Scratch Disk Setup Question

Searched the group, but did not find a specific answer for this question:

Several years back, when I first started editing with Premier Pro, the recommendation was that the scratch disk be on a different drive than where the program itself was installed.

Does this hold true for FCP? I currently have a 1TB G-Tech G-Raid attached on the FW800 port of my iMac, with a 500GB G-Tech G-RAID daisy-chained off the 1TB drive. I use the 1TB for archive storage and where I put all my clips I am working on in FCP. The entire 500GB drive is set as my scratch disk (nothing else uses that drive). So far, I've encountered no problems with this set up (and the G-Tech disks have performed flawlessly).

Inasmuch as my projects are never much more than 10-15 minutes in size (small training videos for my office with output to QuickTime or DVD), I am just wondering if this is an acceptable set up for working with FCP or would it really make any difference if the scratch disk were on the internal drive in the iMac where FCP is also stored. Is this one of those "if it is working, don't fix it!" things? Or, am I setting myself up for problems in the future if I start doing larger projects (30 minutes or more)?

Thanks in advance for any comments on this.

Regards, Cyrus
iMac 27" Intel i7 Quad-Core; 16GB RAM; 2TB HD
Final Cut Studio, FCP X, Photoshop CS5, After Effects, etc.

Media should not be placed on your boot drive.
Bj

I think it's more of drive allocation as well as performance. Ideally media should be stored in a separate drive, as more clutter will cause the drive to perform at non-optimal speeds.

"Media"?? Are you referring to just the original clips/footage I am editing or are you also considering all the render files, etc., on the scratch disk as "media"?

The 500GB drive is exclusively used as my scratch disk only. Is the fact that it is daisy-chained to the 1TB drive problematic?

All my media (to me that is the original clips/footage I'm using for a project) is in a folder on the 1TB drive. None of my media is on the internal HD in the iMac or on the 500GB drive. I do, however, also use the 1TB drive for backup and archive purposes other than for FCP. To keep my internal drive a clean as I can, I move a lot of files to the 1TB and work with them from there (documents, pictures, etc.).

Should I maybe switch the set around and use the 500GB as the exclusive location for storing media for a project and setup the scratch disk on the 1TB drive? I could partition the 1TB into 2 partitions of 500GB each, etc.??

As I said, I have encountered absolutely no (apparent) problems with this setup. I'm just a bit concerned that I may be (unknowingly) creating a problem downstream when I try larger projects.

Regards, Cyrus
iMac 27" Intel i7 Quad-Core; 16GB RAM; 2TB HD
Final Cut Studio, FCP X, Photoshop CS5, After Effects, etc.

Let me get this right. The connection is

mac --firewire 800-->1tb Raid---firewire800--> 500 gigs raid

It's a good practice to keep the mac as clean as possible, so your programs operate at maximum efficiency. Daisychaining (also connecting multiple firewire drives to the same firewire port), slows the connection down so the connection operates at the speed of the slowest device. Usually, i'll keep all media (including render files) of the same project on the same drive, but it's more of keeping things neat.

Why not buy get an extra firewire port so both drives operate with maximum efficiency?

Cy, I think you are doing fine. The book says don't use your boot drive for media, and don't have the FCP program on the same drive as your media, as you have it. Media is media, render files are the same data density and access issues as raw footage and belong on non-system drives; don't really have to be the same drive but it makes for better organization. If you're not having problems, then you're not having problems. Just keep ALL of your drives to no less than 90% free. You could keep the 1TB out of the chain while editing, only hooking it up for archiving, if it concerns you.

Scott

Why not buy get an extra firewire port so both drives operate with maximum efficiency?
From: stypes
I am working on an iMac and not aware of any way to add an extra Firewire port. Is there such a method?

Regards, Cyrus
iMac 27" Intel i7 Quad-Core; 16GB RAM; 2TB HD
Final Cut Studio, FCP X, Photoshop CS5, After Effects, etc.

Scott Taylor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
"You could keep the 1TB out of the chain while editing, only hooking it up for archiving, if it concerns you.

