Best External Drives For 4K Editing? at DVinfo.net

Ronald Jackson · March 29th, 2014, 03:56 AM

I need a couple of additional External Drives for my new iMac. Thinking ahead about the possibility of future 4K editing, is there anything in particular I should be looking for in external drives?

I favour G-Tech Thunderbolt/USB 3.0 drives, perhaps a piar of 3TBs.

Is there any "special" requirement in a drive for 4K editing. Capacity and T'Bolt I could see as a necessity but anything else?

Ron

Bill Davis · March 31st, 2014, 12:45 PM

Don't worry much about it. Any drive with a Thunderbolt interface is built on the basic idea that the user wants the best sustained data rate output the platform can provide - so there shouldn't be a problem.

Remember, the way that FCP-X is designed, you're able to create pools of media with different encodings and different data rates and switch between them rapidly and easily - so you can bring in full rez 4k, for example - let X transcode to a ProRes version for editing efficiency and performance, and both during and after you make your editing decisions in one mode, you can simply swap the internal pointers from the ProRes copies to the original media to check quality, do color correction and export masters.

This is one of the things that makes X great.

March 29th, 2014, 03:56 AM	#1
Ronald Jackson Major Player Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Southport, United Kingdom Posts: 723	Best External Drives For 4K Editing? I need a couple of additional External Drives for my new iMac. Thinking ahead about the possibility of future 4K editing, is there anything in particular I should be looking for in external drives? I favour G-Tech Thunderbolt/USB 3.0 drives, perhaps a piar of 3TBs. Is there any "special" requirement in a drive for 4K editing. Capacity and T'Bolt I could see as a necessity but anything else? Ron

March 31st, 2014, 12:45 PM	#2
Bill Davis Trustee Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ 85260 Posts: 1,538	Re: Best External Drives For 4K Editing? Don't worry much about it. Any drive with a Thunderbolt interface is built on the basic idea that the user wants the best sustained data rate output the platform can provide - so there shouldn't be a problem. Remember, the way that FCP-X is designed, you're able to create pools of media with different encodings and different data rates and switch between them rapidly and easily - so you can bring in full rez 4k, for example - let X transcode to a ProRes version for editing efficiency and performance, and both during and after you make your editing decisions in one mode, you can simply swap the internal pointers from the ProRes copies to the original media to check quality, do color correction and export masters. This is one of the things that makes X great. __________________ Classroom editing instructor? Check out www.starteditingnow.com Turnkey editor training content including licensed training footage for classroom use.