1TB INTERN. FUSION DRIVE OR 1TB EXTERN. DRIVE?

[Lowe Lilliehorn]

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the big caps, but I really need some advice regarding iMac.
You see, I am currently working on a MacBook Pro 2015 without dedicated graphics in Final Cut Pro and I'm editing large 4k files with 60fps. Doesn't not cooperate good at all. First second or two is working good, but then the lag starts to kick in. Its impossible.

Now, I want to go to iMac, specifically iMac 27" 5K with Radeon Pro 570X - 4 GB gddr5 and 8 gb of RAM which I will manually upgrade to 32 gb myself. The question is:
I have 1TB external drive (SAMSUNG T5) which have been my bootable drive for a while now- connected to USB3- which has been working great.

Can I buy an iMac with 1TB of fusion drive and connect my Samsung T5 (1TB EXTERNAL) and and use it as a bootable disk and work with my films? I don't want to get fusion drive due to its poor performance. I mean, there is 350$ for an internal 512 gb SSD, but why, when I have an external 1TB at home?

Thanks!
Lowe

 

[redfirebird08]

You can definitely use the external SSD as a boot drive with iMac. How about an internal 256 gig SSD mixed with your external SSD? That's the setup I have with my iMac. I would not want any moving parts on the storage inside the computer. Fusion drive is gonna have a spinning element to it. If you have a 100% SSD on the inside, even if it's only 256 gigs, at least you don't have to worry about noise and whatever else from the spinning drive.

 

[Juicy Box]

Can I buy an iMac with 1TB of fusion drive and connect my Samsung T5 (1TB EXTERNAL) and and use it as a bootable disk and work with my films?

Yes, this shouldn't be a problem at all. Actually, depending on the OS you have currently installed on your T5, it should be as simple as plugging it into your new iMac, start it up, and hold in alt/option during start up, select your external drive and boot up.

You have lots of potential uses for your Fusion Drive:

You can use it as a Time Machine back up.
Use cloning SW such as CCC and create a bootable back up that gets updated on a schedule.
Use the Fusion Drive to hold old versions of the OS as major updates come out.
Split Fusion Drive into a SSD and a HDD, use them as scratch disks. Although, the SSD will only be 32GB.
Use the really fast internal SSD and create a super fast Fusion Drive with an external SSD.
Combinations of the various things above.
etc.

A bunch of uses for the Fusion Drive, but I would consider spending the extra amount and get the really fast 256GB SSD.

I mean, there is 350$ for an internal 512 gb SSD, but why, when I have an external 1TB at home?

I personally would spend $100 and get the 256GB SSD.

Why?

Because it will be very fast, a lot faster than your T5 drive (IIRC, the T5 is mSATA @SATA III speeds). Apple's internal SSD could be over 4 times faster than your T5.

Even if you do not use the internal SSD as a boot drive, you can use it like a scratch disk to do your work on.

You can also do a lot of the things I mentioned above, like create your own Fusion Drive using the 256GB or 512GB internal SSD and an external SSD.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
" I am currently working on a MacBook Pro 2015 without dedicated graphics in Final Cut Pro and I'm editing large 4k files with 60fps. Doesn't not cooperate good at all. First second or two is working good, but then the lag starts to kick in. Its impossible."

An important question:
Before editing, when you imported the clips, did you choose the option to "create proxy media"?
If not, go back to square one and start over using this option.
Then come back and tell us if it made a difference.

Creating proxy media is one of the most important steps you can take when editing 4k.

 

[Lowe Lilliehorn]

OP wrote:
" I am currently working on a MacBook Pro 2015 without dedicated graphics in Final Cut Pro and I'm editing large 4k files with 60fps. Doesn't not cooperate good at all. First second or two is working good, but then the lag starts to kick in. Its impossible."

An important question:
Before editing, when you imported the clips, did you choose the option to "create proxy media"?
If not, go back to square one and start over using this option.
Then come back and tell us if it made a difference.

Creating proxy media is one of the most important steps you can take when editing 4k.

Nah, Im not using proxy, but 4k 30 is working pretty awesome to be honest, just bought an iMac 5k 27" and ended up with 512 gb SSD