Storing RAW files?

I download raw files from my BMPCC to my computer, then save to my desk top so i can use the sd card again. Then i have another sd card in my card reader with the short film im working on.

I take the files from my desk top and import them to my timeline to work on.

my timeline is saved on my sd card i leave in my card reader.

its 64 gb

my questions:
how many clips/scenes can be stored on a 64 gb card in Davinci Resolve?
What happens if it becomes full?

Can I take the raw files on my desk top and in my sd card and transfer to an external storage and will this also store the timeline clips im working on?

Sorry if my questions are not worded correctly, Im open to corrections

Hi Donald, you shouldn't be using an SD card to store your timeline. SD cards are not super-reliable storage and they aren't designed for this kind of thing; they are temporary storage for recording clips.

The timeline doesn't actually contain clips, it just refers to them, so a timeline shouldn't take up a lot of space. But because SD cards are not reliable long-term storage, you'll risk losing a lot of time and effort unless you back up your project frequently (which you should anyway).

Rather than an SD, you should use an external SSD or a fast hard disk for storing all your raw files, timelines, etc.

The DaVinci Resolve manual has some advice on where to store your files.

Hi Donald, you shouldn't be using an SD card to store your timeline. SD cards are not super-reliable storage and they aren't designed for this kind of thing; they are temporary storage for recording clips.

The timeline doesn't actually contain clips, it just refers to them, so a timeline shouldn't take up a lot of space. But because SD cards are not reliable long-term storage, you'll risk losing a lot of time and effort unless you back up your project frequently (which you should anyway).

Rather than an SD, you should use an external SSD or a fast hard disk for storing all your raw files, timelines, etc.

The DaVinci Resolve manual has some advice on where to store your files.

thanks, ill study the manual

Hi Donald, you shouldn't be using an SD card to store your timeline. SD cards are not super-reliable storage and they aren't designed for this kind of thing; they are temporary storage for recording clips.

The timeline doesn't actually contain clips, it just refers to them, so a timeline shouldn't take up a lot of space. But because SD cards are not reliable long-term storage, you'll risk losing a lot of time and effort unless you back up your project frequently (which you should anyway).

Rather than an SD, you should use an external SSD or a fast hard disk for storing all your raw files, timelines, etc.

The DaVinci Resolve manual has some advice on where to store your files.

Do you have a recommendation for an external ssd for windows 10 pro? Im storing bmpcc cinedng raw files.

Do you have a recommendation for an external ssd for windows 10 pro? Im storing bmpcc cinedng raw files.

There's some info here: https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommende ... mendations

Specifically see the text below, which is copied from the page at the link above. Note that this is geared to desktop machines, not laptops, mainly because laptops are not optimal for Resolve. If you're using a laptop, an external drive might be the only way to go.

Storage (Hard Drives)

Storage is a commonly overlooked aspect of a video editing workstation. While the CPU or video card may be what does all the processing, if your storage isn't able to keep up it doesn't matter how fast those components are. What makes storage complicated is the fact that not only do you have to deal with the various types of drives available today, you also want to have them configured in a way that will maximize performance in DaVinci Resolve
What type of storage drive should I use for DaVinci Resolve?

There are three main types of drives you might use for a video editing workstation: SSD, NVMe, and the traditional platter drive. Of these three, traditional platter drives are the slowest but are extremely affordable and available in much larger capacities than SSD or NVMe drives. Due to this, they make excellent long-term storage drives, but in most cases are not ideal to working directly off of.

SSDs are several times faster than a platter drive but are also more expensive. These drives are excellent for a wide range of tasks such as holding your OS and applications, storing media and projects you are actively working on, or as a cache/scratch drive.

NVMe drives come in two flavors (M.2 and U.2), but either one will be significantly faster than even an SSD drive. They are about 30% more expensive than an SSD, but in return are up to five times faster! However, in most cases you will not see much of a performance increase with a NVMe drive since a modern standard SSD is already fast enough that it is rarely a performance bottleneck. High bitrate footage (~2,000 mbps or higher) is typically the only time where having your media on NVMe drive is necessary for DaVinci Resolve.
What storage configuration works best in DaVinci Resolve?

