(Time Sensitive) Hey guys I need some help from Video Editors on this forum

I'm looking to buy an external hard drive to use as a HD scratch disc. Ive read through the forums and watched a few videos off site of what is recommended for video editing concerning hard drive options. Please give me some good options from best option to least best. Some say FW800 is better for video editing and some say USB3 is. Im confused after reading that USB 3 is faster but technically FW800 is better for video editing from the videos I've watched. I also hear that LaCie is the best for use for video editing. I am using a Mac mini with the latest OSX, it has a Samsung 256GB 840 Pro SSD boot drive and a 1TB 5400 media drive and 16gb DDR3 RAM. I film using a Canon Vixia HF G20 HD camcorder. For now I use a old western digital 640gb Slim HD USB2.0. Definitely not cutting it for my workflow. After I save on the WD, I admittedly upload the final completed video to a online cloud service for storage and my social media page. My current online Cloud storage holds 250ish videos so this should give you an idea of how big a HD I would need to save the editing videos on the HD I want to purchase and then deleting the raw footage and only keeping the final production. To reiterate I want to keep my final videos on the external hard drive as well for awhile until I remove them to either store on the cloud service and/or burn my videos on a blu-ray as a data disc. Please recommend me a better option for workflow and efficiency. I'm looking to purchase a HD soon. The sooner the better. Thanks your input and help. I appreciate it.

PS I hear LaCie is good for video editing as a HD scratch disc and I like how it has its own power on/off switch and separate power outlet source. Says one the website specifically good for programs such as FCPX correct me if I'm wrong.

I've also been looking in G-Technology specifically the G-drive and the G-Dock ev. Help needed from experienced video editors.

Good to know. Thanks for your reply. I have been looking into the G-Technology G-Dock EV. With all the people I have talked to locally, they all recommend that that is the way to go. The Dock itself has two Thunderbolt connection ports which can be daisy-chained, the independent drives themselves are USB 3.0 ready to be used as an "on the go" for out in the field standalone drives for projects, and the G-Dock itself is raid 0,1 configurable. Though the package comes with 2x 1 TB drives, if need for more storage space, you can buy more EV drives later on. But I don't think that will be necessary since I only want to use the external HD as a "HD scratch disc" to do my video edits off of and then store the final production on a cloud service like I have been doing and/or burn a hard copy on blu-rays as a data disc. Then I will wipe the drives clean and continue along with my new video projects. Sounds like these drives from what I've been researching and gathering information about was built for this specific task. Do you agree?

nep61 said:

I have been using G-Raid drives for years. I have 3 of them. Others on this Forum will disagree, but I love them. They have held up well for about 6 years now.

I have them hooked up to a 2009 2.93GHz MBP via FW800, with 8GB RAM.

One is connected through the FW port on the MBP, the other 2 are hooked up via the Express34 card using a Sonnet adapter card. I don't have USB3 so I can't speak to that. But FW800 is much faster than USB2.

I will admit, the overall process of rendering on FCP and Avid MC is slow, but The drives have held up to some abuse over the years.

I've been looking into SSD drives, and maybe that's what you should be thinking about.

I would steer clear of USB2, and any HD that has 5400RPM... So G-drives or SSD would be my suggestion.

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Yeah my Mac Mini has 4 USB3.0 Ports in the back and then I also have another 4 USB 3.0 Hub Port in the front of my setup.

Good to know. Thanks for your reply. I have been looking into the G-Technology G-Dock EV. With all the people I have talked to locally, they all recommend that that is the way to go. The Dock itself has two Thunderbolt connection ports which can be daisy-chained, the independent drives themselves are USB 3.0 ready to be used as an "on the go" for out in the field standalone drives for projects, and the G-Dock itself is raid 0,1 configurable. Though the package comes with 2x 1 TB drives, if need for more storage space, you can buy more EV drives later on. But I don't think that will be necessary since I only want to use the external HD as a "HD scratch disc" to do my video edits off of and then store the final production on a cloud service like I have been doing and/or burn a hard copy on blu-rays as a data disc. Then I will wipe the drives clean and continue along with my new video projects. Sounds like these drives from what I've been researching and gathering information about was built for this specific task. Do you agree?

Unami said:

not sure about lacie, i've got a fw, and they perform just fine - but as they probably use the same drives as everybody else, it wouldn't make much difference if it's lacie or some other brand (e.g. seagate or western digital). just don't buy a generic no-name disk.

regarding firewire or usb 3.0 - fw800 is theoretically a bit slower than usb 2.0, but in reality it can sustain a higher data rate, and seems generally more reliable than usb 2.0 .the same goes for thunderbolt vs. usb 3.0 - but given the choice between fw800 and usb 3.0, i'd go for usb 3.0 - it's faster in the end (about 2 times - see: http://www.macworld.com/article/2039427/how-fast-is-usb-3-0-really-.html ). be also aware that the data rate is not only limited by bus speed, but also by the drives you use - you won't find a single HD that will max out thunderbolt.

having said that - it only matters if you are cutting several streams of video simultaneously (e.g. overlay multiple tracks). if your videos are recorded and edited in 28 mbit avchd, you need a lot of video tracks to even reach the 400mbit fw800 has to offer, let alone usb 3.0.

i'd buy a 3.5 inch desktop drive with at least 2 TB and usb 3.0 (does your mac-mini even got usb 3.0?)

