External SSD Drive as a Scratch Disc To Run Final Cut Pro.

Question

Level 1

4 points

External SSD Drive as a Scratch Disc To Run Final Cut Pro.

I'm looking for some advice on what type of external SSD I should buy to run Final Cut Pro off of.

I have a YouTube channel where I create 3 hour ambient videos in 4K. I'm using a 2023 Mac Studio with the M2 Max chip, 64 gigs of RAM, and a 2TB internal hard drive that is half full leaving about 1 TB to run Final Cut.

The issue is that I have to keep background rendering turned off, otherwise it keeps maxing out my harddrive space.

So I'm looking to purchase an external SSD for the sole purpose of a scratch disc. Once I complete a video, I archive the library on another drive, wipe the SSD clean, and start a new video.

I want something that is going to run Final Cut equally as good as it runs on the internal drive of my Mac with enough storage capacity that I can complete editing a video without maxing out the drive storage capacity.

As it is now, an export can take 12+ hours with background rendering turned off. Ideally, I would like to keep it turned on so it is constantly rendering as I'm working, and be able to immediately export my video upon completion of editing.

I use ProRes 422 and export my videos out as an MP4. On average, my video size is about 179 gigs. I then encode the video with Adobe Media encoder using a YouTube 4K preset that drops the file size down to 55 gigs which is what I then upload to YouTube.

Here are a couple of drives that I'm looking at that are on sale for Black Friday. I'm hoping that 4TB is going to be enough space to complete a video without maxing out the drive space. Read and write speed are the same for both (1050/1000).

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-t7-shield-4tb-external-usb-3-2-gen-2-rugged-ssd-ip65-water-resistant-black/6529365.p?skuId=6529365

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sandisk-extreme-portable-4tb-external-usb-c-nvme-ssd-black/6472036.p?skuId=6472036

Any suggestions? Are these good drives and will they serve the purpose I need it for? If not, is there something comparable for about the same price that you can recommend? Thanks in advance.

Mac Studio

Posted on Nov 29, 2024 10:02 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Nov 29, 2024 10:30 AM in response to FCeli

I am thinking that your videos may have a lot of computationally heavy effects - otherwise I don't see how an export in ProRes could take that long on a powerful mac like yours.

Perhaps you have evidence to the contrary, but I would not expect having "background rendering" on to reduce export times significantly. Have you done tests that suggest it does? I'd like to hear more about that. The conventional wisdom is to turn background render off, and leave it off...

I am not familiar with the drives you mention, specifically. They both advertise 1050MBps read speeds, which is normal for USB-C drive. That is of course slower than the internal drive on your Mac, but plenty fast enough for video editing - the drives themselves are unlikely to cause a bottleneck.

You could get a Thunderbolt drive but pay more than twice as much, maybe get twice the speed but you'd not get much benefit - certainly not on export times, as clearly there the processing is the limiting factor, not the drives.

To sum it up, I'd say go with one of these drives, as are going to need the space, for sure. I can't advise which one.

Reply

Answer 2

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Nov 29, 2024 10:34 AM in response to FCeli

Neither of those are especially fast drives, certainly not comparable to the system drive. You're really looking for newer drives like

https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Portable-Professionals-MU-PG4T0B-AM/dp/B0CHFS9K14/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1TI1MUECYTN94&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.YisKGgid-OivAgLWMP4d7cX626g3vMPbz_qo4ZsVuhSS_gZbFBs8BXRBkfeU-GX_6kIhGn5o3MCCKphjj7TIbo2zWEF_zZX0ypryvgbifqct_9H4ml3v9x-xUMbKfDT9f1GWWae_R5W74AfO1O_3LjKeXMNjyiyKSzBmbaXowNJBAWVslEp2RlMogrA-ILkHycN9cPXfZdqBuV-ZEU9tExT2B37AjbCrATdZpKk0URg.DJ7i5YRtjwzkA81AMSED4qXeV9KIkNCb9rzmqoHDZ5o&dib_tag=se&keywords=samsung%2Bt9%2Bssd&qid=1732905202&sprefix=samsung%2BT9%2Bssd%2Caps%2C367&sr=8-1&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/SABRENT-Rocket-XTRM-Thunderbolt-Portable/dp/B0D5C111TT/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2RIAVLMF9JC3I&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Feh7uzH_Q1O9nXx9Gs1RoP2DTn180Sn-OM9BUttQJAYe_f5xmK1EgZZIy31oPHgR1F3NkGGuoNOhQNhVPNWRzFMxt4KPBzuXdECUDQa4PduWB54KqU7ajGyJs8m6U1Yuys9R1oQzmaF7k_KkJP4wZQASvya-vM3x5bkgOl9GhYRDOKiUfP892bFFCa_JXVZqXSd-p56QWwK7OmS-HUuk2HsVK-RlKpM5w8QDYbtW2Mc.-vywDRPDs7p_dPcPJAt_gBRVPXrlHDKB13751ef22S8&dib_tag=se&keywords=sabrent+2tb&qid=1732904857&sprefix=sabrant+%2Caps%2C273&sr=8-5