While you could get by with just a single drive, we recommend a two to four hard drive configuration depending on your budget and desired performance level:

Primary Drive - OS/Software (SSD) - Includes your operating system and the base DaVinci Resolve installation. An SSD is highly recommended as it will greatly improve how fast the OS and programs startup, but there is usually not much of a performance benefit to upgrade to a faster NVMe drive.
Secondary Drive - Project Files (SSD/M.2 NVMe) - If possible, it is a good idea to separate your project files and disk cache onto a secondary drive. For most users a standard SSD will work fine, but if you work with high bitrate RAW footage there can be a large performance benefit to using a M.2 NVMe drive.
Optional Tertiary Drive - Dedicated Media Cache/Scratch (SSD/M.2 NVMe) - Using a dedicated SSD for your media cache and scratch files can at times improve performance when playing and scrubbing through compositions. Upgrading to an even faster NVMe drive can give some performance gains, but the difference is more pronounce in other applications like After Effects.
Optional Storage Drive (Platter) - For long term storage where the high speed of SSDs is typically not required, a larger traditional platter hard drive is a good choice as they are still much cheaper per GB than SSDs.

Can you work from an external drive for DaVinci Resolve?

Technically, you could keep your footage and projects on an external drive and edit directly from that drive. However, this is one of the most common causes of performance and stability issues we hear about from our customers. We highly recommend having a large enough internal drive so that you can copy all your files to a local drive before editing. External drives are terrific for backup and archiving, but not ideal to work off of.

Do you have a recommendation for an external ssd for windows 10 pro? Im storing bmpcc cinedng raw files.

There's some info here: https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommende ... mendations

Specifically see the text below, which is copied from the page at the link above. Note that this is geared to desktop machines, not laptops, mainly because laptops are not optimal for Resolve. If you're using a laptop, an external drive might be the only way to go.

Storage (Hard Drives)

Storage is a commonly overlooked aspect of a video editing workstation. While the CPU or video card may be what does all the processing, if your storage isn't able to keep up it doesn't matter how fast those components are. What makes storage complicated is the fact that not only do you have to deal with the various types of drives available today, you also want to have them configured in a way that will maximize performance in DaVinci Resolve
What type of storage drive should I use for DaVinci Resolve?

There are three main types of drives you might use for a video editing workstation: SSD, NVMe, and the traditional platter drive. Of these three, traditional platter drives are the slowest but are extremely affordable and available in much larger capacities than SSD or NVMe drives. Due to this, they make excellent long-term storage drives, but in most cases are not ideal to working directly off of.

SSDs are several times faster than a platter drive but are also more expensive. These drives are excellent for a wide range of tasks such as holding your OS and applications, storing media and projects you are actively working on, or as a cache/scratch drive.

NVMe drives come in two flavors (M.2 and U.2), but either one will be significantly faster than even an SSD drive. They are about 30% more expensive than an SSD, but in return are up to five times faster! However, in most cases you will not see much of a performance increase with a NVMe drive since a modern standard SSD is already fast enough that it is rarely a performance bottleneck. High bitrate footage (~2,000 mbps or higher) is typically the only time where having your media on NVMe drive is necessary for DaVinci Resolve.
What storage configuration works best in DaVinci Resolve?

While you could get by with just a single drive, we recommend a two to four hard drive configuration depending on your budget and desired performance level:

Primary Drive - OS/Software (SSD) - Includes your operating system and the base DaVinci Resolve installation. An SSD is highly recommended as it will greatly improve how fast the OS and programs startup, but there is usually not much of a performance benefit to upgrade to a faster NVMe drive.
Secondary Drive - Project Files (SSD/M.2 NVMe) - If possible, it is a good idea to separate your project files and disk cache onto a secondary drive. For most users a standard SSD will work fine, but if you work with high bitrate RAW footage there can be a large performance benefit to using a M.2 NVMe drive.
Optional Tertiary Drive - Dedicated Media Cache/Scratch (SSD/M.2 NVMe) - Using a dedicated SSD for your media cache and scratch files can at times improve performance when playing and scrubbing through compositions. Upgrading to an even faster NVMe drive can give some performance gains, but the difference is more pronounce in other applications like After Effects.
Optional Storage Drive (Platter) - For long term storage where the high speed of SSDs is typically not required, a larger traditional platter hard drive is a good choice as they are still much cheaper per GB than SSDs.

Can you work from an external drive for DaVinci Resolve?

Technically, you could keep your footage and projects on an external drive and edit directly from that drive. However, this is one of the most common causes of performance and stability issues we hear about from our customers. We highly recommend having a large enough internal drive so that you can copy all your files to a local drive before editing. External drives are terrific for backup and archiving, but not ideal to work off of.

I bought a Crucial 1TB and have a 64 gb Sandisk in my card reader. When I work on my timeline, I import media into resolve directly from the Crucial external storage and has been working smooth so far, is that because i also have the sd card in the card reader that im working from as well?