large external hard drive for fcpx editing

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Level 1

6 points

large external hard drive for fcpx editing

Hi, a two part question:

1. I was wondering how people manage their media: is it recommended to store media on an external hdd and reference to it? Or are Libraries & projects also stored on an external drive?

2. I have around 4TB of video and would like to purchase a large external hdd that is fast enough for 4k video editing (with proxy or optimised media, single stream, nothing too fancy etc). I just bought the new 5k iMac which has thunderbolt connections.

I read up a lot on thunderbolt vs USB3 speeds, hdd drive speeds, RAIDs etc but am none the wiser. I don't want it to be overkill either.

Would this one be good enough: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01BBZ4Q0C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc =1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Or is it better to use for backup and should I go for the TB version: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FIYJ7LG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc =1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Or would a USB3 be fast enough with a dual RAID0 type drive? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Desktop-External-Drive-WDBLWE0080JCH-EESN/dp/B00L9 0DX04/ref=pd_sim_147_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YFMN75KFN652T20XB40B

Price differences are quite extreme and I don't quite know how much of a real difference it would make to my editing.

I did struggle with my 2010 macbook pro and an external 5400rpm portable hard drive so would like to avoid this situation.

Many thanks in advance!

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 3, 2016 2:35 AM

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Answer 1

BenB

Level 6

13,438 points

Sep 3, 2016 6:16 AM in response to jewingy

1- Yes, always put Libraries and media on a second, fast drive. The video/audio "streaming data" required can bog down the data streams needed by the OS and app themselves. There is limited bandwidth between the CPU and hard drives, just like your Internet connection.

RIAD 0 is pretty out of date, stay away from it. USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt are good enough for 4K editing. RAID is faster than single drive (even SSD). Spinning disks should always be 7200rpm, even the system drive. 5400 is way too slow. If you go with RAID, get a 4 bay unit, with 7200rpm drives, in a RAID 5 configuration. MacSales.com has excellent products. As does Promise (their P2 T'bolt RAIDS are the fastest on the market) and other well known brands. I've never been a fan of the My Book line of products.

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Answer 2

jewingy Author

Level 1

6 points

Sep 3, 2016 6:23 AM in response to jewingy

Regarding media management:

I was thinking of storing all the media master files on an external drive, but keep the library and Cache/render files on my iMac to maximise speed (my iMac has a 1TB fusion drive and it is mostly empty). I am not sure where to put FCP backup files and whether I need them, if I backup the external drives as well as the iMac.

If I have the library and cache on the iMac, I wondered whether I still need very fast external drives? (I would then go for a USB 3 7200rpm drive instead of thunderbolt, which are double the price).

Thanks again.

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Answer 3

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,825 points

Sep 3, 2016 6:45 AM in response to jewingy

Caches contain media. Fusion drive is not particularly fast. Most of the drive is a standard spinning drive, which is where you media be. I'd put the library if it contains the cache and media on an external drive.

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Answer 4

jewingy Author

Level 1

6 points

Sep 3, 2016 8:52 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

i have just realised that my 27" iMac late 2015model only has 24gb of SSD on it (I thought it was 128gb). Since it's only a few days old, I'm thinking of upgrading either to 2tb (which would have 128gb ssd) or 512gb ssd model only.

I use Lightroom and FCPx. would anyone with knowledge recommend an upgrade or leave things as they are? I read somewhere that ssd is not particularly useful when it comes to fcpx.

I read somewhere that the read/write speeds of the regular hdd part of the iMac is around 80-90mb/s which is slower than a typical usb 3 external hdd drive.

ssd however is around 200mb/s which seems sufficient. Am I right in thinking that I should aim for around 130mb/s for 4K videos?

this is all so hard and apple doesnt make it clear at all what their hdds consist of.

thanks

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Answer 5

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,825 points

Sep 3, 2016 8:58 AM in response to jewingy

my 27" iMac late 2015model only has 24gb of SSD on it

That's not possible. Sure that's not the available free space? Or is this is SSD portion of the Fusion drive?

