How to set up proper storage for video editing?

[g335]

Hello

I just read on a Adobe forum that a video editor suggested having up to 6 drives for storage when making a video editing machine.

He said one for the os and program files, one for preview, one for media, etc.

Is this necessary? I dont really have the money for tons of drives and also my machine or even maybe a 2nd machine will have to be used for multiple purposes.

What is a good way to set up a storage system for a pc that will use video editing to get good results and good speeds?

 

[IntelTurtleFan]

Depends how much editing you do (so how much editing will you do?). Are you going to build a video editing rig? What is your budget?

 

[g335]

Depends how much editing you do (so how much editing will you do?). Are you going to build a video editing rig? What is your budget?

I already have a i7 4790k system with 16gb DDR3 ram, 120gb ssd for os and programs, and 1TB WD Blue hdd, a GTX 660.

I am planning on getting a larger ssd and more hdd depending on what I need.
Also I am upgrading the gpu.

I will use one or two systems for graphic design, 3D design, rendering, animation, movie editing, music production and some gaming.

 

[IntelTurtleFan]

Okay. If you do a LOT of editing (hours a day) and you have a decent budget get a RAID 10 of HDDs. Otherwise it will not make much difference.

 

[g335]

Okay. If you do a LOT of editing (hours a day) and you have a decent budget get a RAID 10 of HDDs. Otherwise it will not make much difference.

Would the Raid 10 beused for the preview files, media files, scratch disk or everything,etc ?

 

[IntelTurtleFan]

Everything (you got to have your files on the RAID and also the program scratch set to the location). The RAID 10 increases performance and keeps backups but you must have a lot of HDDs for this to work.

 

[PizzaTheHutt]

I disagree slightly - I think it would be better for you to use one RAID 0 array for your media and then another for scratch and preview files. I would then export to your SSD so the writing bandwidth will be more than enough for your projects and you won't experience a massive bottleneck that using just one array would present.

Just my two cents as a fellow video editor

 

[The Original Ralph]

i do quite a bit of video rendering - personally i don't RAID my storage -

first, i use a PCIe SSD for OS and programs - video rendering times dropped 30-40%.
2nd - i have one 256 GB SSD that i use for my "worktable" drive, ie all rendered videos are saved or rendered to that drive, (even the samsung 850 is down around $90) .

Then from there, i've got two 4 TB HDDs in my computer, and 5 in a DAS, and twelve seagate 2 TB 2.5" external backup slim plus drives. Once i've rendered the video, i save one copy to one of the 4 TB HDDs, and another to one of the 2.5" seagate backup slim plus drives - as they're compact, i use them for my "working" library plus i like the compact aspect for use in our RV when we're on the road. The 4 TB HDDs are WD Green - when on sale they run $99 shipped, so $25 a TB is my target cost.

The 4 TB internal HDDs are my backup / storage copies

fwiw