So i've been editing the wrong way apparently...

[joeysarks]

Just got Final Cut Pro about a month ago and still learning the ropes. Apparently editing off the system drive is a big no no when editing which I was unaware of. Now I only have a 7200rpm external that I can hook up over usb 2.0 on my base model 13 inch Macbook Pro.

I'll be working to upgrade my computer soon, but can anyone tell me recommendations for the external I should be goin for? Firewire seems dead now, but would USB 3.0 be fine for editing, or should I connect with TB and be done with it? I would think those drives would be a lil more expensive so if USB3 is enough id rather go for that. The USB2 and my external now just doesn't seem like its working, seems way slower than off my system drive with my current setup.

Also, would editing on an SSD like the MBPr rid editing of these problems, or is it still helpful to put the temp files on external?

 

[matteusclement]

I have said this before, but I will say it again.
Look on ebay for a hard drive caddy. this will replace you MBP optical drive but allow you to have a 2nd hard drive. it's awesome. I have done it 3 times on mac and pc. Way better. I made my OS disc an ssd.

 

[arjen92]

and then, for the odd occasion you do need an optical drive, buy an external enclosure for your old optical drive. I've got one which I hook up via USB.

 

[joeysarks]

Definitely don't need my optical drive, I've only used it once on my 13 inch and that was cuz I felt bad for never using it. I also don't wanna take my computer apart though.

 

[Macman45]

Definitely don't need my optical drive, I've only used it once on my 13 inch and that was cuz I felt bad for never using it. I also don't wanna take my computer apart though.

How much cash do you have to invest is the question here really. I use a Pegasus R4, set up for speed, but it's not a cheap option...can you run to a Thunderbolt drive? Plenty out there that won't cost an arm and a leg, and should be fast enough for real-time edit work.

Take your pick:
http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&scli....,cf.osb&fp=d7d60ee56f904ded&biw=1506&bih=932

 

[monokakata]

and then, for the odd occasion you do need an optical drive, buy an external enclosure for your old optical drive. I've got one which I hook up via USB.

That's good advice, but if you're going to use the optical drive rarely, you can get a USB kit like this one (there are any number of manufacturers)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002&Tpk=vantec cb-isatau2

and you won't need an enclosure. Obviously if you're going to use it regularly this isn't a good solution.

 

[Digital Skunk]

Firewire isn't dead just yet, especially if you have a Macbook Pro that has only USB2.0 Firewire 800 is a little under twice as fast as USB 2.0 so unless you were moving up the the uber expensive TBolt drives FW800 is your best bet for editing off of an external scratch disk.

While you are inside of the MBP, replacing the ODD; think about replacing your boot drive with a faster 7.2K drive or SSD as well as upgrading the RAM to maximum.

 

[yellowbunny]

With computers now editing off the system disk isn't really a problem. I always edit from the system drive and then archive projects on externals later.

 

[handsome pete]

With computers now editing off the system disk isn't really a problem.

How so?


As far as I'm concerned, editing off of the system drive is still not recommended.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

How so?


As far as I'm concerned, editing off of the system drive is still not recommended.

Why not? and for what size projects are you talking about? I know when I was doing small stuff for my college, I would edit on the system drive and never experienced any problems.

 

[yellowbunny]

I suppose i'm comparing it to my experience 10 years ago editing in Adobe Premiere on PC. In editing terms the improvements in hardware/ software over the past decade have been huge. It's always appeared to me that not using your system disk is a relic from an earlier time. I see very little difference (if any at all now) editing from my externals.

 

[handsome pete]

Why not? and for what size projects are you talking about? I know when I was doing small stuff for my college, I would edit on the system drive and never experienced any problems.

Any time you can spread processes around to other drives, it will help. Why make your one internal drive handle system resources, reading media, writing media, etc.?

Obviously hardware has gotten better over the years, but demand has also increased. We're working in 720, 1080, 2k, 4k, often with many simultaneous streams.

There are certainly other ways to improve your system performance, and many might be fine situating everything on the system drive. But for the reasons outlined above, not to mention backups, reliability, etc. I still recommend an external solution (preferably a RAID).

 

[Digital Skunk]

With computers now editing off the system disk isn't really a problem. I always edit from the system drive and then archive projects on externals later.

Why not? and for what size projects are you talking about? I know when I was doing small stuff for my college, I would edit on the system drive and never experienced any problems.

I suppose i'm comparing it to my experience 10 years ago editing in Adobe Premiere on PC. In editing terms the improvements in hardware/ software over the past decade have been huge. It's always appeared to me that not using your system disk is a relic from an earlier time. I see very little difference (if any at all now) editing from my externals.

To add to what Handsome Pete wrote: cutting on an external drive also helps if you need to move a project from one system to another. At the university I teach at it's the law, and students can edit from anyone of 108 workstations when they keep in on their own drive.

Now, of course if the project is tiny in scope, and not very evolved then it's fine to work off of the system drive. Anything that could be considered rather large would be easier to cut when loaded onto a different drive.

 

[TyroneShoes2]

I have said this before, but I will say it again.
Look on ebay for a hard drive caddy. this will replace you MBP optical drive but allow you to have a 2nd hard drive. it's awesome. I have done it 3 times on mac and pc. Way better. I made my OS disc an ssd.

I think this is a great solution. I wanted to do that on my PB, and add a SSD as the boot drive making the old HDD the media drive, but it was too old (PATA instead of SATA) so I relented and just got a new MBA.

But then as far as external connectivity that is limited to TBolt, SD card, or USB 2.0, which means it is really limited to TBolt.

I miss firewire. Incidentally, most pro setups still use firewire 400 for pro editing, so if you have it that would work well. My company just replaced 14 Avid NewsCutter HP towers, and that meant we had to add firewire cards to them for import.

If you (the OP) can swing a second internal drive and it can be an SSD boot and app drive, that should work fine. It will be fast for accessing FCP and the OS, and as long as you are not using a media file format larger than DNxHD145, the conventional HDD can serve the video clips at a fast enough rate. Renders will happen on the SSD should there need to be VM paging, and there is no competition for drive access on either drive that way.

If you (the OP) need to use an external and you have firewire, that will work too (I still recommend a SSD as the boot and app drive). Otherwise, you might have to use TBolt, which means you should wait as long as possible as the prices for both cables and drives is expected to drop a lot, and quickly, especially as Windows boxes start to support it.

Incidentally, your sig (Matt) about compression, while totally not a proper analogy, still made me laugh pretty hard.

 

[matteusclement]

Definitely don't need my optical drive, I've only used it once on my 13 inch and that was cuz I felt bad for never using it. I also don't wanna take my computer apart though.

Have a look at ifixit or another site about replacing the optical drive. It's STUPID simple. Promise. I do it in 10-15 mins.