Working with AFX from G-Raid 2tb

Hi,

I recently purchased a G-Raid 2tb external hard drive to save space when working on my projects.
My footage is on the G-Raid, I import it into after effects and notice that the working process is much slower, and the hard-drive becomes very noisy. It seems to be ok when im editing in FCP, but when in AFX it seems to struggle.

My Question is: Even-though my G-Raid is 7200 RPM, is it too slow for after effects work (mostly color correction)? Is there any danger of damaging the external hard drive by working this way? Am I doing something wrong workflow-wise?

Im really a noob when it comes to external hard drives, so sorry in advance if my question is stupid.

Thank you,

George.

Thanks. Is there a chance of damaging my external by using it with AFX?

Thanks a lot for your reply.

Im using ProRes 422 files, usually XML'ed from FCP. The external does have a fan.

The sound is, as you described, like a very fast "chunking", however when working in after effects its much more frequent than in FCP. There is also a beep-like high pitched humming sound.

The workflow seems slower in comparison with the times when I was working from a local hard drive. The filters like denoiser are handled much slower. And the rendering process seems to be slower, with G-Raid emitting high pitched humming and chunking sounds.

Im just wondering whether my workflow of XML'ing from Final Cut to AFX while keeping all of the footage on my external is a proper way to do this.

Thanks.

I've got an Imac 2.66ghz Code 2 Duo, 5gb of ram, running OS 10.6.8

Im connecting my external through firewire 800.

In after effects, I've got the multi-processing unticked, with ram available for AFX set as 3.5 and for other applications as 1.5, should I enable the multi-processing?

I will try experimenting with the above and also check the activity monitor when rendering.

Thanks,

George