Ext Hard Drive - how big for movies?

[lechem]

I am buying an Apple Mac Powerbook with 60 gb hard drive and will be using it, eventually, for film editing and putting film onto dvd.

I am told that 1 hour of analogue film takes 12 gig so am looking also for an external hard drive but don't know how many gig I will need. Has anyone with experience of the film world got any suggestions or guidance. Thanks folks.

[goldenbuddha]

The best tip is to get as big a hard drive as you can afford, digital video inhales gigabytes. I have done projects for 3 minute spots which consumed more than 10 gigabytes, including work files, roughs and audio in the final tally.

If I am not mistaken, if you get the 2.5 inch HDDs (for laptop), the largest is 60 GB, wheras if you go for the larger regular 3.5 inch HDDs (for desktops), you can use up to whatever the highest is right now @200 GB. But the external case would be substantially bigger, compared to the 2.5 inch drives.

[rourkchris]

I'd suggest getting the largest 3.5" hard drive you can afford and buying a USB 2.0 or firewire external case. You'll find doing it this way will save you a substantial amount of money. Here is a link to an external enclosure:

http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ME-320U2

It's $39.60+shipping and can be used for either 3.5" hard drives or swap it out and put a CDRW drive in it.

[lechem]

All info appreciated - and am indeed going for 60gb hard drive plus external firewire.