rMBPs, SSDs and video editing

[Jaybot]

I am waiting (and waiting and waiting) for the updated retina MBPs and will be doing a lot of HD video editing on it. I currently have a 2008 pre-unibody MBP and the thing is on its last legs... I've truly beaten the crap out of it over the years and it's ready to croak.

I currently use a portable external Firewire 800 hard drive as a scratch drive and my question is this: can I edit video (using FCPX) right off of the internal SSD? I know that doing so is discouraged with hard drives, but I am wondering with SSDs being so much faster that it wouldn't be an issue. This would determine what size SSD I order... and I would love nothing more than the freedom to edit with no external drives connected.

I haven't really been able to find an answer anywhere.

 

[priitv8]

I don't see why not. Apart from the cost per MB that's way above of that of a regular HDD. Also, you need to give yourself a thought if your project(s) will fit on a 512/768GB drive, leaving also reasonable headroom for the OS X??
PS Purists say the SSD performs best only until filled up to 50%!!

 

[ColdCase]

I edit routinely only using the internal SSD. Then offload the finished project and files if space becomes an issue.

If you are that concerned about the internal drive, you can always put an SSD in an external thunderbolt case. Much faster than FW 800.

 

[Jaybot]

Thanks for the replies! My video projects (weddings, corporate, creative) are usually under 300GB, so a 768 or even a 512 would probably be enough. I'd rather put the $ towards the internal SSD than an external Thunderbolt.

 

[paul-n]

A bigger internal drive is always best. Just move the video after you finished the project. USB 3.0 has enough power to outperform external HDDs, so you can use cheap USB 3.0 HDDS for backup.