Video editing places heavy demands on computer storage, with raw video footage quickly consuming disk space. This leads many to wonder if a dedicated hard drive is required for video editing, or if a regular laptop or desktop hard drive will suffice.
Quick Answers
Here are quick answers to common questions about hard drive needs for video editing:
- Yes, you typically need an external or internal hard drive for video editing beyond basic trimming. Video files are very large and will quickly fill up a laptop or desktop computer’s primary storage.
- For professional or advanced video editing, an external SSD (Solid State Drive) is recommended for optimal speed and performance.
- For hobbyists or basic editing, an external HDD (Hard Disk Drive) is fine as a more budget-friendly option.
- The minimum hard drive size for video editing depends on your editing needs. For short 1080p clips, 250GB may be enough. For professional use, 2TB or more is recommended.
- You’ll also want sufficient RAM (at least 8GB) and a modern multicore processor for smooth video editing.
Why You Need Additional Storage for Video Editing
Let’s dig deeper into why most video editors require dedicated internal or external hard drives beyond the primary system drive.
Video Files Are Extremely Large
Even short video clips shot on a smartphone can be hundreds of megabytes in size. For example:
- A 1 minute 4K video shot on an iPhone = 375MB
- A 5 minute 1080p video from a DSLR = 1.8GB
- A 10 minute video from a high-end video camera = 5GB+
Professional cameras shooting ultra HD or RAW video produce enormous files, often hundreds of gigabytes for a single project. This quickly fills up laptop or desktop hard drives, which often max out at 1-2TB for consumer models.
You’ll Need Room for Original Footage
When editing video, you’ll need room for the original, uncompressed footage files. These are huge, high-quality files straight from the camera. You don’t want to edit these files directly, as rewriting the originals degrades quality.
Instead, you make trimmed and optimized copies for editing. This requires drive space for both the original footage and editing copies. An hour of RAW 4K video can require 5TB or more just for the source files.
You’ll Create Large Render Files
As you edit your clips together, apply effects, transitions and more, your editing software has to render previews and a final output file. These render files are again very large, since they involve processing multiple high-res sources into a complete video.
A short 10 minute highly edited 4K video could need 50-100GB or more of drive space for rendering alone. This further compounds storage needs.
You May Use Drive-Intensive Software
Advanced video editing suites like Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro require powerful drives with fast read/write speeds to function smoothly. Large files have to load instantly when scrubbing the timeline and rendering previews. Slow drives lead to choppy previews and slow export times.
If your primary system drive is nearly full already, these video editing apps will thrash it relentlessly leading to poor performance.
Hard Drive Options for Video Editing
Once you know you need dedicated extra storage, what are your hard drive options? There are a few good choices:
External SSD
An external solid state drive (SSD) connected via Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 is the best option for video editing. SSDs have no moving parts, so they have exceptionally fast read/write speeds. This enables smooth scrubbing and previewing of high-res media.
Look for a 500GB minimum capacity, though 1-2TB+ is better for professional use. The downside is higher SSD cost per gigabyte compared to traditional hard drives.
External Hard Disk Drive
External HDDs (hard disk drives) with USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt connectivity are a more budget-friendly solution. HDD capacities often range from 1-5TB at reasonable prices. Data transfer is nearly as fast as an SSD.
The tradeoff is that HDDs rely on moving platters, heads and motors, so they aren’t quite as blazing fast for intensive applications like video editing. But for prosumers and hobbyists, an external HDD offers plenty of capacity without breaking the bank.
Internal hard drive or SSD
Another option is adding an internal SATA SSD or HDD to a desktop computer. This avoids the need for an external drive and transfers data over the faster SATA interface rather than USB. Just ensure your computer has spare drive bays and SATA ports.
Installing a higher capacity drive as your new primary system drive is also a possibility. This provides both OS and storage on the same faster, higher capacity drive. Just be sure to migrate your OS and files from any previous drive.
RAID Array
For professional editors, a RAID array offers both immense capacity and blazing speeds. This involves linking multiple internal drives together via a RAID controller. This can provide 1TB+, ultra-fast storage pools for handling enormous video projects.
RAID 0 stripes data across drives for pure speed. But you’ll want RAID 5 or 10 for redundancy in case of drive failure. RAID systems are complex to setup and costly, but provide excellent performance for intensive video editing needs.
| Drive Type | Speed | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| External SSD | Fastest | Expensive $$$ |
| External HDD | Fast | Reasonable $$ |
| Internal SSD/HDD | Very Fast | Cheap $ |
| RAID Array | Blazing | Expensive $$$ |
Minimum Hard Drive Size for Video Editing
So what’s the bare minimum hard drive size you can get away with for editing video? It depends on a few factors:
- Resolution and quality: 1080p clips are much smaller than 4K. RAW footage requires vast amounts of space compared to compressed formats.
- Video length: The longer your source clips, the bigger drive you’ll need.
- Editing software: Some programs require scratch disks and large render files.
- Effects and transitions: The more you enhance and edit, the larger your project files.
With all that in mind, here are some general guidelines on minimum hard drive size for video editing:
- 1080p basic editing – 250GB
- 1080p moderate editing – 500GB
- 4K basic editing – 500GB
- 4K moderate editing – 1TB
- 4K advanced editing – 2TB+
- RAW video editing – 5TB+
For professional editors working on high-res projects with lots of effects, 2TB is a good starting point. 5TB desktop drives are popular for holding a large quantity of RAW footage files. And many pros opt for even larger RAID 0 arrays scaling up to 10TB or more of total space.
Tips for Hard Drive Setup
Follow these tips for optimizing your hard drive setup for video editing:
- Use SSDs for OS, programs, project files and scratch disks
- Use HDDs for source footage and archives
- Divide workflow across multiple drives for speed
- Leave at least 25% drive space free to avoid slowdowns
- Work off an external drive if your laptop has limited space
- Back up projects frequently to avoid data loss
- Use RAID 1/5/10 for redundancy and backups
- Encrypt sensitive footage if desired
The key is separating OS and footage drives, maintaining free space, and having redundant backups in case of equipment failure.
Conclusion
Hard drives are a fundamental component of any video editing setup. While basic trimming can be done on a laptop’s primary drive, serious editing requires dedicated external storage. External SSDs provide the best performance thanks to fast read/write speeds. But HDDs are more budget-friendly options with higher capacities. For pro editors, RAID arrays offer robust storage and speeds.
Carefully consider your specific video editing needs in terms of drive speed, redundancy, and capacity. Investing in quality storage pays dividends in the long run for smooth editing workflows and expanded creative options.