External Storage for ProRes RAW 4K

[ferp2000]

Good evening fellow editors,

I am not a beginner when it comes to video editing, but I am a beginner when it comes to ProRes RAW in 4k, I started using this codec recently and I came across 1gb every 10 seconds, I will need additional space, my question is as follows:

- What type of external disk do I need to buy? Can I buy an HDD with 20Mb of writing / reading, or do I need to go for SSD?

Thanks

[Cornucopia]

Prores Raw 4k requires ~40-100MBps, aka 320-800Mbps. You storage subsystem will need to comfortably accommodate this, and if you ever intend to do editing and would need to both read AND write, you should more likely be able to support 2.5x to 3x those rates.

You use whatever medium can provide this. Usually this is SSD, but could be RAID HDDs, or at the upper end even RAID SSDs. Not even the fastest plain HDDs can support it, though.

Do the math and work your way backwards to arrive at what you will need.

And I shouldn't need to mention this because it should be obvious, but normally it isn't much of an issue, yet it is here: look at ALL the links in the chain. They all need to support the rate you choose, and the weakest links will determine the bottleneck points.


Scott

[ferp2000]

Thank you for the answer, do yo you think this HDD will work?

HDD - https://www.pccomponentes.pt/wd-my-book-essential-8tb-35-usb-30-*****?gclid=CjwKCAjwvM...xoC04kQAvD_BwE

Or do you think i have to get an SSD like this?

SSD - https://www.fnac.pt/mp18776505/Disco-SSD-Samsung-870-QVO-2-5-4-TB?gclid=CjwKCAjwvMqDBh...2-4a6a711ad116

[Cornucopia]

Both of them use usb 3.0 to transfer, which although maybe not ideal, should be decent enough. That is only part of the story, though.
The 1st one (HDD) doesn't specify the read or write speed. That is a problem - if this drive was fast enough, they probably would be bragging about it.
The 2nd one (SSD) might be acceptable for some of those 4k raw bitrates but not for others.
That is why I said you need to work backwards. Pick your needed level of compression, and its accompanying bitrate. Then you need to find the device that fits THAT need. If it doesn't fit that need, it is of little to no use for you.


Scott

[ferp2000]

I understandd, the HHD has an average of 190MB/second (saw it on some YouTube videos) andd the SSD has an average of 510MB/second.
I will only be using the external disk for the ProRes RAW footage, so, do you think the HHD can cut it? Or is it safer to go for the SSD?

Thank you for your help.

[butterw]

Sata SSD will be faster than a HDD. Nvme (4xPCIe M.2) SSD would be faster still.
HDD will likely run slower as an external usb3.0 drive vs internal Sata3.
>> Check sequential writes benchmarks and real world tests.

HDD is significantly cheaper per TB (HDD is king for backups).

SSD makes no noise.
Samsung QLC (QV0) comes with limited writes (360TiBW per TiB) and a 3 year warranty.

[Cornucopia]

Average read/write rate means little in this determination. What will matter for recording/playback/editing is MINIMUM rate. As I already mentioned. If the drive (whatever drive in question) isn't faster in this spec than your required bitrate for the codec (ANY codec), you may/ will have skips/stutters/hiccups on playback, same & lag & buffering on edits, and worse - frame drops or crashes on recording. Average is just an average over the whole of the drive (which varies quite a bit on HDD but barely at all on solidstate media).

Scott

[ferp2000]

I ended up buying this one - https://www.pcdiga.com/ssd-2-5-western-digital-blue-4tb-tlc-sata-wds400t2b0a?gclid=Cj0...waAvxpEALw_wcB

There is not a lot of information regarding ProRes RAW on the Internet, so I guess I'll have to take my chances and figure it out by my self.