Mac Build Suggestions

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Oct 23, 2010
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Hello,

Need some guidance with regards to building a system that optimizes read/write of video data.

Currently I have an iMac (2009/2010 model) with 16 GB of memory and an i5 Processor. The HD is a standard SATA. I have two external WD passport 2T drives. I currently use Final Cut Pro and a pretty nifty plugin called AV3 Get by Nexidia. Basically, this plugin creates an index of the audio contained in your video/audio files and "guesses" what words that index of sounds contains. Basically its a phonetic search engine. Long story short this plugin tags these files and exports into FCP so that I can chop the files up and re-store them. Problem is all of these read/writes are slow and taking too big of a toll on the drive on which my OS is installed. I don't have any Thunderbolt port (which, I dont even know if they have peripherals like HDs for yet)....I'm considering either:

1. Put an SSD into my current iMac to house just my OS and the video that I am currently manipulating and then write everything out to a network storage. instead of using a SATA external drive using some sort of storage RAID of 4-5 drives that I can frequently read/write from.

2. Sell my iMac (or keep it) and buy a Mac tower and put both an SSD RAID and a SATA RAID in it to read and write from, then purchase something else for backup.

I've done some research (Google) on SSD vs SATA and read/writes etc. I am convinced that SSD is the way to go its just I'm concerned about what the optimal configuration would be. As far as long term storage is concerned I have about 4.5T of data to store permanently when its all said and done. I need something that I can easily read/write to/from (like an external RAID) that is cheap to build and maintain.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated unfortunately COST is a factor for me as I am doing this on my own as a personal project. :$
 
Joined
Jun 17, 2011
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Your Mac's Specs
Mac Pro (2019) 3.3 ghz 12-Core 96GB mem Vega Pro II
The old adage: good, fast, cheap. Pick any 2 definitely applies.
The new Thunderbolt external raid arrays now showing up would be perfect - but they are definitely NOT cheap.
 

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