the wart is connected. Does this help?

I'd suggest that you can use a larger battery connected to the Ext. DC input for all of the 700 series recorders in this situation, not just the wall wart.

Best regards,

Jim

[Zack]

amaidadde, I'm not a "one note" and actually enjoy helping folks that are looking for honest advice regardless of where they look, so I hope this helps.  I use a lacie rugged 320 with my 702T along with the firewire filter.  On first test I A/B'd the firewire filter.... I did notice a noise reduction using it so it's a perminate part of my bag now.  Anyways, you can't power the drive off the firewire bus using just the 702 lith batteries (not enough voltage output).  There's a few work arounds for this however:

1. Using a larger battery (NP type).  I use a 14v NP-style distribution system that powers my mixer, 702, and drive just fine.

2. Obviously having the luxury of AC will work and give your 702T the needed juice to power the drive through the firewire.

3. Call Lacie and have them ship you a power supply for your drive.  They had no problem mailing me one at no charge.. (love Lacie).

[RPSharman]

Also, if your drive is 7200rpm, you might find it draws too much power.  Stick with 5400rpm.  It's fast enough.  I always transfer files to my external drives independently of the recording to the flash card.  But since the 702 has no internal drive, I can see why you want to run redundant media.

Robert

[AndeSchurr]

Hi, I'm having problems connecting the 702T to my new Lacie 'Rugged Safe' 250GB SSD firewire drive.

I thought it was cool how it needed the finger print swipe in order to unlock it but now it may be preventing me from connecting.

I have tried powering the 702T both from battery and AC (as per advice in the previous posts) but the red light keeps flashing on the drive.

Does anyone have experience with these drives?

Thanks,

Ande

Photo:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/823973-REG/LaCie_9000120_Lacie_RUGGED_SAFE_250GB.html

[studiomprd]

" the finger print swipe in order to unlock it "

perhaps that function requires more from the drivers...??