Best Hard Drive for Streaming?

[DooDuh]

I will soon be replacing my 2008 24" iMac with a fully loaded 27"... I'm holding out until the Fall to see if there's an update.

While i wait... I'm trying to decide what type of hard drive configuration to get. For reasons I don't even know or can explain... I am wary of the Fusion Drive. It just seems like moving all those files around will double the trouble for things to go wrong. Yes, I'm probably showing my ignorance on how the system works. And I'm completely open to being educated on the subject.

But... here is my question: I own a fair amount of movies and videos... most are stored in iTunes. I also have lots of pictures and home videos in my Photos.... so I need a fair amount of storage. I also stream movies and TV shows from various sources like Amazon Prime, Netflix and Flixter. So... what is the best hard drive for streaming? Does the Hard Drive impact the streaming speed... or does it make no difference? How would a Fusion Drive work when streaming video?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Intell]

A hard drive's ability rarely impacts streaming media. If it does, it would only be when the streaming media is of very high quality and the hard drive is in high use by something other than the program doing the streaming.

 

[DooDuh]

I'm fairly certain that the iMac would not be multitasking while streaming.

So, neither a flash or fusion drive would enhance the streaming process. Good to know.

 

[ChrisA]

I'm fairly certain that the iMac would not be multitasking while streaming. ...

Sorry you are wrong about that. Any Mac is always running over a dozen processes, all the time. (Look in Activity Monitor to see what's going on.)

In the above what to you mean "speed" of streaming. It is always done at the same speed. That is in "real time". No matter what, it will take you one hour to watch a one hour long movie.

You need the faster fusion drive not for watching content but more for creating it. If you are working with large files in editors the faster drive helps a lot. If you are watching a movie the drive speed makes no difference.

 

[DooDuh]

In the above what to you mean "speed" of streaming. It is always done at the same speed. That is in "real time". No matter what, it will take you one hour to watch a one hour long movie.

Yes, of course, you are right. Sorry.. I'm not very savvy about this stuff. I was thinking about when a video stops to refresh... but I guess that has more to do with my cable service speed, correct?

Thanks for answering my question!

 

[Intell]

You are correct. When a video stops mid-stream it's likely a result of the internet connection. If it does buffer to the drive, the drive is very able to keep up with all by the most extremely high bitrate streams.