Anyone using USB 3.0 for editing in FCPX - New Retina Macbook Pro

I'm waiting for my new Retina Macbook Pro to arrive and need to purchase a drive to hold media for editing in FCPX.

I'm wondering if in a single drive setup (not Raid) whether I can get away with USB 3.0 instead of paying the big bucks for Thunderbolt?

In theory the 5mbps should be enough, just wondering if the packet burst transfer is an issue? I've heard lots of people say to avoid usb 2.0, but wondering if 3.0 changes the discussion.

Does anyone have real world experience editing with a USB 3.0 drive?

(footage will be DSLR, converted to optimized prores etc..)

Or wait until Apple starts selling the FW800 to T'bolt adapter.

I question the burst of USB.

But it'd be interesting to see if anyone has actually done real world tests.

BenB,
Just got my new rMBP on the 7/1 so just setting it up. Needed to get new I/O interface, no way to hook up 4bay eSata box. Bought a NewTech Voyager quad interface Hdd dock; USB3, FW400, FW800, eSata. Using a 10,000rpm raptor, I can say that the USB3 is fast. One drive will not saturate the bus, but I think it is faster than FW800. Several test sites report USB3 3-7 times faster than FW800, in real world testing. Until I can afford a ThunderBolt expansion box, this may be cheaper temp fix.

At a burst rate USB 3 is slightly faster than FW800. But that's not good. "Burst rate", USB is a burst protocol. It specializes in sending bursts of data, pausing, bursting, pausing. It's not good for "continuous streaming". FW was built for continuous streaming, which is why it dominated the video editing market. How will USB 3 hold up to a larger, complex FCP X project? How many multicam angles can it handle at one time before falling apart? I'm waiting on that info.

On that of that does't FireWire have its own controller chip where USB uses the main CPU...

USB3 speed vs FW800 including Sustained speeds.
"The speed blows-away the sluggish Firewire 800 port on the older MacBook Pros by a real-world factor of 3-7X. That’s a huge gain rarely seen with any upgrade. I tested on the Macbook Pro Retina, but the same performance should accrue any of the new 2012 MBP models with USB3 ports."

Read full report with graphs... macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-OWC-Merc...roMini-SSD-USB3.html

USB3 now supported directly on Ivy Bridge board. This actually makes USB faster, no data transfer on bus.
While I have always been a fan of FW, especially in regards to interactive camera control, it is getting long in tooth. There are faster technologies now.
ThunderBolt will be the new king for many years to come. Now on copper, soon optic.
Just waiting for price drop.

Yes, it's burst rate data transfer speed is faster than FW800. I've yet to see multiple video continuous data "streams" tested, though. It may hold up for that, too, but I've yet to see it tested.

USB 2 is faster burst rate than FW800, but it falls apart fast with continuous video data streams.

I just want to see that specific test.

Tried doing a 5 angle multicam shoot with H.264 files on the Retina MacBook Pro off a USB 3.0 drive and performance was TERRIBLE.

However, I think this was due to trying to process the H.264 files rather than the drive speed itself. Disk Speed Test showed the drive with a 5GB test file running at about 138 MB/s Read and 141MB/s Write.

Did not have time to test the theory as I just ended up using proxy files to edit anyway. By the way, the machine seemed to crunch through 2 hours of H.264 footage into proxy files in about 10 minutes? I was blown away.

I bought a usb 3.0 drive. 3TB Seagate Backup Plus... (seems to be 7200rpm) although can't get any info online or from company. 150mbps in Black Magic Speed Test...

I can currently edit at least a 6 angle 1080/24 clip... in optimized ProRes High Quality without any dropped frames.

That is nice to hear such success! I'm really hoping that USB 3.0 has evolved it beyond it's burst protocol limitation. But you never know until folks actually try it. Very good news!

How long was the multicam clip?

I was just testing out and fooling around with different clips. Some were 10 minutes, some 4 minutes. I threw a bunch together and tried it out.

Probably not the best most 'official' test, but for my purposes was glad to see that the Hard drive seemed to be adequate for what I'll need it for.