jewingy
Level 1 (4 points)
Video

Q: 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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jewingy

Q: large external hard drive for fcpx editing

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  • by BenB,Helpful

    BenB BenB Sep 3, 2016 6:16 AM in response to jewingy
    Level 6 (9,801 points)
    Video
    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    RIAD 0 is pretty out of date, stay away from it.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.

  • by jewingy,

    jewingy jewingy Sep 3, 2016 6:23 AM in response to jewingy
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    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.

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 3, 2016 6:45 AM in response to jewingy
    Level 10 (118,056 points)
    Apple TV
    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.

  • by jewingy,

    jewingy jewingy Sep 3, 2016 8:52 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    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

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 3, 2016 8:58 AM in response to jewingy
    Level 10 (118,056 points)
    Apple TV
    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?

  • by jewingy,

    jewingy jewingy Sep 3, 2016 9:22 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    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).

  • by BenB,Helpful

    BenB BenB Sep 3, 2016 1:08 PM in response to jewingy
    Level 6 (9,801 points)
    Video
    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.

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 3, 2016 9:42 AM in response to jewingy
    Level 10 (118,056 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 3, 2016 9:42 AM in response to jewingy

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

  • by jewingy,

    jewingy jewingy Sep 3, 2016 4:25 PM in response to jewingy
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    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.

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 3, 2016 4:29 PM in response to jewingy
    Level 10 (118,056 points)
    Apple TV
    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.

  • by jewingy,

    jewingy jewingy Sep 5, 2016 5:20 AM in response to jewingy
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    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).

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 5, 2016 5:33 AM in response to jewingy
    Level 10 (118,056 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 5, 2016 5:33 AM in response to jewingy

    5

  • by jewingy,

    jewingy jewingy Sep 5, 2016 5:36 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    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?)

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 5, 2016 5:38 AM in response to jewingy
    Level 10 (118,056 points)
    Apple TV
    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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