Premiere CS3 - Hard Disk Configuration?

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Dan Clark

Active member
I'm using CS3 on a multi-hard disk system. I have five physical hard disks, of which one is removable. No RAID yet. My Premiere files are scattered all of the place.

I'm a techie, but this confuses me. So...

What's the best way to configure your hard disk sub-system and Premiere CS3 Project files for a balance of speed (disk access) and easy archiving? How do you have your multi-disk system set up?

What are your location settings for:
- Media Cache Database ? (Pref -> Media)
- Captured Video? (Pref -> Scratch Disks)
- Captured Audio? (Pref -> Scratch Disks)
- Video Previews? (Pref -> Scratch Disks)
- Audio Previews? (Pref -> Scratch Disks)
- Media Cache? (Pref -> Scratch Disks)
- DVD Encoding? (Pref -> Scratch Disks)

Are there any other detailed posts on this topic? (I couldn't find any.)

Thanks for any feedback.

Dan.
 
I've always used a two disk workspace...I keep my C: drive for software/operating system and an external drive or two (usb 2) for all the scratch temp files and final product.

After any project completion I get rid of almost all the temp stuff, keep my original footage and move on.

With the file sizes with HD it gets crazy real quick.

I've been wondering about raid drive setups...in the early days when capturing video, drive speed and thermal adjustments in the drive itself were the hurdles one had to overcome, a raid drive to split up the video stream workload was a must.

Now, with video codec chips built in, the encoding is performed as footage is captured at the camera and then transferred to the hard drive as simple data file.

I would welcome an explanation of the need, if any for a raid sytem for todays editing setup.
 
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Overall Disk Configuration

Overall Disk Configuration

I'm considering the following configuration:

C: Drive - System (10K rpm SATA)
D: Drive - Applications (10K rpm SATA)
E & F Drives - Local backup and scratch (7200 rpm SATA)
G & H Drives - Archiving (7200 rpm SATA, Hot swapable, removable)
I Drive - Video files (4 drive Raid 10 7200 rpm 500GB SATA drives, mirrored and striped)

Regards,

Dan.
 
Dan,

I'm in the same boat as you.

If anyone can give a detailed explanation as to which drive I should place the following:

- Media Cache Database ? (Pref -> Media)
- Captured Video? (Pref -> Scratch Disks)
- Captured Audio? (Pref -> Scratch Disks)
- Video Previews? (Pref -> Scratch Disks)
- Audio Previews? (Pref -> Scratch Disks)
- Media Cache? (Pref -> Scratch Disks)
- DVD Encoding? (Pref -> Scratch Disks)

I would Greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

manymoosh
 
Hi,

It really depends upon what format in which you're working and the CPU. In broad strokes, the O/S and application can usually live on the same drive.

While the program defaults all the discs to a single folder, Adobe suggests that users that have multiple discs setup their computers to take advantage of their fastest discs to capture video/audio and streamline their workflow. They also have recommended the past that all streams get their own drive if available.

Assuming married audio/video streams, they would live on the same drive.

Separate captured audio would be happiest on it own drive.

Separate preview drive for video

Video previews on a separate drive.

Audio previews on a separate drive.

And so on.

It really isn't necessary in a DV world, nor does HDV need the bandwidth either.

Some HD CODECs need that kind of throughput.

If you have the drives availabe, use them, but if your system only has 3 or so available drives and your not using a lot of extra content, use a drive for video/audio content, and a drive for video/audio previews and a drive for DVD files, and spread the other stuff out. (Unless, off course, you add a ton of extra audio files, such as mixed under scores; there are other reasons to add drives up front.) It will likely be enough. It you get burps, you can always add another drive.

Hope this helps.
 
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