Hard drive advice

[Stephen Mann]

Like Angelo, I buy a 1Tb drive for each project (they are only 60-70 dollars and the client pays for it anyway). I use a USB2 dock and do all my editing on the external dock. Next project, another drive. I can plug in a drive and immediately have all my project files exactly where I left them.

I do back up all the work in progress with an overnight mirror (I use SyncBack), but when the project is done, the drive goes on a shelf and the backup drive is reused on the next project. I tell the clients that I save their project files for one year and give them the option to buy an additional year for $119. Only a couple have asked for that.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[John Rofrano]

You should definitely have two drives: 1 for OS and apps, 1 for project media and renders. Whether a 3rd drive for renders will help is a factor of how I/O bound your render is, but 2 drives is the minimum.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Joe Tavola]

So using same drive to have media/render is ok? This makes a difference then just using 1 drive which includes the OS/apps?

[John Rofrano]

[Joe Tavola] “So using same drive to have media/render is ok?”

I have been doing that for 13 years now so I think it’s OK. 😉

[Joe Tavola] “This makes a difference then just using 1 drive which includes the OS/apps?”

Yes because Windows is constantly writing temp files and swap files to the OS drive which causes fragmentation and disk contention. You don’t want your video files here because you don’t want Windows writing to the swap file when you want to write to your video file. Keeping the OS and project files on separate disks means they aren’t contenting with each other.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Joe Tavola]

Got it thanks again John for the advice!

[Don Cobble]

SO have I understood correctly that it is not necessary to have the media on a raid set for performance purposes? and a separate Render drive?

PC
I7 2.8 Ghz 8GB Ram
Win 7 Pro 64bit OS
PNY Quadro 4000

3-4 TB HD
Vegas 10 64bit & Vegas 11 64Bit & Vegas 12 & Adobe Production Premium CS5.5.2 & Avid Media Composer 5.5

Camera
Sony EX1 shoot in 1920×1080 30P

[Stephen Mann]

I haven’t run a RAID array in about 15 years when it was necessary to keep up with a data CD burn. Which failed with a data underrun more often than not. PC’s were sooo slow then.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Don Cobble]

Stephen – Thank You for the reply – If I may ask one more ? concerning the drive set up – are we calling the media drive and the project drive the same thing? Meaning can all the media in a project be on the same drive and all run well? Should I keep digital Juice ect… on a separate drive?
Thank You for help

PC
I7 2.8 Ghz 8GB Ram
Win 7 Pro 64bit OS
PNY Quadro 4000

3-4 TB HD
Vegas 10 64bit & Vegas 11 64Bit & Vegas 12 & Adobe Production Premium CS5.5.2 & Avid Media Composer 5.5

Camera
Sony EX1 shoot in 1920×1080 30P

[Stephen Mann]

Generally, you want your operating system and program files on the C drive. All other files can be on any other drive. Hard drives will not be your bottleneck – processor speed is what gives you the most bang for the buck.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Don Cobble]

Stephen Thank You – I have had raid troubles multiple times, but thought it necessary – Thank You for your time – It is greatly valued

PC
I7 2.8 Ghz 8GB Ram
Win 7 Pro 64bit OS
PNY Quadro 4000

3-4 TB HD
Vegas 10 64bit & Vegas 11 64Bit & Vegas 12 & Adobe Production Premium CS5.5.2 & Avid Media Composer 5.5

Camera
Sony EX1 shoot in 1920×1080 30P