Should I get an external SSD for editing?

[Damian Brown]

Considering getting a 500gb or 1tb ssd external for editing on my Mcbook Air (mid 2011, High Sierra)

I'm researching to see if it will really speed up my 4k editing (I currently use proxy files to make it possible as it stands with regular external drives) and Raw photo editing in C1 / PS.

The OS is on an internal ssd. All my project files live on an external hard drive.

Anybody have any more experiences that might help me decide if I should go for it? Might get one if it will make life faster.

 

[TimHughes]

I’m using external SSDs for my Mac. Whether it will speed things up for you depends on whether disk read / write speed is the bottleneck. Have you tried the activity monitor to see cpu and gpu load during editing and rendering? If there is some headroom SSD could help.

 

[steveb]

Your MBA uses USB2 ports, they would be a bottleneck. If you thought your 2011 MBA was up to 4K editing consider an OWC 1 or 2TB internal SSD.

 

[nandbytes]

Funnily enough I have my SSD for sale in sales, the very one I used for editting and sorting through my history of pictures.

With USB3 ports the speeds wasn't bad but as mentioned above your USB 2 ports will be your bottleneck.

 

[Damian Brown]

Your MBA uses USB2 ports, they would be a bottleneck. If you thought your 2011 MBA was up to 4K editing consider an OWC 1 or 2TB internal SSD.

It already has an internal ssd though.

 

[Damian Brown]

Funnily enough I have my SSD for sale in sales, the very one I used for editting and sorting through my history of pictures.

With USB3 ports the speeds wasn't bad but as mentioned above your USB 2 ports will be your bottleneck.

It was your ad that got me thinking about it [emoji3526]

 

[SFTPhotography]

USB2 is POS old hat.
USB 3 is ok but if the machine doesn't have USB 3 not.

If you just want to store stuff and move in bulk and don't mind waiting a bit USB 2 is ok

 

[nandbytes]

It was your ad that got me thinking about it [emoji3526]

With no intentions of pushing my sales on you, I think it might be worth testing it with a cheap SSD.
That's what I did, I had a 120GB SanDisk (also in sales lol) that I tired it on and then got the 1TB to really finish up my work.

Now that I am all caught up I am happy to keep things on my iMac SSD and then move things off to spinning rust (HDD) 6 months at a time. I have got a rhythm going now but till then the SSD helped in me getting through the massive sorting and backlog and processing of them.

 

[Damian Brown]

USB2 is POS old hat.
USB 3 is ok but if the machine doesn't have USB 3 not.

If you just want to store stuff and move in bulk and don't mind waiting a bit USB 2 is ok

So far usb 2.0 hasn't been an imposible mission but I hear you! I've been editing 4K footage for a while now with everything on regular externals drives, and the internal ssd only for the Mac OS etc.

Naturally, to do 4K editing means using proxy files and waiting, so it's not desperate yet but I'm just investigating if it's worth trying the external SSD to squeeze a bit more juice out of this machine.

 

[Tdes]

As said, USB 2 is you weak link . If you can't change your machine to something more suitable for 4k editing maybe look at getting a thunderbolt to USB3 hub, not cheap but will speed things up hugely!

like this sort of thing...

Or if you can find one, something like this which is what I have. I run a sandisk extreme pro ssd through it and it is very fast. I had this from my older 2012 MBP to get usb3 (and also connection for peripherals, monitor, ethernet with one cable into the laptop).

Using Premier Pro I have app located on internal SSD, source files on sandisk ext SSD, and cache files on another smaller ext SSD. It has sped things up a lot with 4k editing on a 2015 MBP. But I am at the point where I think I need a machine with dedicated GPU, just not sure if internal in a laptop or external eGPU would be best! I can't do a desktop as I need mobility for my work (pre covid, and hopefully post covid again!!).

T

 

[Damian Brown]

As said, USB 2 is you weak link . If you can't change your machine to something more suitable for 4k editing maybe look at getting a thunderbolt to USB3 hub, not cheap but will speed things up hugely!

like this sort of thing...

Or if you can find one, something like this which is what I have. I run a sandisk extreme pro ssd through it and it is very fast. I had this from my older 2012 MBP to get usb3 (and also connection for peripherals, monitor, ethernet with one cable into the laptop).

Using Premier Pro I have app located on internal SSD, source files on sandisk ext SSD, and cache files on another smaller ext SSD. It has sped things up a lot with 4k editing on a 2015 MBP. But I am at the point where I think I need a machine with dedicated GPU, just not sure if internal in a laptop or external eGPU would be best! I can't do a desktop as I need mobility for my work (pre cover, and hopefully post cover again!!).

T

Thanks I'll check it out now!

 

[Damian Brown]

As said, USB 2 is you weak link . If you can't change your machine to something more suitable for 4k editing maybe look at getting a thunderbolt to USB3 hub, not cheap but will speed things up hugely!

like this sort of thing...

