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  • Education
    • AM&I 2015 >
      • AM&I 2015 FINAL VIDEOS
      • Welcome to Duke AM&I
      • Course schedule >
        • Week 1 (Aug 27) >
          • Class Notes - Week 1
        • Week 2 (Sept 3) >
          • Class Notes - Week 2
        • Week 3 (Sept 10) Edit Lab #1 >
          • Class Notes - Week 3
        • Week 4 (Sept 17) Guac Premiere #1 >
          • Class Notes - Week 4
          • Story #1: Food Entrepreneurs
        • Week 5 (Sept 24) >
          • Class Notes - Week 5
        • Week 6 (Oct 1) Edit Lab #2 >
          • Class Notes - Week 6
          • How to set up and light an interview.
        • Week 7 (Oct 8) Guac Premiere #2 >
          • Class Notes - Week 7
          • Story #2: Arts Entrepreneurs
        • Week 8 (Oct 15) >
          • Class Notes - Week 8
        • Week 9 (Oct 22) >
          • Class Notes - Week 9
        • Week 10 (Oct 29) Edit Lab #3 >
          • Class Notes - Week 10
        • Week 11 (Nov 5) >
          • Class Notes - Week 11
        • Week 12 (Nov 12) Guac Premiere #3 >
          • Class Notes - Week 12
          • Story #3: Entrepreneurs
        • Week 13 (Nov 19)
        • Week 14 (Nov 26) No class!
        • Week 15 (Dec 3)
    • AMP 2016 >
      • AMP 2016 Final Videos
      • Welcome to Duke AMP
      • Course Schedule >
        • Week 1 (Aug 30) Intro >
          • AMP Week 1 Class Notes
        • Week 2 (Sept 6) Production Lab and Pitch 101 >
          • AMP Week 2 Class Notes
        • Week 3 (Sept 13) Edit Lab #1, Story #1 Pitch >
          • AMP Week 3 Class Notes
        • Week 4 (Sept 20) >
          • AMP Week 4 Class Notes
        • Week 5 (Sept 27) Edit Lab #2, Story #1 Rough Cut >
          • AMP Week 5 Class Notes
        • Week 6 (Oct 4) Guac Premiere #1 >
          • AMP Week 6 Class Notes
          • Story #1
        • Week 7 (Oct 11) Fall Break
        • Week 8 (Oct 18) American Underground, Story #2 Pitch >
          • AMP Week 8 Class Notes
        • Week 9 (Oct 25)
        • Week 10 (Nov 1) Production Lab #2 >
          • AMP Week 10 Class Notes
        • Week 11 (Nov 8) Edit Lab #3, Story #2 Rough Cut >
          • AMP Week 11 Class Notes
        • Week 12 (Nov 15) Guac Premiere #2 >
          • AMP Week 12 Class Notes
        • Week 13 (Nov 22) Final Presentation Preparation >
          • AMP Week 13 Class Notes
        • Week 14 (Nov 29) >
          • AMP Week 14 Class Notes
        • Week 15 (Dec 6) Final Presentations
    • AMP 2017 >
      • AMP 2017 Final Videos
      • Welcome to Duke AMP 2017
      • COURSE SCHEDULE >
        • Week 1 (Aug 29) Intro
        • Week 2 (Sept 5) Production Lab and Pitch 101
        • Week 3 (Sept 12) Edit Lab #1, Story #1 Pitch
        • Week 4 (Sept 19) PRODUCTION WORKSHOP
        • Week 5 (Sept 26) Edit Lab #2, Story #1 Rough Cut
        • Week 6 (Oct 3) Guac Premiere #1
        • Week 7 (Oct 10) Fall Break
        • Week 8 (Oct 17 American Underground, Story #2 Pitch
        • Week 9 (Oct 24) Production Lab #2
        • Week 10 (Oct 31) PRODUCTION WORKSHOP
        • Week 11 (Nov 7) Edit Lab #3, Story #2 Rough Cut
        • Week 12 (Nov 14) Guac Premiere #2
        • Week 13 (Nov 21) Final Presentation Preparation
        • Week 14 (Nov 28)
        • Week 15 (Dec 5) Final Presentations
    • AMP 2019 >
      • Welcome to Duke AMP 2019
      • MORE INFO >
        • Before we begin...
        • Resources
        • Story Requirements
        • Story Roles and Responsibilities
        • Coffee Talks
      • COURSE SCHEDULE >
        • Week 1 (Wednesday Jan 9th) Intro
        • Week 2 (Monday Jan 14th) Production Lab and Pitch 101
        • Week 3 (Jan 21) NO CLASS MLK
        • Week 4 (Jan 28th) Edit Lab #1, Story #1 Pitch
        • Week 5 (Feb 4th) PRODUCTION WORKSHOP
        • Week 6 (Feb 11th) Edit Lab #2, Story #1 Rough Cut
        • Week 7 (Feb 18th) Guac Premiere #1
        • Week 8 (Feb 25th) American Underground, Story #2 Pitch
        • Week 9 (March 4th) Production Lab #2
        • Week 10 (March 11th) Spring Break
        • Week 11 (March 18th) PRODUCTION WORKSHOP
        • Week 12 (March 25th) Edit Lab #3, Story #2 Rough Cut
        • Week 13 (April 1st) Guac Premiere #2
        • Week 14 (April 8th) Final Presentation Preparation
        • Week 15 (April 15th) Making the Pitch
        • Week 16 (April 22nd) Final Presentations
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Before we begin...

