Raid 0 on scratch disk and media cache drive question??

[ingeborgdot]

I am building a new computer which will be used for many things but a lot of video editing and some photo. I was wondering if anyone that is familiar with Adobe Premier Pro and After Effects could help out or anyone that thinks they know.

I was wondering if a person could use 2 SSD drives in raid 0 for the scratch disk and media cache drive. I know raid 0 is not as safe as only one drive or any other kind of raid but I can get two smaller SSD drives for a great price and much cheaper than one larger one. I know it will even make the SSDs faster. Anyone care to comment? Thanks.

Also, what is the most common scratch disk and media cache drive size?

[Ann Bens]

Moved to Hardware forum for expert advice.

[RoninEdits]

its ok to use raid-0 for scratch/cache drives. common size for that drive is typically 256gb-500gb.

[ingeborgdot]

Okay?  Not necessarily recommended but okay?  Not necessary?  Is it a better idea to use just one SSD?  Sorry about the questions but I just want to do it right the first time.  Thanks for the info on size.  I had not really been able to find an answer like that. 

[RoninEdits]

usually not necessary. raid-0 may be faster in a couple tasks/functions, but overall a single ssd will perform similarly. scratch and media cache files aren't critical, like project or video/media files, so the extra risk of raid-0 doesn't matter for those files.

[ingeborgdot]

That's the answer I was looking for.  I have not been able to find anywhere this specific answer.  I must have been doing some terrible searches. 

Raid 0 for sure won't be slower, right?  I have found a great deal on 256GB SSDs that together are $20 cheaper than any 480 or above.  Maybe I"m being crazy but any little bit of time I can save is fine by me.  Much of what I do is 2 to 3 hour videos in HD.  Not 4k but HD.

Maybe I won't see any difference at all?  I guess I'll find that out.

[mikeklar]

On my workstation I have three 250GB SSDs configured as RAID 0 used solely as a scratch and media cache disk.

Since most of my work is on videos that are not much more than 15 minutes in duration I can’t say if there is any real improvement in editing time.  However, working on videos that are in excess of two hours it should be noticeable.  Where I do see an improvement is in the caching. 

What Ronin may be implying could be there being only a little difference between a single SSD or two configured as RAID 0 when used as a scratch disk.

[ingeborgdot]

So there would possibly be a difference but not much, or something I may not even notice. 

I don't know what to do.  I'm just trying to do it the right way I guess.  This is my first encounter with Adobe products and my first build to accommodate them.  I just don't want to make any mistakes in the hardware setup.

Either way, there will be a noticeable difference over HDD I know after reading and watching videos for hours on the subject.  Not until here though did a I finally get a decent answer to what I was needing to know.  You guys are great.  Thanks so much for your time.

[mikeklar]

Having a SSD drive dedicated as a caching and scratch disk is of benefit.  Making two or more SSDs into a RAID 0 drive for that purpose should, technically, improve editing time, and surely be noticeable when you're working on videos that are two hours in duration.

Where I am able to see a marked improvement over the use of one SSD vs. three in RAID 0 is in caching.  This is particularly noticeable when caching and viewing hundreds of RAW images, as such my workstation is configured for multiple editing uses, not just videos. 

In my opinion, while you may not immediately be aware of any finite improvement, you will benefit by creating a RAID 0 drive for caching.

[ingeborgdot]

Okay, just one more thing.  Will I see significant gains with a raid 0 over a single SSD drive??  Would it save me a lot of hassle to just use one drive?? Thanks again for the help.