Girshon Rutstein
Level 2 (358 points)
Desktops

Q: Where to keep libraries on Internal or External drive?

Question #1. I am an old school and used to keep the media on an external drive and the application on internal SSD. (FCP7) I was thought to keep them separate for best performance. Now I hear very often to keep libraries on internal SSD. Why? First of all I can not consolidate as footage can fill up the space.

 

Question #2. I am using a Seagate FW 800 as an external, is replacing with USB 3.0 would improve the performance?

 

Question #3. I have many USB 3.0 devices. I constantly have to move them around as my iMac does not provide with enough USB3.0 outs. I read that powered USB ports creates problems.

 

Thanks.

 

P.S. One of the 3rd party plugins companies technical support highly suggested to keep the libraries on an internal SSD

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4), 27"

Posted on May 5, 2016 7:32 AM

by Luis Sequeira1,Solvedanswer
Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1
Level 6 (12,392 points)
Mac OS X
A:

"We would rather recommend keeping your libraries on the internal SSD disk and only copying them to the external storage for backup purposes or when switching between different workstations.

Not only is reading from an internal disk a lot faster in most cases, it's also proven to be a lot less problematic - FCPX (as reported by several of our customers) has issues with libraries stored externally and OS X doesn't handle aliases/links well."

 

 

If the last sentence were true, we'd all be in serious trouble, but fortunately it isn't. We all use thousands of hard and soft (sym) links every day. FCP X in particular depends on those heavily. I say OS X handles them very well.

Posted on May 6, 2016 2:14 AM

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Girshon Rutstein

Q: Where to keep libraries on Internal or External drive?

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  • by Russ H,Helpful

    Russ H Russ H May 5, 2016 10:23 AM in response to Girshon Rutstein
    Level 7 (21,825 points)
    Quicktime
    May 5, 2016 10:23 AM in response to Girshon Rutstein

    1. It may be a valid option to store library on an SSD – particularly if you're traveling and working on a laptop but I'm not hearing  people saying that it's best practice.  And you're right that media can fill up drives pretty fast. Which developer recommends this?

     

    2. Yes.  I assume your connection to the FW drive is via a Thunderbolt adaptor. So you'd actually be best off choosing a Thunderbolt drive.

     

    3. Possibly. Perhaps someone else will chime in.

     

    Russ

  • by Luis Sequeira1,Helpful

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 May 5, 2016 10:24 AM in response to Girshon Rutstein
    Level 6 (12,392 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 5, 2016 10:24 AM in response to Girshon Rutstein

    You can keep the libraries in the SSD and the media in an external drive. Media does not have to be stored inside the library. Whether you store it inside (what is called "managed media") or outside the library ("external media") depends on your particular workflow, and the same person can use one and the other for different productions.

     

    For very small productions it can be better to have the media inside the library and all that in the internal SSD. Great for working on the road, and the internal SSD in recent macs is bleeding fast. But space can fill up real fast, so this is not an option for large work.

  • by Girshon Rutstein,

    Girshon Rutstein Girshon Rutstein May 5, 2016 10:46 AM in response to Russ H
    Level 2 (358 points)
    Desktops
    May 5, 2016 10:46 AM in response to Russ H

    I don't work on the road, therefore I don't think keeping media files on SSD is a good idea. To answer Russ question about "Which developer recommends this?" I quote an email exerpt, I received from MotionVFX:


    "We would rather recommend keeping your libraries on the internal SSD disk and only copying them to the external storage for backup purposes or when switching between different workstations.

    Not only is reading from an internal disk a lot faster in most cases, it's also proven to be a lot less problematic - FCPX (as reported by several of our customers) has issues with libraries stored externally and OS X doesn't handle aliases/links well."

     

    Thanks for your help.

  • by Alchroma,

    Alchroma Alchroma May 5, 2016 5:24 PM in response to Girshon Rutstein
    Level 6 (19,036 points)
    Video
    May 5, 2016 5:24 PM in response to Girshon Rutstein

    I use one of these for adding additional gear:

    http://www.belkin.com/au/p/P-F4U055/

     

    There is a newer model out now and other manufacturers have similar items.

