Hello -

Does it really matter which formatting method (HFS or HFS+) to utilize for editing?

Would it matter if the HDD is a Rotating or Flash based drive?

Also, would it matter if the drives were in a RAID setup?

HFS+
Final Cut Pro: Tip - Use Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus) Formatted Hard Disks (http://support.apple.com/kb/TA27577?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US)

Flash drives are way faster and way more expensive, they speed up editing.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4038323?start=0&tstart=0

RAID makes a huge difference too.
Larry Jordan - An Explanation of RAID Levels | Final Cut Pro Training | The Best Training in Final Cut Pro (http://www.larryjordan.biz/an-explanation-of-raid-levels/)

You did take 2 mins to Google this stuff, right?

Let me expand upon what I am seeking clarification on here:

I am working with a Promise RAID R4 unit.
When looking at the Promise Utility for formatting choices, I have the following selection to choose from:

Partition Type:
- GPT
- APM
- MBR

Format Type:
- Journaled HFS+
- HFS+
- Case-sensitive HFS+
- Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+

But when I go the Mac OS Disk Utility, I see these as my options:

Format Type:
- Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
- Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)
- MS-DOS (FAT)
- ExFAT

So I am a bit baffled about the selection that would best be applied for video editing of course.

This may be basic knowledge to most of you, but I am a beginner....just like you all were at one time or another. I have been researching this topic (for a bit more than 2 minutes), but can't seem to find the REASONING behind the answers.

Thanks to any with USEFUL information / suggestions that would apply to my post here!!

I've been doing this for years and the options Promise asks for boggled me. After a little research (which wasn't as easy as Googling since the results were highly technical), I can advise you to pick GPT which is a technical abreviation for the GUID Partition Table format Apple uses now (the others listed are very obsolete) and Journaled HFS+ which provides some error protection over HFS+.

After a bit more of researching, I have finally setup the R4 unit!!

Even configured it to be utilized with both Mac and Windows, although utilizing it under Windows is a bit tricky since it's not "officially" supported via Promise, but it does work.

If anybody has an R4 unit and would like to utilize it under Windows, just contact Promise technical support and they will guide you through the setup process.

Thanks for your input William, much appreciate it!!