Scratch Disks on MacBook Pro?

[Ian Atkins]

I have moved from a PC to a MacBook Pro Retina with a SSD.
What setup do you think I should utlitize for Raw Footage and Scratch Disks? I only have 8GB of Ram and will be using Thunderbolt 1TB external drive (which is not SSD).

I had initially put my raw footage on the MBP and set scratch disks to the External Drive.
Do you think I should reverse this or do some variation of this setup?

[Rick L. Allen]

You should NEVER put your raw footage on the system drive. It is fine to put both raw & scratch files on your external drive. This assumes your external drive is at least a 7200 rpm disc and preferably a RAID if you're doing HD editing.

[Al Bergstein]

Let's expand on that for the sake of clarity.

If I use a laptop. And I expect that my projects will eventually fill multiple drives (drive RAIDs).
Drive name (a USB 3.0 or TB) drive: <CLIENTNAME>1 - 2 TB RAID 1 Drive.
Folder structure sample
PROJECTNAME 1
-RAW FOOTAGE
-ADOBE PROJECT FILES
- AUDIO FILES
-FINAL OUTPUT
Drive name: <CLIENTNAME>2 1 TB RAID 1 Drive.

My scratch and raw footage is matched to the appropriate drive for the client. I have checked the box in PREFS that tells Pr to put the media files with the raw footage. Would this be an appropriate way to set up for future expansion? Even switching computers by perphaps having to move to a desktop Mac from a laptop? What about the media cache files and db? Any *best* way to set those up to carry your preferences and customizations with you? Is the described scenario the best way or an optimal way of setting up? Anything I missed?

I ask because recently I've had some problems that saw me lose my customizations, etc. All footage and projects files are fine. I just don't know how to reestablish my customizations, if that's even possible. It's not currently a huge problem if but likely will be in the future.

By the way Ian, you might also consider a backup of this weekly for offsite storage if you have paying customers that you wouldn't want to lose if your hard drives were stolen.

[Rick L. Allen]

Create a folder on your system drive for your project files. ALL other media goes to the external drive. If you need to change machines copy the project folder onto the external drive then copy that project folder to the new machine. Open project folder on new machine & edit as normal.

[Ian Atkins]

Well, these are the two drives I have:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/894105-REG/LaCie_9000294_1TB_Rugged_USB_3_0.htmlAnd
Western Digital 1TB My Passport for Mac USB WDBGCH0010BSL-NESN

Appears not to be 7200 rpm?

Should I use one more than the other?

Why have scratch and raw on the same drive? Please elaborate. I always thought this clogged it up!

Thanks!

[Ian Atkins]

Can someone please help me with my question above? Not sure how to set up these two external drives.

[Al Bergstein]

Well, it's all a bit of mystery (G). But what I've found is that if you need to move and change drives, especially on a laptop, it helps (me) to have all the footage and the whole project on one drive. A fast external drive, with TB, USB 3.0 or eSata connections should be able to handle most *normal* workloads, I've found. But likely that's because I don't do much fx.

Obviously, if you were on a desktop, or your laptop was really going to stay put, you would gain performance, theoretically, having your scratch on a separate drive.

My experience is that when you go to archive, is where things can get hosed. I prefer to buy one large RAID1 drive for each main client, and have all the footage on it. I can then back up that drive to an external and take it offsite. I don't want a fire or meth head to end up with my projects and no way to recover them.

By the way, I saw that OWC is selling a TB hub, with eSata ports on it. So you could plug in a couple of eSata drives via TB. That's a nice idea, and I'll likely do it someday. It's about $199 USD right now. And you can still daisy chain a couple of TB based products off it too. Wonderful idea.

Also, from OWC (I don't work for them!) I bought a eSata to USB 3.0 adapter. It's just a cable with some electronics in it, and it's helping me continue to use my eSata externals with no problem.

[Ian Atkins]

I have little knowledge of what SATA or ESATA means.

Further Clarification:

I am shooting with the Panasonic GH3, so my raw HD files are .mov at shot at 1080p, 30fps.
I am using the MacBook Pro Retina so I am not able to swap out drives. I chose the max Ram I could get (8) but a smaller SSD HD b/c I knew I would be using externals with Thunderbolt.

I was reading that the 5400/7200 rpm doesn't matter as much if you have thunderbolt? I don't know how true that is.

I can't find the speed of My Passport Western Digital anywhere!
Which needs a faster drive...raw footage or scratch disks?

Right now I have it set up as follows:
Internal SSD: OS and Programs
Thunderbolt LaCie: Raw Footage and Project Files
WD USB 3.0: Scratch Disks and Output Files

***Does this setup seem the best for my system?*** Thanks!

[Rick L. Allen]

Ian, yes that will work. Again throughput is critical in HD so 7200 rpm drives are necessary. Thunderbolt provides a very fast signal pipeline but if you're using 5400 rpm drives (like yours) then you are going to have playback problems - stuttering, hangs, possible data corruption. Every part of an HD edit system - system drive, memory, cabling, external drives - needs to be optimized for speed.