For Editors, Post Production and IT Geeks

Using Akitio Node TB3 for Cache Storage.

Is there an advantage using fast external storage as your cache destination when video editing with Premiere Pro. If there is, what are they? Over the next few weeks I will be running some Lab tests in preparation for an server install I have being commissioned to do.

My cache set up is: A M2 V-Nand Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512 GB (NVMe) mounted on a Addonics M2 PCIe Adapter installed in a Akitio Node - Thunderbolt 3 model.

My end goal is to see how using this set up with Premiere Pro will speed up renders, multi-cam play back and compositing >4K etc by using this SSD as cache storage. Adobe recommend having your project file on your home drive, media on a 2nd separate fast storage and cache on a third fast storage drive. Some people just edit with all there set to the same drive.

My initial test is to see how best to connect to the external storage.

We can read up the specs of the SSD, M2 NVMe and PCIe 3.0 Interface and know that the theoretical slowest connection in the chain - will be our fastest speed. And pretty much nothing we can do about these speeds other than buy faster components, if they are available.

The next specs to look at, is the Thunderbolt 3 port, which runs up to 40 Gbps. And it is through this port we connect our computers to and can maximise speeds. To do this I ran Blackmagic disk speed tester in four different scenarios.

TEST 1. Looking at the first BMDST image top left - I used my 27" 5K iMac and connected the Akitio Node via Thunderbolt 2 cable daisy chained through 3 hard drives with the Akitio Node at the end of the chain. (There is no TB loop through on the Akitio Node) On the Akitio I used Apple's TB2>TB3 adapter.

Results: Ended up with 6 write No Go's and 2 Read No Go's. (Loop for the x in the screen grab)

TEST 2. Image 2nd from Left. I then connected my iMac directly to the Akitio via TB2 cable and Apple's TB2>TB3 adapter.

Better results - I more than doubled the write speeds and read speeds were about 80% faster.

Results: Only 2 write No Go's

Conclusion - connect your fast storage directly to your computer and not at the end of a daisy chain.

TEST 3. Next, let's move to a computer with Thunderbolt 3 ports.

I connected the Akitio Node to my 15" rMBP with the supplied Akitio TB3 .5m cable.

Results: Image 3 - Only 1 write No Go. Compared to TEST2 - Write speeds up about 20% and read speeds almost doubled. WOW!

TEST 4: Most people say that using your internal PCIe SSD will give you the best results. Yep, I include myself in that statement.

Look at Image 4 on the right.

Results: No No Go's but read speeds are slower that TEST 3's by about 10%. Internal SSD's read speeds are almost double for the 10 bit YUV 422.

Conclusion: In video post production Thunderbolt 3 is the way to go and in Test 1 and 2 Thunderbolt 2 was the throttle.

Next Lab Test I will be doing is adding Lumaforge's Jellyfish server to store the media on and do comparisons with cache on the Jellyfish versus cache on the Akitio SSD.

I welcome comments and suggestions and if there is something else you want me to test, and I can do it, please ask.