What is my best option for cache location in FCPX?

[joberster]

Hi all, as some of you may know, with the 10.1 update to FCPX, you can now store your cache wherever you want. I'm wondering if moving my cache will speed up my editing workflow and timeline playback at all. Here's what I have going on right now:

I'm editing with FCPX 10.1 on a late 2013 iMac, i7 processor, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 4GB Nvidia GPU. My footage is on an external 2TB via USB 3. Right now, it's a 5400rpm drive, but it will eventually be swapped out for a 7200rpm. I don't own my footage drives, they get traded out between me and my boss on a per-project basis so I can edit for him from home. At the moment, my cache is located on my internal SSD boot drive along with my applications and project files of "Libraries". I am also aware that maxing out my RAM to 32GB is the easiest way to boost performance, but at the moment that is fiscally impossible until later this year.



Here's my question: I have a spare 250GB SSD sitting on my desk in need of an external enclosure. I am thinking about purchasing a USB 3 enclosure for it, and keeping my cache there, separate from everything else. Will this give me a noticeable boost in speed?



Thanks!

 

[ChrisA]

For best speed place EVERYING on the fastest SSD you have. That would be an internal SSD.

Only if you run lout of room on the first SSD should you used a slower SSD. Actually the SSD on the USB 3.0 is not that much slower than the internal SSD

The big thing is to make certain you are not accessing data from the external 5400 or 7200 hard drive. Import it all over then disconnect it.

If everything fits o there internal SSD and the external drive is disconnected, you don't have much room heft for improvement.