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Thanks for the reply. I am looking into getting the G-Technology G-Dock ev that comes with 2x 1TB 7200 RPM drives and the dock is Thunderbolt connected. Since my Thunderbolt port in the back of my Mac mini is no in use, I thought this would be better for speed on edits plus this model seems to be designed with the Video/photographer on the go in mind...the drives are removable to be used as standalone on location productions and are USB3.0 ready in the back. You had said in your reply that removing your drives for use finding it to be unreliable...did you mean this specifically about the G-Dock ev? This products seems to be designed just for that purpose. Please verify before I jump into the deep waters and drop $600+ for this piece of tech... Here's the link: http://www.g-technology.com/products/g-dock-ev-thunderbolt

AcesHigh87 said:

G-Tech drives are great for scratch disks if you plan on leaving them plugged into one computer and leaving them mounted. We use them at my studio though and find them unreliable as drives that get unmounted and moved a lot. However, the ones we leave plugged into one computer always work fine.

Lacie drives (we have several USB 3.0 Little Big Disks) are about the same as G-Tech. I’ve had both run great and both die so one isn’t really better than the other.

As for IO (USB 3.0 vs. FW800) go for the fastest your machine can do. If you have USB 3.0 ports than use them. As someone else mentioned though, make sure it does in fact have USB 3.0. The drive will work in a 2.0 port but will be dreadfully slow and unreliable to edit on. If it were a question of USB 2.0 versus FW there would be no doubt. However even with FW handling video better the speed gained from USB 3.0 is worthwhile.

Honestly though, both ports are fine for most editing. I’ve worked off FW800 with Avid DNxHD220 footage and had no problems at all.

If I’m not mistaken Lacie and G-Tech drives tend to have both ports anyway (Our G-Tech’s don’t have 3.0 but I believe newer ones do) so it might be best to just test it over both ports and use whichever feels right for you. I do believe that would be USB 3.0 though.

Lastly, for SSD vs. HDD. SSD is much better IN THEORY but, personally, I wouldn’t use one for a scratch disk. Not only will it cost more for less storage (you’re gonna want a lot of storage) but SSD’s are designed for only a certain amount of write cycles. Under normal use, no one will get close. However scratch disks are meant to be constantly written and re-written. I’ve heard of post houses having to replace SSD’s ever 6-12 months which wouldn’t cut it for me. A 7200 RPM HDD (or multiple in RAID) will get you plenty of speed over USB 3.0 or FW800 to work with. 5400 will work but is less reliable.

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Good to know. I plan on leaving the dock itself at my workstation never having to take it with me and only taking the drives on the go when I travel to just off load the footage from my camcorder to the drives and then when I return, to reinsert the drives into the dock to edit. So that sounds like it works.

AcesHigh87 said:

You should have no problem with that.

The issue I described is un-mounting the drives (not removing them, ejecting the drive, unplugging it, and plugging it into a different computer) multiple times a day and moving them around.

Something like that would be quite different as it seems like the drives are designed to be hot-swapped easily.

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Update

Update. I just got a special promotional offer from G-Technology: Buy 1 G-Dock EV Series and get a free bundle upgrade of 1TB x4. $400 savings so I jumped at the chance. Basically for the price of one dock that comes with 2x 1TB HDs, you get 2 more free of charge plus an extra 5% off the whole package including no sales tax and free shipping. If anyone is interested in this offer as well it's available through their site and a couple of verified official online dealers.

AcesHigh87 said:

You should have no problem with that.

The issue I described is un-mounting the drives (not removing them, ejecting the drive, unplugging it, and plugging it into a different computer) multiple times a day and moving them around.

Something like that would be quite different as it seems like the drives are designed to be hot-swapped easily.

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OMG it feels like Christmas in April . So my order from G-Technology authorized reseller for the G-Dock EV (Evolution Series) came in today. Come to my surprise when I purchased for the free upgrade bundle pack that had already ended, they decided to honor the deal for me in addition to giving me an extra 5 percent off. I got the dock came with the included 2 (1) TB drives and 2 more extra for free for your purchase of the dock. I opened the packaged and they messed up.....they sent me a total of 4 (1TB) drives separate from the package so I have a total of 6 TBs instead for the normal order of 4 in total. The whole package costed me $700 Guess I won't be needing hard drives for awhile.

AcesHigh87 said:

If only I had $700 kicking around

4TB of Thunderbolt for $700 (after tax it'll be around there I assume) is a lot more reasonable than most companies are offering thunderbolt for right now. Alas, still a little too rich for my blood.

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