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Download obs with external Hard Drive

i_tye

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Hello, recently got a Seagate 1TB hard Drive to have more space on my laptop pc, which doesnΓÇÖt have a lot space of its own,
Want to start using Obs and IΓÇÖve set the settings to download it to the Hard Drive, but when itΓÇÖs halfway itΓÇÖs says error?
can anyone help?
 

AurigaDave

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I am not sure, but sometimes Laptops/PC's have to run the clip through their own memory on route to an external HD, so IF there is not enough to 'hold the file' to be written, they generate an error...try an copy some of your existing files to the External to create enough space for the files you wish to download, download one at a time and see what happens
 
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Beanie Draws

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I acctually recommend downloading a little program called WinDirStat. great way to see where those bigger hidden files are hogging up the room. That way you can record better the the hard drive. (in the screenshot below, you can see how it seperates differant files into differant categories and sizes, so you can find your big video files in the biggest rectangles, and move them over to give you more space to work with)

You CAN theoretically record to the external if it has it's own power source, but you're better off recording to the pc first, then transferring the file to the external after.

Also, depending on the laptop, not all laptops can provide enough power to the external hard drive on it's own, so if the hard drive loses power for even a split second, your recording will corrupt. MUCH better recording to the internal drive first, then transferring later.

Screenshot (4838).png
 

BensTechLab

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@i_tye you also didn't say much about your Laptop make/model/age. USB ports have been around a LONG time and have a number of generational improvements from USB 1 to USB 2 to USB 3 to USB 3.1 to USB 3.2....

USB 3 can be in the ballpark of 5Gbps to 20/40 Gbps on thunderbolt.
USB 2 maxes out around 480 Mbps (at least 1/10th of USB 3)
USB 1 (really, really old) was like 12 Mbps

With anything video it depends on your resolution, framerate and compression settings. 4k is 400% the data of HD. 60fps is 200% the data of 30fps. Plus your codec/compression settings will impact filesizes/bitrates.

Obviously there is a "spectrum" of possibilities and not one right answer. The higher of a resolution and framerate you have chosen, the better hardware you will need. New laptop with USB 3+ with a higher end SSD external harddrive for lower latency. The lower you are willing to go on resolution and framerate the older of a computer/usb/harddrive you can get away with.

Lots of cheap external harddrives you find at "big box stores" will be spinning 5400rpm mechanical hard drives. These are relatively slow (but also relatively cheap for the size). You can then upgrade to 7200rpm spinning drives and then the serious video pros will want solid state drives (SSD) for the speed (but they cost a lot more too).

Last but not least: USB is a shared pipe for data. So if you have your external hard drive plugged into a USB hub (some laptops will have an internal hub exposing 2+ ports externally that are actually shared total bandwidth) then other devices on the same USB controller can cause a "hiccup" in the transmission speed. For example if you have your webcam and a harddrive sharing a USB controller, it may be less performant as they are sharing USB bandwidth. Again a higher end laptop will have more dedicated USB ports, and a lower end one might have more shared USB ports.