[mdlug] Big ol' backup drive, and AVCHD on Linux

[Ingles, Raymond]

Recent events, and upcoming ones, have impressed upon me the need for a
sizeable backup drive. My Father's Day present is the funds to select an
appropriate chunk of hardware for this.

 Right now, I'm leaning toward a deal at Microcenter, a 640GB USB 2.0
drive for $70.
(http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0308
986) I'd *like* eSATA, but skimming pricewatch.com and Microcenter's
website shows that I'd take a price and capacity hit for it (the next
best deal at Microcenter is an eSATA drive for $80 @ 500GB). Firewire
would work, too - I have a card for that - but I haven't seen improved
deals there.

 I don't think I actually need the speed of eSATA for my archival
purposes. But if anyone's aware of better deal than these, please let me
know.

 On a not-quite-unrelated note, my birthday's coming up shortly, and our
old DV camcorder from close to decade ago is dying. (We bought it with
profits from the VA Linux IPO...) Most of the buttons no longer work,
including the zoom, etc. So we're going to get a Samsung HMX-105; it can
record at up 1920x1080 at 30 progressive fps. The videos will be
somewhat sizeable, so having more space should be helpful.

 Does anyone have experience with HD camcorders and Linux? It looks like
capture per se isn't a problem, it just hooks up via USB 2 and you copy
the files. What kind of support for the AVCHD video format have people
encountered?

 Sincerely,

 Ray Ingles                                   (313) 227-2317

    "One of the main reasons for the downfall of the Roman
  Empire was that, lacking zero, they had no way to indicate
 successful termination of their C programs." - Robert Firth
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