Just picked one of those up for £36, at the very least let's hope I get usb 3.0 speeds for transfer with my external hdd that are usb 3.0. If that goes well, I might splash out on a ssd drive

 

[Tdes]

Just picked one of those up for £36, at the very least let's hope I get usb 3.0 speeds for transfer with my external hdd that are usb 3.0. If that goes well, I might splash out on a ssd drive

Bargain!

You will notice it being a bit quicker with a hdd, but the physical drive will be going at its maximum and not be near the usb max speed. you will notice it hugely with a ssd.

T

 

[Damian Brown]

Bargain!

You will notice it being a bit quicker with a hdd, but the physical drive will be going at its maximum and not be near the usb max speed. you will notice it hugely with a ssd.

T

I hope so! Thanks for the heads up I shall squeeze the absolute last drop out of this machine

 

[drsilver]

It sounds like speed is your main concern and you're on your way to addressing that problem. I found another benefit of using an external SSD.

I keep all my active LR catalog files (both picture files and LR files) on a 512gb M2 SSD in an external, USB-C enclosure. When I'm working at home, it's plugged into a desktop. On the road I take it with me for laptop use. Full catalog, both places. All my culled files live on that drive. Full, unculled versions of of sessions go immediately to backup disk drives and can be deleted from the SSD as space requires.

 

[Damian Brown]

Ultimately when work picks back up I want capture one to run faster my Fuji raw files so in lieu of a machine upgrade, the SSD could well help by the sounds of it

 

[Damian Brown]

So... the less than amazing speed tests have proved that this little gadget has helped the cause. Not sure if I should go with an SSD in the sales because I think using proxies, which is necessary for me, will put me way into needing quite a large drive.

The ethernet port is quite handy, sucks that upload is still relatively bad with Virgin Media:

Ethernet

Wifi


Internal SSD

Via USB 2.0

Via thunderbolt - usb 3.0 adapter:


Finally, happy with the increase, but clearly one day, when work picks again up I'll want to upgrade to a faster machine.

 

[Tdes]

So... the less than amazing speed tests have proved that this little gadget has helped the cause. Not sure if I should go with an SSD in the sales because I think using proxies, which is necessary for me, will put me way into needing quite a large drive.

The ethernet port is quite handy, sucks that upload is still relatively bad with Virgin Media:

Ethernet
View attachment 299714
Wifi
View attachment 299715

Internal SSD
View attachment 299716
Via USB 2.0
View attachment 299717
Via thunderbolt - usb 3.0 adapter:
View attachment 299718

Finally, happy with the increase, but clearly one day, when work picks up I'll want to upgrade to a faster machine.

Good to see it is working well for you!

I personally would ask Father Christmas for a SSD, it will speed things up considerably and can still be of use on a faster machine in the future.

T

 

[Damian Brown]

Good to see it is working well for you!

I personally would ask Father Christmas for a SSD, it will speed things up considerably and can still be of use on a faster machine in the future.

T

The last time I calculated the size of my final cut folder it was over 1tb, after deleting previous projects, and their rendered and shared files etc so I'm worried I'd need a 2Tb because I clearly can't work without proxies [emoji26]

And that's with just one project on the go

 

[Tdes]

The last time I calculated the size of my final cut folder it was over 1tb, after deleting previous projects, and their rendered and shared files etc so I'm worried I'd need a 2Tb because I clearly can't work without proxies [emoji26]

2TB WD Blue SSD from amazon - £149.99 here
2.5" SSD caddy from amazon - £6.99 here

I use it in conjunction with a Sandisk extreme pro, spreading the cache and media about seems to work best for me. The WD Blue may not be the 'best' ssd available, but if everything is backed up properly it does the job for less than £157.00.

I use it for my media files, backed up to a nas and a hdd. If it fails I still have the media and just need to point to the new folder. Little risk but big gains in speed.

T

 

[Damian Brown]

2TB WD Blue SSD from amazon - £149.99 here
2.5" SSD caddy from amazon - £6.99 here

I use it in conjunction with a Sandisk extreme pro, spreading the cache and media about seems to work best for me. The WD Blue may not be the 'best' ssd available, but if everything is backed up properly it does the job for less than £157.00.

I use it for my media files, backed up to a nas and a hdd. If it fails I still have the media and just need to point to the new folder. Little risk but big gains in speed.

TView attachment 299722

Brilliant, I shall look at this after lunch!

 

[Damian Brown]

I haven't gone full on yet but I picked up a cheap 500gb ssd and it arrived today. Running C1 through it at the moment, files and catalog on the external ssd. Seems to be a better experience so far.



Decided to go this route to see how it worked out on my old system, before spending more on the size drives I would need, for final cut at least.