Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The loss is only true for lossy compression like jpg. However, there are no video formats that are not lossy. Still pictures and audio have several lossless formats (codecs).
That said, copying a digital file would never change it.
how can I find out if my jpg files and other picture files are lossy compression or lossless formats?
how can I find out if my jpg files and other picture files are lossy compression or lossless formats?
Copying your files does not degrade them, you can move or copy them millions of times and they will be EXACTLY the same. So don't worry about it, you are fine!
I called Seagate and asked them about transferring from one external drive to another, I was told if I do this that the videos will lose quality, is this true? He said if the 1st external hard drive stopped working that the 2nd one will be left with videos of a lower quality and that if I transfer everything to a 3rd external hard drive that this will have even lower quality
If this is true then this means it's not even worth buying another external drive and if it stops working then that's it, it's over and that I should have bought 2 at the same time and only transfer data from the computer to each of them
Well then if they can get away with such rhetoric I should have worked at Seagate. Never, in a million years, would I have taken that line with a customer at the cable company. I bet the guy at Seagate is making a lot more money too.
The advantage of digital over analog is that you have "perfect" copies of your content. The disadvantage of digital is that we live in an analog world and there are still physical constraints that apply to modern technology. Digital is a workaround for issues that occur with analog, not a replacement for it. Digital copies are samples of what exists in analog. They are approximations. With something low tech like VHS this is not an issue; a digital copy of a VHS might actually reproduce image quality you could not see through a VCR, particularly if you're watching it on a HD television or monitor, technically, that information is there but an old analog television set cannot reproduce it. For real life applications there are always constraints, always a desire to extract even more information, with digital. This is all philosophical, of course.
Now, if there are issues with the hard drive you are copying the videos to, that could introduce issues but the same could be said about CDs or DVDs. What Seagate is on about assumes that there will be physical issues with each of the hard drives in question and there is no way of knowing that before hand. By that logic, copies that we store on the cloud are also subject to degradation, because who knows the integrity of the hard drives in the cloud?
I have noticed this with music files I store on an SD card, but I can always go back and get another copy. I can also take the eight year old card out of the phone and replace it with a newer one.
You're more prone to deal with degradation when you're changing from one format to another, or lowering, or raising, the quality of a video, to make it fit on a smartphone or tablet for playback, for example.
I wouldn't be paranoid about it. If there are physical issues with the drive, it is probably something you may never notice.
Technically, you could take the first file and copy it to the second and third and fourth hard drives, directly from the original copy, rather than copy from the first to the second, and the second to the third, third to the fourth.
(Seagate, not you, as a consumer)
I don't think I have to draw a diagram of that spoke and hub to convey to you what that looks like.
What does it mean if some videos lag when played directly from the external hard drive? I deleted it and copied it again several times and the same thing happens but doesn't when played on the computer. I even made a copy from the external hard drive to the computer to see what happens and it plays fine. I even used another usb cord and the same thing happens. It always lags on the same parts. It's 4.54 TB total and I have 2.68 TB left. I transferred from the computer the same video to another external hard drive and it plays fine. How can I fix it on the other hard drive?
Last edited by KillerInstinct; 12-10-2016 at 11:16 AM..
What does it mean if some videos lag when played directly from the external hard drive? I deleted it and copied it again several times and the same thing happens but doesn't when played on the computer. I even made a copy from the external hard drive to the computer to see what happens and it plays fine. I even used another usb cord and the same thing happens. It always lags on the same parts. It's 4.54 TB total and I have 2.68 TB left. I transferred from the computer the same video to another external hard drive and it plays fine. How can I fix it on the other hard drive?
It means your external hard drive is slow or you are using old USB drive. Get a better external hard drive.
What does it mean if some videos lag when played directly from the external hard drive? I deleted it and copied it again several times and the same thing happens but doesn't when played on the computer. I even made a copy from the external hard drive to the computer to see what happens and it plays fine. I even used another usb cord and the same thing happens. It always lags on the same parts. It's 4.54 TB total and I have 2.68 TB left.
Slower read/write speeds than the computer RAM. Also, the possibility that what you're watching exceeds the computer's RAM.
Is the file 4.54 TB in total, or is that the amount of the information that you have on that drive?
Also, are we talking about the computer opening a large file, or merely playing back a large file? Playing a file back you're limited to both the hardware of the PC and the abilities of the drive itself. Opening up a large file you're limited by the RAM. In either event the PC has to manage your large file, with other operations that the PC needs to do in the background, so even if you do have the resources available (in theory) you're going to get buffering. It could be something as simple as a video card with low resources.
Slower read/write speeds than the computer RAM. Also, the possibility that what you're watching exceeds the computer's RAM.
Is the file 4.54 TB in total, or is that the amount of the information that you have on that drive?
Also, are we talking about the computer opening a large file, or merely playing back a large file? Playing a file back you're limited to both the hardware of the PC and the abilities of the drive itself. Opening up a large file you're limited by the RAM. In either event the PC has to manage your large file, with other operations that the PC needs to do in the background, so even if you do have the resources available (in theory) you're going to get buffering. It could be something as simple as a video card with low resources.
The file play fine from the computer internal hard drive so the problem is with the slower external hard driver (the drive or communication speed to the computer) is the problem.
The file play fine from the computer internal hard drive so the problem is with the slower external hard driver (the drive or communication speed to the computer) is the problem.
If that were the case but the OP never suggested as such. Perhaps I wasn't reading in between the lines.
If that were the case but the OP never suggested as such. Perhaps I wasn't reading in between the lines.
This is what OP wrote. OP already diagnosed that the drive in question is the problem. Looking for a way to fix it. The answer is that it may not be fixable if the drive is an older one.
What does it mean if some videos lag when played directly from the external hard drive? I deleted it and copied it again several times and the same thing happens but doesn't when played on the computer. I even made a copy from the external hard drive to the computer to see what happens and it plays fine. I even used another usb cord and the same thing happens. It always lags on the same parts. It's 4.54 TB total and I have 2.68 TB left. I transferred from the computer the same video to another external hard drive and it plays fine. How can I fix it on the other hard drive?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
(Seagate, not you, as a consumer)