Transfer to Hard Drives Top Questions
Below are common questions we get about our hard drive transfer process. If your questions are not answered below please feel free to contact us. Or better still, drop by our brick-and-mortar store and on-site film transfer lab in Newton, MA.
You can also find frequently asked questions about our Video Tape Transfer, Memory Cards/Sticks transfer, Image Scanning, Film Transfer, audio transfer (cassettes, vinyl records, DAT) . Or return to our General FAQ page.
Q. What is a external/portable hard drive?
- A hard drive is a portable object to store large computer files.
- Instead of transferring your videos to a DVD, you can request to transfer your videos to a hard drive.
- You can bring your own hard drive (must be empty), or you can purchase one here, we stock them in the store.
Q. What is the benefit of transferring to a hard drive?
The customers who transfer to a hard drive intend to edit the videos.
- A DVD is convenient, you can simply pop a DVD into a player and watch your video right away.
- However, if you plan to edit the videos, you will need to rip it off the DVD, an extra step some customers don’t want to bother with.
- When you transfer your video files to a hard drive, you can drag and drop the files directly into your video editing software without the extra step.
- You also get higher resolution files when you transfer to a hard drive.
- Video files on a DVD have been compressed, so that it’s optimal for playing and viewing on DVD players.
Q. What kind of video files will be the hard drive contain?
- When you request to transfer to a hard drive, we ask you if you will be using the Mac or PC.
- If you are using the MAC, we transfer to .MOV video files.
- If you are using a PC, we transfer to .AVI files.
- If you have other file formats you prefer your video files in, let us know.
Q. What size hard drive should I bring?
- The rule of thumb is : 1 hour of video is 15 Gig.
- Example, if you have 10 tapes, each with 2 hours of video, that’s a total of 20 hours.
- Each hour takes up 15 Gig, so your video files will take up 20 hours X 15 Gig = 300 gigs.
- The hard drive you want to get would be a 500 Gig in this case. Always get more than you need instead of filling a hard drive all the way up.
Q. Can you purchase the hard drive for us?
- Yes, we carry them in store for customer’s convenience.
- 2 T (2,000 Gig) hard drive is $165
- 1 T (1,000 Gig) hard drive is $135,
- 500 Gig hard drive is $89.
Q. How much does it cost to transfer to a hard drive?
- It costs $25 per hour per tape.
- Transferring to a hard drive costs slightly more than transferring to a DVD, because the process ties up not just the video transfer deck, but a computer as well.
- If you don’t plan to edit your videos, you just want to be able to watch it, you’ll save money transferring to DVDs instead of to a hard drive.
Q. Should I transfer to a DVD or to a hard drive?
- You can directly drag the files from your hard drive to your editing software.
- DVDs require an additional step called DVD ripping to convert the files to a format your software can understand.
- You also get full-resolution files on a hard drive, whereas DVD files are compressed. A one hour video is 12 Gig on a hard drive, but only 2 Gig on a DVD. The bigger the file, the sharper the image quality.
Q. How much does it cost?
Please see our pricing page.
Q. Where can I find more information?
Call us at (617) 332-3300. One of our friendly technicians will be happy to answer your specific questions. Or better still, drop by our brick-and-mortar store and on-site lab in Newton, MA.