Hard drive recommendations

Before you get started, you'll need a hard drive. Think of this purchase as an investment in your electronic portfolio that you will use for years to come for academic and professional projects.

There are three critical considerations when comparing hard drives: capacity, drive speed, and throughput. 
​

• Capacity: Video generates large amounts of data. I have recommended 500GB drives below in the interest of affordability, and that should be plenty of space for your AM&I projects this semester, but if your budget allows for a larger capacity drive, then I'd recommend going as big as you can, up to 4TB. 
• Drive speed: this number measures how fast the spinning discs spin and access your data. The higher the RPMs, the faster the drive. Common speeds are 5400 and 7200. You need 7200 for video. Do not settle for a 5400RPM drive. It will be cheaper but will not be an effective drive for video editing
• Throughput: this measures how fast data can travel back and forth from the drive to the CPU and is largely determined by the connectivity interface. Firewire 800, USB 3.0, and Apple's Thunderbolt if you have money to burn, are all competent interfaces for HD video editing. Avoid outdated interfaces like USB 2.0 and Firewire 400.
​
Here is a reliable drive: 
Western Digital 1TB Elements Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0
 1TB capacity  /  USB 3.0 Port  /  Backward compatibility with USB 2.0 / USB powered


​Now that you have a drive, where is your backup?

Now that you are all set with your external video editing hard drive, you need to plan for a catastrophic drive failure. It happens. I lost a 2TB external just last week. 

You have a few options for backup: your computer's internal hard drive, the cloud, another external hard drive. 
​

• Internal hard drive: Does your internal hard drive have a ton of free space? It's easy to backup your video work from your external drive to your internal drive. Try Intego Backup for Mac, or  Genie Backup Manager Pro for PC from LaCie. Potential downsides to backing up to your internal drive? You will eventually fill up your computer's internal drive and their capacity isn't as easy to upgrade as an external drive. Also, you'll probably carry your laptop and your external together, so if you lose them, your work is gone.   

• Cloud: Duke’s Box is a cloud-based storage and collaboration service for all Duke University and Duke Medicine faculty, staff and students. Best of all: you get 50GB of cloud storage for free. 50GB won't last long. I'd recommend Dropbox Pro, they will give you 1TB (or 1,000GB) for $9.99/month or $99/year. Potential downsides to backing up to the cloud? You'll need a fast internet connection and potentially a third party piece of software to make the backup an easy process.

• Another external drive: This is the easiest, most trouble-free backup solution. It's easy to backup your video work from one external drive to another. Try Intego Backup for Mac, or  Genie Backup Manager Pro for PC from LaCie. Potential downsides to backing up to a second external drive? None. Store your backup external in a safe place, away from your computer so in the event of fire, theft or loss you will still have your data. 
​
NEXT: WEEK 1
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Send us an email, or drop us a line on Facebook or LinkedIn using the links below. 

