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samuelh71034131
Participant
August 28, 2017
Question

Where to store source files when editing

  • August 28, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 603 views

Hi,

I am about to buy a fast SSD and need to know what size. When editing in Premier Pro and After Effects, is it beneficial to have both the video source files and media cache files on a fast SSD, or do you just need to media cache files on a fast SSD and the source files on a slower 7200rpm HD?

Thank you

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2 replies

R Neil Haugen
R Neil Haugen
Legend
August 28, 2017

The method Jim lists has been the "standard" for quite a few years with PrPro, and still works well in general. However, Bill Gehrke, THE expert on the computer/hardware side of working in PrPro, now says from all the tests coming through his PPBM8 testing that with 2017, the internal code seems to prefer working with 3rd generation SSD's ... so he's found that using a good SSD for the system, and up to two more SSD's for everything else can actually exceed using the multiple internal HD's most of us have been running on, arranged as Jim showed.

But it's best to get Bill Gehrke​ on hisself ...

I'm all SSD based now, with the ol' big HD's used as backup/storage media.

Neil

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
Bill Gehrke
Bill Gehrke
Inspiring
August 29, 2017

Thank you Neil

Yes I am a firm believer in a minimum of two SSD drives and the OS/Application boot drive can be as small as 128 GB and needs only to be a SATA III 6Gbits/second device but 256 GB would be preferable.  The second SSD should be one of the new super speed M.2 PCIe Gen 3 x4 devices with that interface being 32Gbits/second.  The size of this one depends on your media and the length of your project.  For instance I have a three camera project of a 1+ hour concert and the prime camera is a Sony FDR AX100 with 100 Mbits/second 4K XAVC-S and two Sony HDR-CX 260 1080 AVCHD cameras.  All the project files for this project are 131 GB.  This is the media, the project file, all the conformed files, and exports.  I leave the Media Cache and Media Cache Files in the default boot drive location and delete these regularly.  If you have several projects concurrently, a 500 GB second SSD would be very adequate.  Of course if you have much more complex media it will add up fast.   If you have exotic media you may want to see the very interesting chart on the ADK web site (half way down the page)

E
excited_Genie16B8
Legend
August 28, 2017

The correct answer to "What size media drive should I purchase?" is always "The largest one you can afford, because you will eventually need more."

I prefer to separate things out, both for speed and for organizational purposes.

C: System

D: Project files, audio, still images

E: Cache and Scratch

F: Media

G: Exports

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