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External Hard Disk Drive choice
The Mac on which I prefer to do my FCPX editing is a MacBook Pro 17-inch, Early 2011 8GB. It has a Thunderbolt port and thanks to my two Caldigit 2TB AV drives I also have a Caldigit Express Card which allows me to use all sorts of USB3 drives.
I’ve only recently been using FCPX (converting from Premiere Pro but WOW! am I enjoying it!) and my problem is that FCPX uses up an alarming amount of HDD space. A recent multicam project of two performances of a two hour play for which I used four camcorders has ended up by using 1.69 TB of HDD space. In a few weeks I’ll be tackling a project maybe twice the size and I need to invest in a new external drive.
I think I’m looking for a 3+TB drive running at 7200 rpm, ideally not weighing more than 2 kgs. Should I go for USB3 or Thunderbolt? Any specific recommendations, please?
I practically always run this MacBook off the mains electricity so I’d always be plugging this new HDD into the mains too – I mention this in case that is an issue with performance etc.
I’m not so bothered about the cost as it will be amortised over lots of projects.
Many thanks in advance for any help here.
FCPX and PPro 6. iMac 24 + MBP 17″. Near Geneva, Switzerland
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16 Replies
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GTech or Promise would be my suggestions. I.e.:
https://www.promise.com/storage/raid_series.aspx?m=192®ion=en-global&rsn1=40&rsn3=47
or
https://www.g-technology.com/products/g-raid-thunderbolt
If interchangeability with other systems i.e. older Mac and PCs is not a big need, go with Thunderbolt instead of USB3.
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Been using the 2 drive 8TB G-Raid for about 6 months, and it’s excellent. No complaints.
Don’t forget to prune out unneeded proxy & render files once a project is finalized. Lots of room to be saved there.
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I’ve been using the 2 drive 8TB GRaid Thunderbolt for a while now. It’s been great, no complaints. I use only RAID 0 though as it’s used primarily for on-site edits for sports events. At home/office, I use a bigger Promise R6 12TB (RAID 5) which is awesome.
Kannan Raghavan
The Big Toad Films Pte. Ltd. -
[Kannan Raghavan] “Promise R6 12TB (RAID 5) which is awesome.”
Same as above, super happy with the Promise R6
Dajen Productions, Santa Barbara, CA
Mac Pro 3.5MHz 6-Core Late 2013
FCP X -
I am using a Lacie 2 Big (6 TB, Thurnderbolt) in Raid 0 configuration for about 3 months. Seems to work well and I back up onto both firewire 800and USB disks at night. So far so good. The transfer rate on the LACIE is much faster than FW800 and very useful in FCPX.
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Many thanks for those great ideas and timely advice, MUCH appreciated!
Semi portable drives are what I’m considering (2 kgs or less, fits in a backpack) so that seems to narrow things down to the Lacie and G-Tech range.
I’ve only one machine with a Thunderbolt port and if I had a problem with it then I’d be back on my earlier-made iMac which only has USB 2 and Firewire 800. If I had only Thunderbolt connections on my chosen HDD then I’d need some sort of adapter which would let me plug a Thunderbolt disk into my USB/Firewire iMac such as, maybe, the soon-to-be-released Kanex https://www.kanexlive.com/article/thunderbolt-adapters – or have I misunderstood something here?
According to the G-tech specs their HDD 4TB Thunderbolt/USB3 drive (https://www.g-technology.com/products/g-drive-thunderbolt) is significantly slower than their dedicated Thunderbolt drives. Same slower speed irrespective of how it is connected…?
However, the Lacie looks like it might well fulfil my requirements: https://www.lacie.com/intl/products/product.htm?id=10600 It boasts speeds up to 215MB/s for both Thunderbolt and USB3. Is there a downside?
Last question (for now): in the circumstances, RAID 0 would be a good idea for a 4 TB drive and FCPX? Makes it go even faster..?
Thanks for reading all this!
FCPX and PPro 6. iMac 24 + MBP 17″. Near Geneva, Switzerland
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I had two Lacie RAIDs fail; one after one month the other after nine. Now using a Promise 4 disk RAID, so far, so good!
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That’s what worries me – I’ve masses of HDDs accumulated over the years and only one has ever let me down, the one Lacie I had…
FCPX and PPro 6. iMac 24 + MBP 17″. Near Geneva, Switzerland
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lacie enclosures can hold any OEM maker’s drives. It’s the drives they chose to put in those units that failed, and based on the market conditions, they probably change drive brands all the time.
As far as your multicam project, using optimized media is always going to inflate the file sizes. You might want to look at a workflow based on proxy media and being patient for the big re-render at the end of the project.
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[Kannan Raghavan] “Promise R6 12TB (RAID 5) which is awesome.”
Yep, second that…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill
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