To Scott: You are saying that having all my media (my original clips/footage) for a project in a folder on the same drive I use as my scratch disk is an OK practice? If that is so, then my solution is really simple, thanks greatly to your suggestions. Inasmuch as my FCP projects are small and are not something I work on every day (to those of you who do editing for a living, my hat is off to you in admiration!), then it would seem that all I need do is unplug the 1TB drive which I use for backup and archiving of non-FCP stuff and plug in the 500GB drive during the times I'm working on a project. That would even be neater as I could copy everything to DVDs for off-line storage when I'm done (just in case). Many thanks, Scott for your suggestions. I think I'll try that as an experiment on my next project and see how that works. I really don't have any need to have the 500GB daisy-chained to the 1TB all the time as it generally isn't even turned on.

Regards, Cyrus
iMac 27" Intel i7 Quad-Core; 16GB RAM; 2TB HD
Final Cut Studio, FCP X, Photoshop CS5, After Effects, etc.

Thank you so much, Scott, for your suggestion. I just tried an small experiment with just the 500GB drive attached (not daisy-chained) and it appears that the render and export process is much faster. Since I don't work on FCP projects all the time, this seems the most viable solution.

One other question: Is it OK to keep the FCP project file on the same drive as the scratch disk and media.

I've created 3 folders on the 500GB drive: SCRATCH, PROJECT and MEDIA. That makes one neat package to copy off to DVD for archive when I'm done. If having the project file on the same drive as the scratch disk and media is a no-no, the only other place I have would be the same drive that FCP is installed on, the internal drive on the iMac (unless I went back to the daisy-chain setup).

Regards, Cyrus
iMac 27" Intel i7 Quad-Core; 16GB RAM; 2TB HD
Final Cut Studio, FCP X, Photoshop CS5, After Effects, etc.

>>Is it OK to keep the FCP project file on the same drive as the scratch disk and media.
<<

Yes. You can keep all that stuff together. However, I would suggest setting your auto save to your imac's boot drive (this is a relatively small folder) so that if the external dies, you have access to your project(s) in their last saved state. Also do a manual backup as often as you feel you need, given how much work you have achieved.

It's generally considered best to keep your project file separate from the media, and the system drive is a common place to keep it. It doesn't have nearly the I/O bandwidth or space requirements of the media files, so that's a safe and appropriate place for it (at least for me).

Keep in mind that the full name of the "scratch" space is "capture scratch"; what you set for this in Preferences dictates where your captured media is stored as you capture it. So it really doesn't make sense to think of "scratch" and "media" as different things.

By default, FCP creates a folder structure for your project with separate "Capture Scratch", "Render Files", etc. subfolders, with your various projects' folders below this. You can force a different structure, but I've seen no need to do that.

Scott

Thank you all for your comments. This new setup appears to perform better (faster) than my previous setup. All the media I'll be using for any project will all be on the 500GB drive. I'll keep the project files on my boot drive and also have set the Auto Save Vault to the boot drive. I've currently got about 150GB left on it from the original 250GB.

I'll give it a good test sometime later this month when I do my next project.

Again, thanks to everyone. You have been most helpful.

Regards, Cyrus
iMac 27" Intel i7 Quad-Core; 16GB RAM; 2TB HD
Final Cut Studio, FCP X, Photoshop CS5, After Effects, etc.

If you're going to keep your project files on your boot drive, then set your auto save to somewhere else. The point is to have spare copies in a different location in case one drive fails.

I put my project files with all their associated media on the media drive (easier for archive, too) and auto to the boot drive.

To Jude: Thanks for your suggestions.

I ran 2 tests today of a 10 minute video. 1 with the 500GB drive directly attached via firewire 800 and 1 with the 500GB daisy-chained off the 1TB drive (attached directly to the FW800 port).

My Auto Save Vault is on my boot drive. All my media files are on the 500GB drive, along with the project file (neat for ez backup).

I did not notice any appreciable difference in the speed of rendering and/or output between the 2 setups. Seemed the same either way. There are about 25-30 transitions and Motion files, along with a number of still photos in the final video, plus audio tracks.

The daisy-chained setup works the best for my daily work flow. I'm going to keep it this way until I notice degrading speeds or other problems. It may be that the size of my project are so ez for FCP to work with that no hardware problems would show. When I try to do a 30-45 minutes video, then I'll see what happens.

Again, thanks everyone. Your suggestions really helped me in clearing up some misunderstandings I had regarding setup/workflow for FCP.

Regards, Cyrus
iMac 27" Intel i7 Quad-Core; 16GB RAM; 2TB HD
Final Cut Studio, FCP X, Photoshop CS5, After Effects, etc.