Blackmagic Forum

I'm setting up a new PC with Resolve 17 & want advice on where to store files.

I have 4 drives:
1. an internal 2 TB SSD
2. an internal 4TB 7200RPM Hard Drive
3. I am also installing 5 year old Samsung 256GB SSD internally in an expansion slot
4. External 7200RPM 8TB drive (USB 3.0), to be used for media storage and backups.

Questions:
1 I know the database should be on an internal drive...should I put it on the 2 TB SSD or the 256GB SSD?
2. On which drive should I keep cache files?
3. Which drive should I use for rendering?
4. On which drive should I install the Resolve 17 application?

Thanks

You should check the speed of that old SSD vs the 2TB model. Progress didn't stand still and I'm not sure it will be very useful.
If it's good enough, install the system, Resolve, and the database there, as far as space allows. But have a solid backup strategy if it dies.
Use the 2TB for caching, proxies, or optimized media.
Where to put your media depends on the data rate. High throughput media should reside on the large SSD, but more compressed footage can stay on either spinning drive.
When rendering, don't target the same spinner the media is coming from.

Just my 2 cents, there might be other approaches.

1. Databases, Cache, Proxy, etc.
2. Media
3. System
4. Backups only.

When you can, add two more internal drives to end up with:

System
Databases
Gallery, Optimized Media, Proxies & Cache
Exports
Media

The first two can be fairly small (250 GB) SSDs
The third a larger SSD (2TB)
The last two you may want to consider multi-Terabyte spinners.

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=100167523 ... 04&Order=4

Thanks, Jim & Uli,

I checked the older Samsung SSD with SSDLife & it looks good, so I'll put Resolve & the databases on that drive. I'll use the 2TB internal SSD for Media.

Which drive should I use for rendering?

Depends on what you are rendering. If you output directly to a highly compressed format, it doesn't matter at all.
If you render a high data-rate format, use the fastest drive with enough space.