Trying to set up new computer with all scratch drives - can someone explain to me what Media Cache Files in Premiere 2 is for and what drive to place it?

Put them where you used to put the Conformed Audio files. Basically, they are the Peak files and any audio that needs to be conformed puts the conformed audio in there.

But since it only has to be conformed once, and then used in multiple projects, I would put it on a drive that you don't remove. In other words, not in the project directory. Otherwise you will end up reconforming, or at least getting new Peak files generated.

Steven, thank you!

Can you tell me one more thing: Premiere uses captured video and audio files to export to movie or temporary files on scratch disks?

I move my project files around a lot - edit on the laptop, move to the edit machine for more complex parts and keep the data on a firewire drive. The snag is that many of the cached files and rendered files need to be on this portable drive too, otherwise the damn thing has to either re-render them, or do without. Portability isn't as cut and dry as it appears.

Timofei,

That depends on what you are exporting. If you are exporting a DV-AVI for use in another program like After Effects or Encore, then it uses the preview files and the original material, as required, to create the new file.

If you are exporting to MPEG2 or DVD, then no, it only uses the original material and not the temporary preview files on the scratch disks.

So it is better to have 4 different raid 0 systems for hi def editing:

one - for os
second - captured original material
third – scratch temporary files (preview files)
fourth – final rendered material

and maybe add aditional drive for os scratch file

agree or overkill?

Probably overkill. You could easily combine #3 and #4.

Probably overkill. You could easily combine #3 and #4.

you just saved me $500, thanks