Where do I put my video files?

O

Orpheus

Active member
My new computer will have a 120GB SSD and a 1 TB 7200 mechanical HD. Obviously I'm going to put my OS, and some programs like Premiere Pro, After Effects on the SSD, and then I will put my games on the 1 TB along with other media like music, pictures etc.


But, while editing the movie files, where should I put them? On the SSD temporarily for faster rendering and access? Since I will sometimes be working with AVCHD .mov files which are highly compressed, will it be best to put it on the SSD where the OS is? Or should I put it on the 1TB 7200?


Also, I will be getting a USB 3.0 External drive, but right now my USB 2.0 external drive is practically full. It currently has the video files on it that I will be working with first.


Should I move them to the SSD? or to the internal 1TB?


Thanks!
 
If you want this rig for video editing, games are out of the question.
Your SSD is only for OS and programs. The rest is for 2nd drive that includes the temp file (see preferences)
 
I don't think so. I use my SSD's just like you mention; one for OS and programs and the other I let AE or PP use for Cache during RAM preview. When rendering I tend to render to another HDD just so I don't continually have to clutter and clear the SSD's. I'm not certain why games would be out of the question, really, though I don't game, I suspect I could. I use a separate machine for all my studio work and this old Q6600 for my Internet activities. I keep the other OFF-LINE.

The biggest thing is following Adobe engineers recommendations regarding memory and allotment of same. It does make a difference.
 
hmm

hmm

Could someone make a recommendation based on how I will have my system set-up? I simply want the best speed out of it that I can. Obviously, I will put the OS, and Adobe, and a couple games on the SSD, with other larger games on the 1TB. But, I am still confused as to how I want to set up my project.

Here's the scenerio: I get some footage from a DSLR, (I will possibly be converting to Cineform). I then load the footage onto my 1TB as the first copy, then I copy it to my SSD to work with. The project in premiere will refer to the footage on the SSD, and the footage on the 1TB will be a backup along with possibly copying it to an external HD with usb 3.0. Then I will work with the files on the SSD and output the project to my 1TB. But should I have adobe save my actual adobe project file to the 1TB? And also render to the 1TB? And also use the SSD as cache?

Maybe I am making this too complicated and I don't have as much experience in Adobe CS premiere as I want, but could someone walk me through that? I want to have somewhat of a workflow that makes sense. And no, I am not too worried about the SSD dying on me mid-project. If it happens, I will be pissed, but I won't lose a job over it or anything.
 
there's really no reason to transfer the video files to the ssd from the internal 7200. the time you will save, will be a moot point because the 7200 will be plenty fast, you will waste more time swapping files back and forth than it will take to just let it render out to the 7200, the usb2.0 will slow it down big time, those I would transfer to the internal 7200 or to the usb3.0.
 
Well if I convert to cineform, I believe what Maranfilms says to be true. But will I get smoother editing if I am working with AVCHD .mov files natively? Or will they read off the 7200 drive fine as well?
 
As Ann told you.

You do not want source files on your OS drive ( in your case the SSD).

The OS drive is for OS and applications exclusively. (No argument)

You need the OS drive and 2 internal drives ( at least) ideally 3 is better.

One internal drive for Video Source files
Another for Audio and Graphics
Another to Export to ( ideally)

The reason games are not recommended for a serious "NLE" system is that processes maybe installed that conflict with NLE systems.
You will probably get away with it but look at your games etc if you start having issues. ie dont blame Premiere
 
"Need" is a strong word. There's nothing wrong with having games on the same PC you edit on....there's nothing wrong with having everything on one drive either; it all depends on your tolerance for speed, what kind of footage you're editing (for example, AVCHD is not disk intensive), and how big your projects are.

An ideal setup would be SD for OS/apps, drive 1 for source video, and drive 2 for destination/rendering/temp files. You don't NEED that setup, but it's nice since when you render, the video is both read and written and from a performance perspective it's better to separate those operations between 2 drives.

You don't NEED to, it's just recommended.
 
After considering what everyone said, I think how I will do it for the time being is have my OS and Adobe on the SSD, and then have the files I'm working with on the 1TB. Also, although not ideal, I will be outputting to the 1 TB as well.

I thought AVCHD was "disk intensive" and therefore would benefit from the SSD, even if almost EVERYTHING was on the SSD. But as you say Phil, it is mostly processor intensive.

As prices come down I will add in more drives and work on a better backup system, along with improved performance.
 
Please, before you do anything, review with care the Adobe Forums on setting up your PC for use with PP CS5.5(http://forums.adobe.com/community/premiere/hardware_forum). There is a wealth of very well researched informtaion there that will help you configure your system. Among other things they feel strongly about using a minimum of 3 drives for editing AVCHD. There's a lot of information there that takes some time to absorb, but well worth it it my view.
 
You seem to be too focused on the hard drive, as there are many other hardware issues that can affect render times. What CPU are you using? How many cores does it have? Is it an i7 that supports hyper-threading?

And what video adapter are you using? Does it have NVIDIA CUDA processors, and have you enabled the Mercury Playback Engine in Premiere?

Hopefully your motherboard uses the newer and faster SATA III 6 Gbits/s interface and your 1 TB hard drive is also a SATA III drive. Did you check and verify these specifications? If not, and you are using an older SATA II type hard drive, then your hard drive performance will be hampered.
 
Thank you for the concern Lance, and yes, I have checked into and am good to go on all of those fronts. Now I just need to get one more hard drive before I build so I can have three, which is apparently very recommended.

Since the 1TB that I already have is a 64mb cache, how important is cache if I buy yet another drive? I can get one locally, but it has a smaller cache. Depending on what I use the drive for, what would be my best option to use it as? (in terms of workflow, and what to store on it) Or should I just make sure to get the 64mb cache? (Assuming all my other hardware is up to snuff)

Thanks!
 
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I bought a Seagate ST3000DM001 Barracuda Hard Drive - 3TB, SATA III (6Gb/s), 3.5", 7200RPM, 64MB Cache drive for my data drive. Video files are so huge, that I wanted as much storage as possible. I've been very happy with its speed, and it seems to run pretty cool too, which is important. Cost was $230 from TigerDirect.com

IMG_0002a.jpg
 
Orpheus how many HDD bays do you have? If 4 heres what Id do.
1/ SSD OS and apps
2/ Identical HDD in 2 and 3 and set up a software RAID 0
3/ Big ass drive or an external to back up 2 and 3 to. RAID 0 is fast, however from time to time due to the nature of RAID 0 it can become corrupt requiring a rebuild (thus the back up).

If you ever get in a position to afford it - internal raid card to external raid 5. I use caldigit HDElement for this purpose - very fast and raid5 has redundancy meaning if a drive dies - you replace and rebuild.
 
I have been using raid 0 for several years now, never gone corrupt, never lost a disk or data.
The disks are Western Digital.
 
Thanks guys for the info and suggestions. I ended up purchasing another WD caviar black drive so as to follow the recommended setup in the adobe forums. Now it's just a matter of making sure I set up my SSD properly and make sure I get Adobe set up properly to put everything in its place.
 
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