©2015-2023 Locomotion Media Group, LLC
  • Welcome
  • Motion Pictures
  • Motion Graphics
  • Education
    • AM&I 2015 >
      • AM&I 2015 FINAL VIDEOS
      • Welcome to Duke AM&I
      • Course schedule >
        • Week 1 (Aug 27) >
          • Class Notes - Week 1
        • Week 2 (Sept 3) >
          • Class Notes - Week 2
        • Week 3 (Sept 10) Edit Lab #1 >
          • Class Notes - Week 3
        • Week 4 (Sept 17) Guac Premiere #1 >
          • Class Notes - Week 4
          • Story #1: Food Entrepreneurs
        • Week 5 (Sept 24) >
          • Class Notes - Week 5
        • Week 6 (Oct 1) Edit Lab #2 >
          • Class Notes - Week 6
          • How to set up and light an interview.
        • Week 7 (Oct 8) Guac Premiere #2 >
          • Class Notes - Week 7
          • Story #2: Arts Entrepreneurs
        • Week 8 (Oct 15) >
          • Class Notes - Week 8
        • Week 9 (Oct 22) >
          • Class Notes - Week 9
        • Week 10 (Oct 29) Edit Lab #3 >
          • Class Notes - Week 10
        • Week 11 (Nov 5) >
          • Class Notes - Week 11
        • Week 12 (Nov 12) Guac Premiere #3 >
          • Class Notes - Week 12
          • Story #3: Entrepreneurs
        • Week 13 (Nov 19)
        • Week 14 (Nov 26) No class!
        • Week 15 (Dec 3)
    • AMP 2016 >
      • AMP 2016 Final Videos
      • Welcome to Duke AMP
      • Course Schedule >
        • Week 1 (Aug 30) Intro >
          • AMP Week 1 Class Notes
        • Week 2 (Sept 6) Production Lab and Pitch 101 >
          • AMP Week 2 Class Notes
        • Week 3 (Sept 13) Edit Lab #1, Story #1 Pitch >
          • AMP Week 3 Class Notes
        • Week 4 (Sept 20) >
          • AMP Week 4 Class Notes
        • Week 5 (Sept 27) Edit Lab #2, Story #1 Rough Cut >
          • AMP Week 5 Class Notes
        • Week 6 (Oct 4) Guac Premiere #1 >
          • AMP Week 6 Class Notes
          • Story #1
        • Week 7 (Oct 11) Fall Break
        • Week 8 (Oct 18) American Underground, Story #2 Pitch >
          • AMP Week 8 Class Notes
        • Week 9 (Oct 25)
        • Week 10 (Nov 1) Production Lab #2 >
          • AMP Week 10 Class Notes
        • Week 11 (Nov 8) Edit Lab #3, Story #2 Rough Cut >
          • AMP Week 11 Class Notes
        • Week 12 (Nov 15) Guac Premiere #2 >
          • AMP Week 12 Class Notes
        • Week 13 (Nov 22) Final Presentation Preparation >
          • AMP Week 13 Class Notes
        • Week 14 (Nov 29) >
          • AMP Week 14 Class Notes
        • Week 15 (Dec 6) Final Presentations
    • AMP 2017 >
      • AMP 2017 Final Videos
      • Welcome to Duke AMP 2017
      • COURSE SCHEDULE >
        • Week 1 (Aug 29) Intro
        • Week 2 (Sept 5) Production Lab and Pitch 101
        • Week 3 (Sept 12) Edit Lab #1, Story #1 Pitch
        • Week 4 (Sept 19) PRODUCTION WORKSHOP
        • Week 5 (Sept 26) Edit Lab #2, Story #1 Rough Cut
        • Week 6 (Oct 3) Guac Premiere #1
        • Week 7 (Oct 10) Fall Break
        • Week 8 (Oct 17 American Underground, Story #2 Pitch
        • Week 9 (Oct 24) Production Lab #2
        • Week 10 (Oct 31) PRODUCTION WORKSHOP
        • Week 11 (Nov 7) Edit Lab #3, Story #2 Rough Cut
        • Week 12 (Nov 14) Guac Premiere #2
        • Week 13 (Nov 21) Final Presentation Preparation
        • Week 14 (Nov 28)
        • Week 15 (Dec 5) Final Presentations
    • AMP 2019 >
      • Welcome to Duke AMP 2019
      • MORE INFO >
        • Before we begin...
        • Resources
        • Story Requirements
        • Story Roles and Responsibilities
        • Coffee Talks
      • COURSE SCHEDULE >
        • Week 1 (Wednesday Jan 9th) Intro
        • Week 2 (Monday Jan 14th) Production Lab and Pitch 101
        • Week 3 (Jan 21) NO CLASS MLK
        • Week 4 (Jan 28th) Edit Lab #1, Story #1 Pitch
        • Week 5 (Feb 4th) PRODUCTION WORKSHOP
        • Week 6 (Feb 11th) Edit Lab #2, Story #1 Rough Cut
        • Week 7 (Feb 18th) Guac Premiere #1
        • Week 8 (Feb 25th) American Underground, Story #2 Pitch
        • Week 9 (March 4th) Production Lab #2
        • Week 10 (March 11th) Spring Break
        • Week 11 (March 18th) PRODUCTION WORKSHOP
        • Week 12 (March 25th) Edit Lab #3, Story #2 Rough Cut
        • Week 13 (April 1st) Guac Premiere #2
        • Week 14 (April 8th) Final Presentation Preparation
        • Week 15 (April 15th) Making the Pitch
        • Week 16 (April 22nd) Final Presentations