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danielb81037208
danielb81037208
Known Participant
September 22, 2020
Answered

Media Cache File Location?

  • September 22, 2020
  • 6 replies
  • 15751 views

Hey,

 

This is question applies to both Pr & Ae. 

In Edit > Preferences > Media & Disk Cache, you're given the option where you would like to store media cache files. For years I've been told to keep them in a seperate drive from your OS drive.

 

So I've always used my D drive which happens to be a 1TB SSD and is usually where I store my footage and project files. Now I'm noticing a disclaimer which states "For improved performance, choose a SSD seperate from your footage" 

 

So which one is it, OS SSD or D drive SSD? Thanks!

 

    Correct answer Conrad_C

    My opinion (because it’s possible that someone needs to correct me) is that the faster and larger the storage, the less it matters.

     

    The advice to store various components (system, project file, footage, cache files…) on different volumes was absolutely critical with hard drives because they were so slow. Having data move over separate parallel streams helped a lot.

     

    SSDs make that less necessary but again, it depends on how fast they are. With SATA SSDs, limited to 500MB/sec or so, splitting files across multiple drives should still make a noticeable difference. With NVMe SSDs, which can be 1000–3000+MB/sec over a connection that can handle that, it should be less necessary because it’s more likely they can handle multiple large data streams simultaneously.

     

    SSD size matters too. Larger SSDs tend to be faster because the controller has more lanes to the storage chips, resulting in parallel data flows, which is the benefit we get from multiple volumes.

     

    So that’s the spectrum: Hard drives or SATA SSDs require splitting video projects and cache files across drives, but NVMe SSDs (especially high capacity) might not, depending on the typical complexity of your projects which is another variable.

     

    If your D drive is a large fast NVMe SSD and you have no complaints so far, I think it’s OK to put everything on it. But if you do see lags like dropped frames it would be worth trying to split them across drives, with the media cache files on the faster SSD.

    6 replies

    D
    dminches
    Participating Frequently
    December 16, 2022

    Would setting up a virtual drive in RAM be a potentially good option for the temporary cache?

     

    M
    Michael Grenadier
    Brainiac
    December 16, 2022

    would depend on how much ram you have installed...  but I doubt it's a good idea....unless you have a better handle than I have on how the OS and apps handle RAM.   A SSD for the cache is probably a better solution.  And as Richard van den Boogaard said, probably not a good idea to use an external drive for the cache... Iff for some reason the external drive is not connected when you launch your project.  You may have issues....  Generally speaking, Premiere has a robust ability to reconnect if files are offline when you launch the project, but on a large project with a large cache, not sure how dependable it would be.  

    D
    dminches
    Participating Frequently
    December 16, 2022

    Right now my temporary drive is on an M.2 SSD which is likely good enough.  I work with big files in Audition so anything that will improve write speed is a plus.

     

    Thanks.

    John T Smith
    John T Smith
    Adobe Expert
    September 24, 2020

    I build my own, so what I did for my most recent build

     

    Samsung 256Gig SSD Boot http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147193
    - 256Gig SSD Boot for Win10 64bit Pro and ALL program installs, about 80Gig is used

     

    Crucial M550 512G input http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148792
    - 512Gig SSD data for all input... video/sound files and pictures from camera

     

    Crucial M550 256G temp http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148791
    - 256Gig SSD data for temporary and video project files
    - Create project here, work files follow, so my boot drive is not used for the media cache folders and files

     

    Crucial M550 128G out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148790
    - 128Gig SSD data for all exported output video files

    A
    Anonymous
    November 13, 2020

    Hi. How fast does this work? Do you edit 4k, and what's the typical length of your videos?

    M
    Michael Grenadier
    Brainiac
    September 24, 2020

    Great info in this thread.  

    as a side note to this discussion, I strongly recommend that you check to make sure there's sufficient empty space on all your drives.  I always heard that 10% was sufficient for everything but your system drive which should have at least 20% free space.  I have no idea where I heard that so take it for what it's worth.   But, cache files which are written automatically can quickly fill a drive up and, at least on a mac, I've seen drives get seriously corrupted when they were filled to the brim.   and as has been stated here many times, performance will drop off as your drive gets full...  

    TechTool pro has a utility that will warn you when your drives reach a level that you choose.  I imagine there are other options out there, but manually checking your drives regularly will also work...  

    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Brainiac
    September 22, 2020

    It's all a matter of speed ... internal SATA connections to standard SSD or spinners typically benefit from keeping multiple drives goin ... having a separate system drive, cache drive, project drive, media drive, export drive.

     

    Some internal SSDs are fast enough for sustained work that in practice, you may get by running a couple parts on one drive. You would need to test on your machine.

     

    Nvme drives, especially larger ones, are fast enough to typically handle several parts of the process. And if you've a 10GbE setup to a RAID, then ... you may well be able to have everything on that one volume.

     

    It's about practical speed of data management in real-time operation on your machine.

     

    Neil

    Richard van den Boogaard
    Richard van den Boogaard
    Adobe Expert
    September 22, 2020

    I second most of what Conrad_C suggested here.

    In my personal experience, I have chosen to separate out OS/Apps, Data and Temp on separate SSD drives. My Temp drive is even a hyperfast M.2 memory drive (akin to speeds of RAM). If you can afford, you may decide to invest in such a drive as well. It is well worth it.

    Conrad_C
    Conrad_CCorrect answer
    Adobe Expert
    September 22, 2020

    My opinion (because it’s possible that someone needs to correct me) is that the faster and larger the storage, the less it matters.

     

    The advice to store various components (system, project file, footage, cache files…) on different volumes was absolutely critical with hard drives because they were so slow. Having data move over separate parallel streams helped a lot.

     

    SSDs make that less necessary but again, it depends on how fast they are. With SATA SSDs, limited to 500MB/sec or so, splitting files across multiple drives should still make a noticeable difference. With NVMe SSDs, which can be 1000–3000+MB/sec over a connection that can handle that, it should be less necessary because it’s more likely they can handle multiple large data streams simultaneously.

     

    SSD size matters too. Larger SSDs tend to be faster because the controller has more lanes to the storage chips, resulting in parallel data flows, which is the benefit we get from multiple volumes.

     

    So that’s the spectrum: Hard drives or SATA SSDs require splitting video projects and cache files across drives, but NVMe SSDs (especially high capacity) might not, depending on the typical complexity of your projects which is another variable.

     

    If your D drive is a large fast NVMe SSD and you have no complaints so far, I think it’s OK to put everything on it. But if you do see lags like dropped frames it would be worth trying to split them across drives, with the media cache files on the faster SSD.

      D
      denniscallan
      Inspiring
      June 30, 2023

      WARNING: do not move Media Cache out of its default location! It belongs in the user/system library/app support/adobe/common

      If you use the browse feature in pp preferences to move it elsewhere, e.g. to an external ssd drive as some recommend, and which I did, playback might become jerky.  And then, you cannot move the media cache back into the library!  You are stuck!  The only solution then it to set up a new user account, then bring all your files and data into it. This will re-establish the PP default settings, but is a pain to set up.

      Just don't move that Media Cache to begin with.

      R Neil Haugen
      R Neil Haugen
      Brainiac
      June 30, 2023

      My media cache is on a second Nvme SSD on the motherboard. And used for all video apps cache, Pr, Ae, Au, Resolve.

       

      And works very well. Plenty of space and ... crucial factor! ... very high speed.

       

      External drives oft cannot sustain the speed needed, especially if anything else like project or media files are on that drive.

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