Sorry I hadn't been keeping up with my own thread of late!
I'm running a Premiere Pro / Canopus system. Final Cut Pro has an excellent reputation; many who are familiar or experienced with Avid systems find the interface comfortable. When I first stopped editing with a tape based system, I used a standalone editor called the Casablanca. It was reliable, but it's limitations drove me to a open-architecture computer-based system and, quite frankly, I first tried the Adobe Premiere software because I was a fan of the integration of Adobe products. I can't really say that Premiere would be my first choice if I were coming into the field cold, but I know it well, have grown with it, and doesn't impose any limitations for my needs. FCP and another popular editing software, Vegas, weren't available when I started.
You'da thunk I woulda been a Mac guy with a background in photography, video, etc... but my dad was a lifetime IBM executive from the 50's in White Plains. I've had PeeCees in the house since before Windows (that's DOS to all you punk kids out there) and, believe it or not, I've never even sat down in front of a Mac. I don't dislike them at all or anything, but, just like Premiere, at the end of the day when you've got a deadline, you "go with what you know". Unfortunately, I always seem to have deadlines, and not enough time to learn new, creative techniques or software or platforms!
Re: the HD space, I have (2) 250s on the CPU as a RAID, a 200 as a system drive, and (3) 250 external FireWire drives.
