New PC

[Johnny]

I'm getting a new desktop pc with 256GB SSD and 2TB 7200RPM SATA hard drive. Does anyone know how I would set things up so that I could use the machine best for video editing with Premiere Elements? I remember reading a while back in the forum that it was ideal to have one drive for working on movies and one drive for storing completed files, I believe.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

With a two disc system the basic arrangement would be operating system, Windows work files and programs on the SSD, data files and everything else on the 2TB HDD.

[Steve Grisetti]

My feelings exactly, John.

[Johnny]

Thank you, John and Steve, for confirming the setup. Which drive would it be best to have Premiere Elements use as scratch disk, the SSD or HDD?

Thank you.

[Bob]

The HDD, Johnny.

As John and Steve have indicated, with a two disc system like yours (ssd + hdd), the ssd would be used exclusively for the OS, Windows work files, and installed programs. The hdd would be used for everything else. With Premiere Elements, edit the preferences and set the scratch disk locations to "same as project". That's probably the default. Then, when creating a new project, place the new project in a separate folder on the hdd. You should be good to go.

As for what you remember reading about having one drive for working on movies and one drive for storing completed files, that's ideal if you have a three drive system. One drive (ssd) would be for the OS, one drive (hdd1) would be for your footage and captured files, and one drive (hdd2) would be for your media cache, preview files, and exported files. The key idea here is that you want to avoid reading and writing to the same disk simultaneously which can slow things down.

A two disk system like yours is fine for casual use and typical consumer level projects. If you are doing lots of video projects, especially if they are large, you may want to consider adding a third disk to your system.

[Johnny]

Thank you for your explanation, Bob. It looks like I'm all set with the system configuration.