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-X10-Pro-Portable-CT4000X10PROSSD902/dp/B0C9WJQ9GP/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=FO6IHSWWKEED&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.cKsn_nP_Qs3MRODlmgvTrmjwte_C2LpXiRnQCPJpxVsQnuwUuvy1uYRT7X0KgFD_8XTTqjngQAmEeYOWkX94Swe-qzN-j6nXu9ypzSDhSRkOLnIrXk_novxqAdEKWPtHXe0KwAv8A03rZzlDKS7UowVt9dfMLxpoWEfGcisPpRDhYwq49mOUv40SvsBySf8bk7ASpZRSLF20QOmn7ejAxMDR3oTRygaMb-D0UQZomo8.GEAExGxuajHWuFdBL4YtTnDcmcV0wAAmglkU1eNZCTY&dib_tag=se&keywords=crucial+ssd&qid=1732905022&sprefix=crucial%2Caps%2C264&sr=8-1-spons&ufe=INHOUSE_INSTALLMENTS%3AUS_IHI_5M_HARDLINES_AUTOMATED&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 29, 2024 5:21 PM in response to FCeli

I have a similar workflow for you and use the Samsung T7 Shield 4TB you linked. It fast enough to read and write ProRes 422 HQ footage at up to 4K 60 FPS in real time. I've never had any problems and am super happy. Highly recommended. See my test below for the benchmark of my Samsung T7 Shield 4TB and what file formats it can read and write in real time.

Reply

Answer 4

Nov 29, 2024 11:16 AM in response to FCeli

You can do a quick test to the speed of your internal drive.

Download the free Blackmagic Disk Speed Test from the App Store, and run it.

My older 2019 Intel MBP reached about 3000MBps, and my current M4 PRo MBP is double that, at around 6000MBps. I have seen reports of this same number on the M2 Max Mac Studio, but you can test for yourself.

Bear in mind that, in the scheme of things, drive speed is probably not the limiting factor here. I edit in a USB-C external SSD as well as on the internal drive, and never had the drive being an impediment.

Reply

Answer 5

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Nov 29, 2024 11:40 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

If the render file is the same as the export file like 422, pre-rendering will make a significant difference to output, especially on long projects, but you are right that the drive speed will not be a factor in output time. I was just offering suggestions of a new generation of drives which might be more useful in the long run.

Reply

Answer 6

FCeli Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 29, 2024 11:01 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thanks and appreciate the info. My videos are animated but I do not use a whole lot of effects directly in Final Cut. They're mostly layered effects that I import.

The goal here is to be able to have background rendering turned on so I can immediately export the video within minutes upon completion, versus hours. When it is turned off, I have to wait for the entire video to render after I finish editing as it exports. So I'm looking to speed up my workflow.

[Edited by Moderator]

Reply

Answer 7

FCeli Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 29, 2024 10:58 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thanks for the info. That does make a big difference as they are double the speed of what I was looking at. I haven't really done a lot of research on these as of yet. I called Apple and they directed me to this forum.

Do you know how that compares to the read and write speed of my internal drive? I'm not sure where to find that.

Reply

Answer 8

FCeli Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 29, 2024 11:07 AM in response to FCeli

I tried including a link to my channel to give you an idea of the type of videos I do, but Apple keeps flagging it and removing the link. If you search Peaceful Portals on YouTube, you should be able to find it.

Reply

Answer 9

Nov 29, 2024 11:17 AM in response to FCeli

FCeli wrote:

I tried including a link to my channel to give you an idea of the type of videos I do, but Apple keeps flagging it and removing the link. If you search Peaceful Portals on YouTube, you should be able to find it.

Your videos look amazing. Kudos

Reply

Answer 10

FCeli Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 29, 2024 11:36 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I just downloaded it. It appears to continuously give you results rather than run the test and provide one result. I guess that's how the app works. The last result it gave me was a Write speed of 6449.2mb/s and a Read of 5204.5mb/s which is significantly higher than any external I'm looking at.

Hopefully, what you said about the speed not being a limiting factor is true. I'm willing to give one a try but am hoping that I do not see a big difference in performance by working off of an external.

Reply

Answer 11

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Nov 29, 2024 12:23 PM in response to FCeli

The write speed is really only significant when you're copying a file from one place to another. For your export process the ability of the system to process and generate the file is much slower than the drive's ability to lay it down.

Reply