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Activity Forums Apple Final Cut Pro Render conundrum.

  • Render conundrum.

    Posted by Chad Teetzen on April 29, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    Hello, i would appreciate some feedback on this question of mine…

    If you use a second hard drive to store your media files you render faster then if you try to use the same hard drive as you have the FCP and OS stored on.

    I have two mac books. One has a quad processor and one has a 2 duo processor. They only have one Firewire 800 port each. So should i use that port to connect to the other mac book and take advantage of it’s processors, or use that port to connect to an external hard drive so that the one hard drive isn’t doing all the work? Or is there another configuration that would work better with this scenario?

    thanks!

    Chad Teetzen replied 14 years ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
  • 3 Replies
  • Moira Elefson

    April 29, 2012 at 7:55 pm

    You can’t “connect to the other mac book and take advantage of it’s processors” for use in Final Cut Pro X. You can connect to the other Mac using Target Disk mode, which will make the 2nd Mac function like an external drive for your currently-booted Mac. But the MacBook likely has a slow hard drive to begin with (5400 RPM, low cache, etc.). You’re better off getting a high-speed external FW800 Hard drive and connecting it to your booted MacBook for Media storage of Final Cut Po X files.

  • Chad Teetzen

    April 29, 2012 at 11:21 pm

    Thanks for the reply. To clarify, you can share your computers process when using Proccessor.app (which comes with FCP X). So when i say FCP i’m referring to Processor. thanks

  • Chad Teetzen

    April 29, 2012 at 11:23 pm

    To DOUBLE clarify, when I say processor.app i MEANT compressor.app

  • Moira Elefson

    April 30, 2012 at 7:01 am

    The distributed processing that is available in Compressor.app will most likely not benefit much in regards to performance when only two MacBooks are being used in the cluster, especially when the second MacBook in consideration is only a duo core. If you want to try it in Compressor.app then you need to connect the computers through a network. With one one FW port available you will most likely be better off connecting a FW800 HD.

    On quad-core MacBook Pro you could setup 2 instances of a quick cluster in Compressor 4 which should boost performance. To do that you Send To Compressor from FCPX then in Compressor 4 go to Apple Qmaster menu and select Share This Computer. From Apple Qmaster Sharing window check the box to Share this computer as QuickCluster with services then in the Services section check the box for Compressor. Click the options button for the Compressor service and select 2 instances for a quad-core Mac. Name the cluster and click OK.

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