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Author Topic: Workflow help needed ( Mac Pro with internal SSD and External HDD )  (Read 39525 times)

galupi20

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Hi. My new Mac Pro late 2013 ( Quad Core, 16 Gb RAM , SSD 500 GB ) is coming with a WD 2 TB

HDD to use as a external HDD. I will use it mainly for photo editing ( large D800 Raw files ) with

Photoshop and Lightroom ( for printing only )

Can you tell which of the two procedures will be the best to obtain optimal performance ?

1) Use the SSD to import my photos, process locally and then save them off to WD external HDD

2) Transfer files to external HDD and edit them while they sit on that drive, connected via usb 3.0.

Thanks a lot

Luis
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BobShaw

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Do all of your storage and editing on the external drives. The SSD should be just for OS and apps.
I don't print from editing programmes. I just drag a TIFF onto Mirage Print and find it a lot more successful.
bob
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Christopher Sanderson

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Buy a Thunderbolt 2 drive - you will not regret it -USB 3 is rather pokey by comparison. As for workflow/storage, I agree with BobShaw.

galupi20

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Bob and Chris, Thanks a lot for your answers.  A Lacie 256GB Rugged USB 3.0 / Thunderbolt SSD is on my list now to edit my pictures there until Thunderbolt 2 price drop.

Luis
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george2787

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Re: Workflow help needed ( Mac Pro with internal SSD and External HDD )
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2014, 04:35:15 pm »

Bob and Chris, Thanks a lot for your answers.  A Lacie 256GB Rugged USB 3.0 / Thunderbolt SSD is on my list now to edit my pictures there until Thunderbolt 2 price drop.

Luis

I'd get a normal SSD and a good case for that, you will probably get higer speed at lower price ;)

P.S: I don't see a backup strategy in your workflow...
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pcgpcg

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Re: Workflow help needed ( Mac Pro with internal SSD and External HDD )
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2014, 11:36:09 pm »

P.S: I don't see a backup strategy in your workflow...

I use a Vantec NexStar USB 3.0 cloning and docking station.  In normal use it docks a 2TB HDD and is connected to my desktop PC via a USB cable.  PS and LR are on my internal drive and external HDD access speed is adequate for what I do.  After a big project and at least once a week I disconnect the docking station from the PC (necessary for the standalone cloning feature to work), plug in a second 2TB drive, and punch the switch to start cloning.  It takes a couple hours so I do it overnight.  Not the best backup strategy because it's not automatic, but it allows me to take my files with me when I travel with a laptop.
The reason I went this route is that the cloning feature also allows me to keep a clone of my internal drive which has my OS (Win 7) and programs.  I only clone this when I add or update software.  This way if my desktop ever has a hard disk crash, I can literally be back up and running in less than a minute - the time it takes to replace either my internal or external drive with its clone.
A better backup strategy would probably be to keep the second external drive always docked and, instead of periodically using it to clone my other drive, use some backup software to do automatic backups on it in almost realtime , but I haven't taken the time to set that up yet.
« Last Edit: July 23, 2014, 12:58:39 am by pcgpcg »
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davidgp

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Re: Workflow help needed ( Mac Pro with internal SSD and External HDD )
« Reply #6 on: August 06, 2014, 10:23:32 am »

Bob and Chris, Thanks a lot for your answers.  A Lacie 256GB Rugged USB 3.0 / Thunderbolt SSD is on my list now to edit my pictures there until Thunderbolt 2 price drop.

Luis

Well, if you are not going to be using any multiple disk thunderbolt enclosure or external PCI Express thurderbolt disk, the advantage of an SSD disk with thunderbolt vs USB3 is minimal if any.

You need to buy and USB3 enclosure that supports UASP protocol (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-3-uas-turbo,3215-4.html ), and you will get around 400 MB/sec read and write to the disk ( http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1399775 ), major drawback, no TRIM support. The Inateck enclure cost less that 20 dollars in Amazon, plus and Samsung EVO or Crucial MX100 SSD drive and you will get those speeds (makes no sense to go for top of the line SSD, you are not going to see better speeds like 500MB/sec to 600 MB/sec that it is the top of SATA II). For 200$ you will get a 512 MB, it is not rugged but since you are connecting it to a Mac Pro I'm assuming that you will not be moving it around and you get same speed or bit higher for half of the price http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2460576,00.asp .

Again, unless you go multiple disk or some PCI Express over thunderbolt solution, you just paid more for the thunderbolt controller. Multiple disk solutions will allow you to go over the 600 MB/sec barrier (if you use SSDs... )

P.D.: Beware that not all USB3 Hubs like for example the Thunderbolt of Belkin that has an usb 3 hub on it, some of them not allow or UASP protocol or maximum USB 3 bandwith. Belkin caps the speed of USB 3 to 2.5Gbps instead of the 5Gbps of the USB3 ports in your Mac Pro.

Regards,

David
« Last Edit: August 06, 2014, 10:25:46 am by davidgp »
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