Uli Plank wrote:MartyMc wrote:I have heard that one should NEVER edit video files on their internal drive - is that true? And if so, why?
That's a complex issue. In a desktop, you can use internal drives to your advantage.
In a laptop with only one SSD, I would not suggest it.
First of all, Apple's prices are much higher per byte than any decent external SSD, and for the codecs you want to edit they'll offer plenty enough speed. So, why waste money.
Second, you never want to fill your system SSD to the rim, or the whole system can crash. Well, not really with recent Apple systems, since they protect the system area.
Finally, video files are huge, and constantly reading and writing them will sooner or later wear down your SSD. They all have a limited lifetime, even if those are a lot of terabytes:
https://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/ ... -ssd-work/That doesn't mean that you can't work on the system SSD in a pinch. But better not all the time, since again, external ones are cheaper to replace.
I can chime in with my day-to-day setup, where 500-700GB is typically used for general purpose on my internal MacBook 14 Pro M1 Pro and various external Thunderbolt disks for actual "project use".
External Thunderbolt 4 drives can also be connected to ordinary USB-C/A connections provided power delivery is up to the task, Old "standard" USB 3 ports typically only support up to 5V, 0.9A (4.5W peak), modern ports between 1.5 and 2.4 A typical max, but all Thunderbolt connections living ups to the standard are able to supply 15W (5V/3A) according to standard requirements.
Please acknowledge, that I do NOT recommend, that you buy any specific piece of hardware. I concentrate on hardware, that I have selected for purely personal use, for my use cases (local and travel aka reportage or run-and-gun) in my setup.
My setup in daily useMacbook 14 Pro M1 Pro1TB SSD 16GB Memorty 10 CPU/16GPU
System SSD mainly used for system tasks and standard apps only.
Always part of hourly Time Machine backups
Content in the folder “Ignore” always excluded.
Project orientedAll projects are folder oriented. All material included in a project is placed somewhere inside the main folder, named according the same rules. Example: “20240219 Singapore 2024” in the main “Projects” directory (which may have subgroups like “Youtube”, “Blakcmagic”, “Twitter” etc. holding targeted content. Using the European “YYYYMMDD context” notation keeps folders auto sorted (compared to the US notation “YYYYDDMM context”). All projects are moved to NAS as "one whole unit", when finished, and are - of course - included in the standard NAS backup routines.
Ignore folderAll SSD’s have a folder called “Ignore”. That folder holds data, temporary, copies, scratch), that should never be part of any backup, and therefore is always excluded. Having a folder with the same purpose on all media, makes it easier in daily use. I do not have to check, if this, that or the other disk may or may not be part of daily or hourly backups. Ignore folders never are.
Thunderbolt 4 980Pro2TBSamsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD
All active general projects are held in the folder “Projects”.
Complete disk content is part of hourly Time Machine backkups (except the folder “Ignore”)
Connected directly to main computer.
Disk reviewed here (one of several reviews with similar results):
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sa ... ssd-reviewSustained sequential write:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sa ... d-review/4All extra connections are via a Thunderbolt 4 hub handling up to four 10-GBit USB connections (4TB backup SSD, 2.5GBit ethernet adapter, two audio interfaces) and up to three Thunderbolt 4 connections (Thunderbolt 4 Work SDD and a Thunderbolt 3 Work SSD plus monitor connection) Backed up regularly and as necessary to NAS.
USB C 10 GBit 4TB SSDUSB-C 10 GBit Samsung T7 Shield 4TB
Contains all current and hourly TimeMachine backups (excluding “Ignore” folder) for system SSD and external project SSD,
Disk reviewed here (one of several reviews with similar results):
https://www.anandtech.com/show/18734/sa ... ty-upgradeSustained sequential write:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/18734/sa ... -upgrade/3Thunderbolt 3 980Work2TBSamsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD
All cache and backup storage required by FCPX and/or Davinchi Resolve goes here., Never backed up.
Temporary projects copied in from elsewhere as “inspiration”, “support” or “Quick access” material for main projects. Could be poly or specific sound, logo, photos or animation projects, that should be readable at up to 2.5 GByte second instead of the average 100-120 Megabyte/second from the main NAS. Content fluctuates wildly. Copies between the 980Work2TB and 980Pro2TB typically are executed at average speeds of around 2.5 GByte/sec for chunks of, let’s say, 250 GByte of mixed material (notes, video, photos etc).
Modern macOS is capable of “overlapped I/O”, which means that the “system” can write data to one media and at the same time read data from another media “in parallel”. Not as effective, if both source - e.g. project video - and target - e.g. cache, render - is on the same physical media). Hence the split of project media and cache storage into two drives.
Disk reviewed here (one of several reviews with similar results):
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sa ... ssd-reviewSustained sequential write:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sa ... d-review/4Thunderbolt 4 990Work4TBSamsung 990 Pro 4TB SSD
Temporary storage of various forms, that are deemed valuable.
During travel becomes a temporary, single main storage, project and work drive.
Disk reviewed here (one of several reviews with similar results):
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sa ... ssd-reviewSustained sequential write:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sa ... d-review/2USB C 10 GBit 4TB SSDUSB-C 10 GBit Samsung T7 Shield 4TB
Temporary backup drive during travel. Otherwise a general purpose media drive (for example iPhone 15 Pro recordings).
Disk reviewed here (one of several reviews with similar results):
https://www.anandtech.com/show/18734/sa ... ty-upgradeSustained sequential write:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/18734/sa ... -upgrade/3Other drives, not in constant use based on Samsung 970 Pro 1TB Thunderbolt SSD’s, Samsung 970 Evo 2 TB SSD (inside powered USB-C hub as iPhone recording media), several Crucial MX500 SATA 2 TB disk as Atomos media for ProRES RAW 12-bit 5.9k use. Etc.
General note Maximum speeds are limited by Thunderbolt 4 or 3 and USB 4 or 3 capabilities (except for writes).
Note the behaviour for “Sustained write performance”, where some SSD’s may even become slower, than rotating rust HDD drives for writing large amounts of data. The ONLY SSD’s I have (two), that can handle write of media from zero to full retaining top speeds all the way are my Samsung 970 Pro 1TB drives (old hardware design, but allows full write speed under all conditions without exception. Expensive. Max capacity 1TB. Some SSD’s designed for enterprise use have this capability too.
ImportantAll media was paid for by my own money, chosen for my specific use cases, and certainly not influenced by other parties. There are several SSD manufacturers with a very good reputation delivering products with solid performances. My choice was also based on local availability (nearly always day-to-day) and the quality of my local retailers (never support problems) and local price (in the lower 25% of the spectrum). ALL qualities matter to me, and choice is highly personal. As always: YMMV.