multiple external HDD, what is best way to ease FCP

[Marshallarts]

I used to keep all my media on my external drive. Now that my system has grown and I have an additional external hard drive (2TB RAID 0, eSATA, 7200rpm) I got to thinking. When I exporting a video clip wouldn't I gain performance by reading from the drive with media but writing to a different hard drive? Would it save wear and tear on the drive at least by not having to read & write at the same time?

This has got me completely rethinking what I know about setting up my system. I presume I should put my media on the RAID 0. Should I export elsewhere? What do other people do? Do you export to your desktop or should you *never* write or read from your boot disk?

It also seems the term "scratch disk" has changed over the past years or maybe I never properly understood it since having only 1 external drive I needed concern myself with it. I assumed it was more like virtual memory, not just the place you keep your media. Now it seems in other programs the term isn't used as much. Should I partition or leave space available on my RAID 0 for scratch? What is the difference between scratch and cache and where is the best place to allocate this?

If you could go into detail I'd also like to know where you keep the other items in your "Final Cut Pro Documents" folder. In addition what is your backup strategy?

I'm starting a fresh and am searching for the best way to manage everything.

Thanks

 

[Shane Ross]

"wouldn't I gain performance by reading from the drive with media but writing to a different hard drive? "

No. Reading and writing from FAST drives will be the thing.

"Would it save wear and tear on the drive at least by not having to read & write at the same time?"

Not really.

"I presume I should put my media on the RAID 0. Should I export elsewhere? "

Raid 0 would be faster than a single drive...depending on the connection. an internal SATA drive...single one...is faster than a G-Raid (Raid 0) at FW800. But Raid 0 eSATA? Good and fast.

"What do other people do? Do you export to your desktop or should you *never* write or read from your boot disk?"

Export for what purpose?

"If you could go into detail I'd also like to know where you keep the other items in your "Final Cut Pro Documents" folder"

Renders, Audio renders, Capture Scratch, Audio captures...all on MEDIA drive. Thumbnail cache, Waveform...docs folder. AUTOSAVE VAULT...also internal drive.

" In addition what is your backup strategy?"

I backup the project file to the external nightly, so I have it in two locations in case a drive dies. And to a thumb drive on Fridays...that I take home in case there's a fire or something. MEDIA? I don't backup captured footage. Stuff on tapes I have the tapes, P2 I have the cards backed up. Pictures, music, I backup to another hard drive.

 

[Marshallarts]

thanks for writing, guess I should have been more specific.

"wouldn't I gain performance by reading from the drive with media but writing to a different hard drive? "

No. Reading and writing from FAST drives will be the thing.

My RAID 0 is 2x 1TB 7200rpm Seagate's connected eSATA (updated original post) so fast it is. The bottleneck being the eSATA interface. I top out around ~180mps.

"Would it save wear and tear on the drive at least by not having to read & write at the same time?"

Not really.

I ask because when doing so I hear it clicking very rapidly. I fully understand those are the heads moving around--I know what it is-- but although I've never timed it to see if it's slower it worries me all this jumping around could lessen the life of the drive.

"I presume I should put my media on the RAID 0. Should I export elsewhere? "

Raid 0 would be faster than a single drive...depending on the connection. an internal SATA drive...single one...is faster than a G-Raid (Raid 0) at FW800. But Raid 0 eSATA? Good and fast.

RAID0 eSATA here -- just worried about this wear and tear and if exporting elsewhere would be better for my system speed wise

"What do other people do? Do you export to your desktop or should you *never* write or read from your boot disk?"

Export for what purpose?

when you export for any purpose. i.e. anytime you write data from existing data (I guess that would include rendering)--this ties into my last question. Back in the day scratch disks were crucial, my questioning brings forth those same concerns.