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Answer 6

jewingy Author

Level 1

6 points

Sep 3, 2016 9:22 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

That's the ssd portion of it. I don't know whether it would be better to spend more on a faster external drive or on upgrading to more SSD. 2tb fusion (with 128gb ssd) is £160 more or 516gb ssd only would be £360 more.

An 8tb tthunderbolt drive is around £360 (Not ssd but presumably faster than the built in iMac hdd That I currently have).

I am not sure I can justify >1k on a promise drive linked above as my projects are fairly small/simple (4k single stream, mostly drone footage from my phantom 4).

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Answer 7

BenB

Level 6

13,438 points

Sep 3, 2016 1:08 PM in response to jewingy

No, put it ALL on the external drive: Library, media, cache, everything. Putting the cache and render files on a different drive really do NOT help. It actually defeats the purpose.

Stay away from fusion drives, they do nothing for video editing. A plain old 7200rpm USB 2.0 or large SSD USB 2.0 will work fine. This would be nice on a budget.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/External-Drive/OWC/Elite-Pro-Dual

Dual drive RAID 0 is a great solution for being on a budget.

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Answer 8

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,825 points

Sep 3, 2016 9:42 AM in response to jewingy

What Ben said. Not a fan of Fusion drives, especially not for media.

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Answer 9

jewingy Author

Level 1

6 points

Sep 3, 2016 4:25 PM in response to jewingy

Thanks. Would it change anything if I exchanged the iMac for a 512GB SSD? (would the drive still be slower than a raid configuration for FCPX libraries?).

I am inclined to go for this (particularly for Lightroom Catalogues/Previews, since the files are smaller) instead of the 1TB fusion drive which I bought.

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Answer 10

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,825 points

Sep 3, 2016 4:29 PM in response to jewingy

FFor most production I would keep libraries and media off the system drive. Lightroom and stills libraries are a different matter and may as well be on the system drive if there's space.

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Answer 11

jewingy Author

Level 1

6 points

Sep 5, 2016 5:20 AM in response to jewingy

Update: I purchased the Pegasus Promise 8tb RAID: https://digitaldevicesonline.co.uk/f40sr4r01100000.html?gclid=COygwPOa-M4CFdW7Gw odgXkLCg (second hand)

Should I set it up as Raid 5 or Raid 0 to work with FCPX? (either way, it will need to also have a separate back up drive).

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Answer 12

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,825 points

Sep 5, 2016 5:33 AM in response to jewingy

5

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Answer 13

jewingy Author

Level 1

6 points

Sep 5, 2016 5:36 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thanks very much. I presume I can use the Pegasus software to set this up rather than iMac's disk utility? If one of the disks fails in RAID5, do I just order a new one from Pegasus? (And how will I know whether one of the disks dies?)

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Answer 14

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,825 points

Sep 5, 2016 5:38 AM in response to jewingy

I don't know this particular system. You might contact Pegasus support.

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Answer 15

BenB

Level 6

13,438 points

Sep 5, 2016 6:53 AM in response to jewingy

For a Promis product, you MUST use the Promise utility to set it up. Do NOT use the Apple software to do that, you'll have issues. I've been using Promise RAIDs for more years than I can count. Definitely use the Promise software to set it up, as Tom says, RAID 5.

The lights on the front of the enclosure will tell you when a drive is failing or has totally failed. The RAID's response will slow a great deal, also. You have to match the make/model of the drive, so getting one via Promise could ensure your stability and data safety.

RAID redundancy is NOT the same as a backup. If a second drive starts to get unstable at the same time, you lose all your data. Just be warned.

I actually got an empty P2 four bay Pegasus enclosure, and put my own 4TB drives in it (from my old aluminum case Mac Pro). But I'm a retired IT engineer. If you're not comfortable with that, just purchase drives from Promise, you'll be safe.

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