Benefits of an RAID in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6

Adobe Premiere Pro is highly dependent on the speed of your storage media. You will enjoy better performance and fewer dropped frames if you use multiple drives to spread the work load. At a minimum, you should consider a two-drive system, with one drive containing your operating system, software, and media cache, while the other is used for your source files, previews, and final exported renders. Preferred is a four-drive system, with one dedicated to the operating system and software, the second for source media and project files, the third for the media cache, and the fourth for previews and exports.

To play back digital cinema files or multiple streams of HD (High Definition) video files without dropped frames or other interruptions, you should consider a RAID. A RAID can be used in lieu of additional drives for every thing except your operating system and software. To give an example of performance, a RAID system with four 7200 RPM drives can play back:

• 4 streams of 1080i AVCintra footage
• 6 streams of 1080p H.264 Canon SD footage
• 8 streams of RED 4k R3D files
• 14 streams of 1080i XDCA M EX, 1080p DVCPROHD, or 1080i HDV
• 40 streams of DV NTSC

(In addition to file size demands, different codecs require differing amounts of processing power to decode and play back in real time. That's why so many more streams of DVCPROHD can be played back than Canon SD H.264 footage.)