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performance boost with upgraded drives??
I am looking for the fastest performance for video editing with final cut pro and am wondering if I am currently being held back by my internal drive and if I should upgrade to an SSD. It is my belief that the bottleneck would still be in the processor and potentially the externals as the scratch disks are the ones that make the most difference. Should I keep all my media on the externals and use the internal SSD as a scratch? It isnt recommended to put your scratch drives on the same drive as your OS. Below are my specs. Thanks in advance for your advice.
Computer: Macbook Pro i7, 8GB RAM, 7200 internal, speeds approx 100 mb/s read/write
External Scratch: OWC 4TB, RAID 0, Speeds: 118MB/s (write), 194MB/s (read)
expresscard: Tempo Promacbook pro 17″ i7, 8GB RAM
esata external HD 7200RPM
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canon 5D mark II, 24-70mm, 50mm, 15mm fisheye, juicedink DT454, zacuto striker -
6 Replies
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Save your money and use it to purchase an 8-drive raid. The system drive has almost zero impact on any aspect of editing.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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I agree with David,
You don’t need more HDs speed.
Whatever the format/size you would be working, the bottleneck is on the processing.
Put Media and Renders on external HDs.
rafael -
That is what I thought, the guys at other world computing told me differently and just wanted to confirm.
macbook pro 17″ i7, 8GB RAM
esata external HD 7200RPM
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canon 5D mark II, 24-70mm, 50mm, 15mm fisheye, juicedink DT454, zacuto striker -
I recently upgraded my Mac Pro system drive to an SSD from OWC. While it doesn’t make a bit of difference render-wise, it boots way faster, apps open faster and everything feels nice and snappy. It breathed new life into my 4 year old Mac Pro. I love it, and no, I don’t work for OWC! Buying a massive RAID system is worth it if you are editing uncompressed or high bitrate video, but for those of us who aren’t, it won’t make rendering any faster. Only higher clock speed will do that. I actually tried setting scratch to my SSD just for kicks. Even though is more than twice the speed of my SATA drive, it made no difference in render time.
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style! -
Jason,
RAIDs are not just for massive HD, they have huge performance benefits for video editing at every level.
As you’ve found, drives have little impact on render speed and times, where they benefit the editor is via the extraordinary improved realtime performance and playback capabilities they allow, enabling the realtime playback of layers and layers of video and audio, and the luxury of deferring renders to a more convenient time that is dictated by the editor rather than by the limitations of his/her computer hardware.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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[David Roth Weiss] “RAIDs are not just for massive HD, they have huge performance benefits for video editing at every level.
As you’ve found, drives have little impact on render speed and times, where they benefit the editor is via the extraordinary improved realtime performance and playback capabilities they allow, enabling the realtime playback of layers and layers of video and audio, and the luxury of deferring renders to a more convenient time that is dictated by the editor rather than by the limitations of his/her computer hardware.”
Thanks for the elaboration, David. I haven’t used RAID since the advent of SATA. If I’m working with more than two or three layers of video, I’m usually doing it in After Effects. You’ve got my interest piqued, though -I may have to try RAID again and see if it has any benefit for me. It is nice having the whole project nice and tidy on just one drive, though. Project files and raw footage are backed up in other locations, of course.
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!
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