SSD/Traditional External Hard Drive Formats

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pjanveja Author

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SSD/Traditional External Hard Drive Formats

Hello Everyone,

Hope You All are Well.

I make travel and lifestyle vlogs (YouTube).

I have an M1 Max MacBook Pro, and I have Final Cut Pro (X).

I have a lot of Traditional External Hard Drives, which are in the format Mac OS Extended (Journaled). With the M1 Max, is that still a good format? I was previously using a MacBook Pro 2011.

I have an SSD I use with my iPhone, but I think I eventually should start editing on an SSD as well. Originally, I thought an SSD would be good to backup footage from my iPhone, in case something bad were to happen, but I think I could use it to edit with as well (on the M1 Max). I believe the SSD has the format of exFat. Is that good if I want to use that with the M1 Max?

If I only was going to use an SSD with the M1 Max, what is the preferred format? Is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) good for that as well?

I would want a format that is overall good, without complications, or limits.

The M1 Max capacity is around 1 TB. Should I ideally just edit right on that, or use an external SSD (then transfer all the files to a traditional external hard drive for storage)?

On my MacBook Pro 2011 (with an SSD I had installed), I believe project files were getting saved on the laptop, but the footage was all on an external traditional hard drive, and the final exported video would be saved to another external hard drive.

Finally, if I want to use an SSD Flash Drive to backup footage from my iPhone during Trips, what is the best format for that?

I would really appreciate any help!

Thank You!

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.5

Posted on Apr 28, 2023 04:08 AM

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Answer 1

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pjanveja Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 28, 2023 08:19 PM in response to Ian R. Brown

For the SanDisk SSD Flash Drive, is formatting in APFS better, or Ex Fat? Thanks.

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Answer 2

Apr 28, 2023 05:26 AM in response to pjanveja

> I have a lot of Traditional External Hard Drives

Usually the best format is APFS for SSD and Mac OS Extended (GUID) for old spinning HDDs which work but VERY slow if formatted as APFS.

> exFat

Apple apps like FCP, Photos etc should use APFS or Mac Os Extended. Non-Mac format like FAT or network shares might work but are not recommended and might corrupt the projects.

Only if you want to share finished files to other OSs, is something like exFAT (MBR) recommended (format the disk on a Mac because some Windows options might not be compatible with the macOS). Or maybe use some 3rd party extra to enable also NTFS write but I try to avoid such low-level modifications.

> The M1 Max capacity is around 1 TB. Should I ideally just edit right on that, or use an external SSD (then transfer all the files to a traditional external hard drive for storage)?

I'd do that if the internal disk has enough space (turn off FCP background rendering and delete unused render files to regain space, if needed).

> SSD Flash Drive to backup footage from my iPhone during Trips, what is the best format for that?

AFAIK SSD and USB Flash Drive are somewhat different because SSD is somewhat more reliable and faster. No experience with mobile backups to external because I always import to a Mac and backup from there to SSD/HDD.

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Answer 3

Apr 28, 2023 07:57 AM in response to pjanveja

So would it be okay to keep the traditional external hard drives in Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Yes, old data spinning HDDs can and should use MacOS Extended. ...unless some boot macOS Mojave or later needs APFS.

> and the SSD (regardless of whether I will use it only with the M1 Max, or with both the iPhone and M1 Max) in ExFat?

Use APFS for SSD data volumes for Apple apps like FCP, Photos etc.

... or exFat or FAT for <4GB files (or maybe 3rd party NTFS add-on) for cross-platform delivery or sharing.

> quality of the final exported video?

Data-file quality should not matter. ...unless some rogue 3rd party app intervenes.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253864981?page=1

> Doesn’t APFS have some cons?

Calculating space requirements is fuzzy. Apple does not very much detail its specs or recovery options.

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Answer 4

pjanveja Author

Level 1

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Apr 28, 2023 06:32 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Thank you for the reply! I don’t have a need to use the SSDs/Traditional External Hard Drives with both Windows and Mac, but if I ever need to use Windows, I will just format to something that I can use of both (on a new flash drive/external hard drive).

Is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) okay? I was originally recommended that by someone at an Apple Store.

I wanted to avoid editing on the M1 Max, especially since the SSD cannot be replaced. I would want it to last longer.

What is AFAIK SSD?

Thanks!

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Answer 5

pjanveja Author

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5 points

Apr 28, 2023 06:41 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Thanks for the reply.

So would it be okay to keep the traditional external hard drives in Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and the SSD (regardless of whether I will use it only with the M1 Max, or with both the iPhone and M1 Max) in ExFat?

In any case, does the format of the SSD/External Hard Drive impact the quality of the final exported video?

Doesn’t APFS have some cons?

What about the format of the SSD Flash Drive?

Would you save all files/do all editing right on the laptop, or directly on the SSD? In any case, I would just transfer the files to an external hard drive when completed.

Does a scratch disk need to be saved with Final Cut Pro (like on older versions)? Would I need to just set that on whichever SSD I would use for editing?

If you were using an SSD to do all the editing, as well as using an SSD to backup iPhone videos during a trip (in case something bad happened), would you use the same SSD or 2 SSDs?

Thanks.

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Answer 6

pjanveja Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 28, 2023 10:41 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Thank you for the reply!

I will keep the traditional external hard drives as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

I don’t think the SSD would work with the iPhone if formatted as APFS, so it seems I would need to use a separate SSD while editing (formatted in APFS), and the SSD used with the iPhone would be in ExFat. If the format would with with both the iPhone and the M1 Max, I could use the same SSD. Seems like I will need to use 2. Unless I use the SSD Flash drive with the iPhone, and the SSD with the laptop.

Do SSDs need to be formatted a certain way (or is the process the same like formatting a traditional external hard drive)? I also have to check if it will directly format to APFS.

Thanks.

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Answer 7

pjanveja Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 28, 2023 10:59 AM in response to Matti Haveri

My mistake, APFS/Ex Fat are two formats that will work with iPhone. So if I format the SSD to APFS, I could use it with my iPhone to backup videos, and I can also use it to do editing on the laptop. I just have to make sure there is only one partition, which is not an issue.

For the SSD Flash Drive, would APFS be fine for that, or is Ex Fat safer? Technically, it is a flash drive, but it is a very tiny SSD.

Thank you.

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Answer 8

pjanveja Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 28, 2023 11:06 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I have one of the camera adapters, which I use a dongle with. That connects to a Power source, and the SSD. Using the Files App, I can see the contents of the SSD. I can then copy pics/videos on to the SSD. I thought this would be good for backup, in case something happens to my videos/pics during trips.

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