Advice needed to optimize late 2012 iMac for video editing and external storage

[DanMR]

I have a late 2012 iMac with this configuration:

• macOS Sierra
• iMac (27-inch, late 2012)
• processor 3.4 GHz intel core i7
• memory 24 gb 1600 mhz ddr3
• graphics nvidia geforce gtx 680mx 2048
• 1tb fusion drive (128gb flash)

I use this system to edit 1080p video (no 4K at the moment). I am not a professional editor and my videos are between 5 to 10 minutes long. The hard drive is almost full and I've been getting lots of spinning beachballs when I use FCPX. Here is what I plan to purchase to make my system run smoother for the next two years:

• Mediasonic ProBox 4 bay SATA HDD Enclosure USB 3.0 & eSATA - price $99
• two Seagate 6TB BarraCuda Pro 7200rpm SATA 6Bb/s 256MB Cache 3.5 Internal Hard Drive - price $239 each - running as raid 0
• 4gb usb 3.0 Western Digital MyBook as backup (I already own this)

I plan to keep only the masOS and 16GB of applications on the iMac internal Fusion drive. Everything else will be moved to the Mediasonic box. Since I am using raid 0 (set up in macOS Sierra) and two 6TB hard drives, total storage on that box would be about 12GB. I plan to back up everything to the 4GB MyBook using Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner. (I realize that I will have to eventually get more backup storage but 4gb should be ok for now) I also will back everything up using BackBlaze.

Eventually I plan to purchase a 500gb or 1tb external flash drive which will hold files I am currently working on while the Mediasonic box will hold files I don't frequently access.

Does this sound like a good plan to you? Is there anything I am leaving out?

(edit) is the 4 bay mediasonic box and 12tb storage overkill for me? Maybe I should buy a 2 bay box and two 4tb drives with the option to buy another 2 bay box if I need to expand later. I also could get an 8tb WD My Book Duo for $329 but I am a little scared of hardware raid if the raid controller fails.

 

[kohlson]

Overall, looks pretty good. There has been some discussion on using USB3 for video editing, but I think for your use case it will be fine. Thunderbolt alternatives are pretty expensive.

 

[Boyd01]

I boot into Sierra from a 1tb Samsung T3 USB 3.0 SSD and keep my current FCPX projects on that drive too. Works really well for me, currently working with a lot of legacy video in 480i, 720p and 1080p formats. Also have another 500gb Samsung T3 that I also keep current projects on. I'm using a 2012 quad mini and this is the performance I get.

I have two 5TB USB 3.0 external hard drives for long term storage and two more for backup. They seem to work fine to edit directly in FCPX but of course are much slower.