How much faster is thunderbolt/usb scratch ssd compared to internal ssd?

Hi,

I am running FCP 10.2.3 on a Early 2011 macbook 2013 2.2ghz 16gb ram. I don't normally put together long pieces but need to put together a 1.25 hour panel discussion shot in 1080p with about 15gb in files.

I have 2 SSD's in my macbook: sata3 256 samsung 830 and sata2 OWC 120gb (2011 or 2012 ssd with data doubler)

How can I speed up rendering or any other tasks on FCP:

i don't see any option to set up a scratch disk for FCP? Does it use the drive where the media files are located as scratch disk?

For future tasks like this is there a speed advantage to secondary internal ssd(sata 2 OWC) or Samsung 850 EVO connected to an external thunderbolt dock? I would like to replace both SSDs with 850 samsung evo but hear the difference isn't too much.

Thanks.

The render files go into the cache bundle, wherever that's located.

help.apple.com/finalcutpro/mac/10.2/#/ver7db6ffe77

If you're on a secondary SSD drive, internally, that's about the fastest you're going to get. If you select the Library, go to the Inspector, you can set locations for media, cache, etc. See link above. Case should be on that secondary drive. A third drive won't give you any better performance. Make sure both internal drives have minimum 15 percent of capacity left as free space at all times, if not more.

filterstuck wrote: ...I am running FCP 10.2.3 on a Early 2011 macbook 2013 2.2ghz 16gb ram. I don't normally put together long pieces but need to put together a 1.25 hour panel discussion shot in 1080p with about 15gb in files...I have 2 SSD's in my macbook: sata3 256 samsung 830 and sata2 OWC 120gb (2011 or 2012 ssd with data doubler)...How can I speed up rendering or any other tasks on FCP...

By rendering you may mean exporting to a file. If that is H264 the process is inherently CPU-bound not GPU or I/O bound. That is why H264 is used for an acquisition codec by many cameras -- it limits the I/O volume to the card, at the cost of CPU, which the camera handles with a dedicated ASIC (Application Specific IC).

However you want to not only speed up export but "any other tasks". If the camera-native files are H264 you can often get better performance on an older machine by transcoding to proxy or optimized media. Optimized is about 8x the size, which then becomes a possible space and I/O issue.

The lowest-cost method (from a space standpoint) is transcode to proxy media and edit from that. That will give significant performance improvement on both editing and effects. It will require about 2x the space, so 30GB instead of 15GB. I/O will increase some but it should be manageable and probably will not hit the limit of your current SSDs.

Further increasing I/O bandwidth only helps if that is a bottleneck. Once the bottleneck is CPU, an infinitely fast disk won't help.

Once you are finished editing, one of the fastest ways to export is using these settings:

Share>Master File>Settings
Format: Computer
Video codec: H.264 Faster encode
Resolution: 1080p or 720p

This will use Quick Sync hardware-accelerated encoding, which the "Sandy Bridge" CPU in your 2011 MacBook Pro has. If using proxy media you must remember to switch the viewer back to original media before exporting, otherwise it will export at lower proxy resolution.

Wow. Thanks for the very useful information.

BenB,

Should I set cache location to internal SSD #2(slower) and leave media files on SSD #1(operating system) for max speed? Or should I move both to SSD #2. Can I switch cache location after starting a project if this is not the fastest method? Thanks.

Leave the cache inside the Library.