     

    Al

  • by stumbleone,

    stumbleone stumbleone May 5, 2016 6:50 PM in response to Girshon Rutstein
    Level 2 (317 points)
    May 5, 2016 6:50 PM in response to Girshon Rutstein

    To add on to what Al posted, my experience:

     

    I've had this USB-3 Hub from OWC for quite some time -

    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Tripp%20Lite/U360007/

     

    It has performed flawlessly with various combinations of USB-3 drives, USB-2 drives, printers and scanners.

     

    For me, the USB-3 speeds are fully adequate for FCP X use.

  • by Luis Sequeira1,Solvedanswer

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 May 6, 2016 2:14 AM in response to Girshon Rutstein
    Level 6 (12,392 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 6, 2016 2:14 AM in response to Girshon Rutstein

    "We would rather recommend keeping your libraries on the internal SSD disk and only copying them to the external storage for backup purposes or when switching between different workstations.

    Not only is reading from an internal disk a lot faster in most cases, it's also proven to be a lot less problematic - FCPX (as reported by several of our customers) has issues with libraries stored externally and OS X doesn't handle aliases/links well."

     

     

    If the last sentence were true, we'd all be in serious trouble, but fortunately it isn't. We all use thousands of hard and soft (sym) links every day. FCP X in particular depends on those heavily. I say OS X handles them very well.

  • by Karsten Schlüter,

    Karsten Schlüter Karsten Schlüter May 6, 2016 3:00 AM in response to Girshon Rutstein
    Level 7 (32,713 points)
    Video
    May 6, 2016 3:00 AM in response to Girshon Rutstein

    Girshon Rutstein wrote:

    ...  quote an email exerpt, I received from MotionVFX:

    …FCPX (as reported by several of our customers) has issues with libraries stored externally and OS X doesn't handle aliases/links well."…

     

    Hard to believe, that is Szymon's actual opinion.

    since v10.1, the whole concept of FCPX' Libs/Events/clips is based upon hard links/symlinks/aliasses..

     

    .. what Luis said - we'll all be doomed if FCPX doesn't handle that well......................

  • by Girshon Rutstein,

    Girshon Rutstein Girshon Rutstein May 6, 2016 6:54 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter
    Level 2 (358 points)
    Desktops
    May 6, 2016 6:54 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

    Thanks to Luis and Kartsen, for the helpful answer. I was really concern about the external drives issue. I love MotionVFX company and their plugins, especially the 3D. If you read their recommendation where to keep the library, its actually taken from some of the FCPX users. Therefore I raised this question in Apple Support community, if more people had issues with keeping the library on an external drive.

     

    And I got the answer, thanks to everyone!.

  • by Neil G,

    Neil G Neil G May 6, 2016 8:46 AM in response to Girshon Rutstein
    Level 3 (744 points)
    May 6, 2016 8:46 AM in response to Girshon Rutstein

    FCPX references four locations: Library, Media, Caches, and Backups. If the Media and Caches are stored outside of the Library, the Library can be quite small. Its location might as well be on your internal drive. Backups can be FCPX-generated, by Time Machine, or other automated means.

     

    Personal experiences: I use a 7-port USB hub from "Pluggable" and been very happy with its speed and reliability. First on a non-USB3 Mac with a Thunderbolt<>USB3 adapter and later as an expansion of a USB3 port on a newer iMac. My external disks are inexpensive WD models with two or four TB capacities. Observed throughput often averages 100MB.

     

    The Media typically has low volatility. Once imported in-place, the static files hang around for a long time. External drives are great. Backups should be created as needed/valued.

     

    The Caches may be volatile and have a huge variability in size. Transcoded (huge) and/or Proxy (smaller) files can be recreated. Render files can also be recreated. These can be on an external 'scratch' disk.

     

    You mention that you don't "work on the road" but I'll add that some Road Warriors will put their Caches on the internal drive (either inside or outside the Library). Proxy files are created when they import the Media or after a quick review. Then the Media drive may be left 'at home' and work commences on their laptop. If space becomes filled, extraneous Render files can be deleted in part or entirely.

     

    I hope this is helpful. Cheers.