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StashRaid

Storage Parameters

Usable Capacity

12 TB

Fault Tolerance

4

Array Resilience

Architecture

RAID 5 • Parity

Fault Tolerance

1 Concurrent Failures Allowed

Current Configuration

RAID 5 (Parity)

12 TB Usable

Total RAW: 16 TB

Disk 01DATA
Disk 02DATA
Disk 03DATA
Disk 04PARITY

Total Drives

4 x 4 TB

Efficiency

75% Utilized

Usable: 12 TBWasted to redundancy: 4 TB

Pros & Cons

  • PRO: Good balance of capacity/speed/safety

  • PRO: Cost-effective redundancy

  • CON: Slower writes due to parity calculation

    This setup prioritizes redundancy but has associated performance or capacity costs.

STORAGE ENGINEERING // VIDEO POST-PRODUCTION

RAID for Video Editing &
Creative Workflows

A practical guide to designing RAID storage for video post-production — from bitrate calculations and drive-count estimation to network topology and shared-studio deployment. No marketing fluff, just the numbers and configurations that actually work in the edit bay.

4K ProRes

~275 MB/s

8K RAW

~3–4.5 GB/s

Sweet Spot

RAID 5 (4+ drives)

Top Perf

Thunderbolt NVMe

Video editing is unique among storage workloads because it cares almost exclusively about sustained sequential throughput rather than random IOPS. When you scrub through a timeline, the NLE issues large sequential reads (1–16 MB chunks) from multiple clips simultaneously. A single 4K ProRes stream saturates ~275 MB/s of read bandwidth; stacking streams for multi-cam or layered compositing multiplies that demand linearly.

Random IOPS matter for scrub/jog responsiveness (small seeks across the timeline), but even a modest 7200 RPM drive delivers enough IOPS for a single editor. The bottleneck is always throughput — which is exactly what RAID striping optimises. This makes video editing one of the best use cases for RAID outside of enterprise databases.

Key Principle

"Video storage is a bandwidth game, not an IOPS game. A single 7200 RPM HDD does ~200 sequential IOPS at 4 MB each ≈ 800 MB/s aggregate — plenty for one editor. But a random workload of 4K IOPS? The same drive manages only ~100 IOPS × 4 KB = 0.4 MB/s. Design for sequential throughput, and use SSD caching to absorb the random portion."

Different codecs and resolutions place dramatically different demands on your storage. ProRes 422 HQ at 4K requires ~275 MB/s; 8K RAW can exceed 4 GB/s. This table gives conservative sustained bitrates for each format and what RAID level handles them:

FormatBitrate1 Stream4+ Streams
1080p ProRes 422 HQ~45 MB/sComfortableNeeds RAID 0/10
4K ProRes 422 HQ~275 MB/sRAID 5 (4+ drives)RAID 10 / 6+ drives
4K ProRes 4444 XQ~500 MB/sRAID 10 / NVMeNVMe RAID / 25GbE
4K RAW (RED/BRAW)~800–1,200 MB/sRAID 10 / Thunderbolt DASNVMe RAID / 25GbE
6K RAW~1.5–2.0 GB/sNVMe RAID 0All-flash fabric
8K RAW~3.0–4.5 GB/sNVMe RAID 0 (4+ drives)Enterprise all-flash

* Bitrates are conservative estimates for real-time playback. Actual values vary by frame rate (23.976 vs 60 fps), colour depth (10-bit vs 12-bit), and codec flavour.

Not all RAID levels are created equal for video. The write penalty is the critical differentiator: RAID 5 writes consume 4 I/Os per write (read + XOR + write × 2), while RAID 10 writes consume 2 I/Os. Modern hardware RAID controllers with 1–2 GB of cache absorb this penalty for most workloads, but software RAID (mdadm, ZFS, Storage Spaces) exposes it directly.

LevelDrivesReadWriteProtectionUse Case
RAID 02+Excellent (N×)Excellent (N×)NoneScratch / Proxy cache / Transcode temp
RAID 53+Great (~(N-1)×)Good (~(N-1)× 60%)Single-drive★ Best for 4K single-editor
RAID 64+Good (~(N-2)×)Fair (~(N-2)× 50%)Dual-driveLarge NAS arrays
RAID 104+ (even)Excellent (N/2×)Excellent (N/2×)Single per mirrorMulti-stream / Budget allows
RAID 506+ (even)GreatGoodSingle per stripeLarge media archives
Best Value

RAID 5 (4–6 drives)

The sweet spot: ~75% usable capacity, great read speed, single-drive redundancy. Ideal for 4K single-editor.

Best Performance

RAID 10 (4+ drives)

Highest throughput and no parity CPU overhead. Costs 50% of raw capacity. Worth it for multi-stream raw.

Use With Caution

RAID 0 (scratch only)

Zero redundancy — one failure loses everything. Acceptable only for proxy caches or transcode temps that can be regenerated.

Given a target sustained throughput and a drive type, you can estimate the minimum drive count. The formula is simple:

Throughput ≈ Drives × DriveSpeed × EfficiencyFactor

HDD (7200 RPM CMR)

~180–220 MB/s per drive

  • • RAID 5: N - 1 × 200 × 0.85
  • • RAID 10: N/2 × 200 × 0.95
  • • 4K ProRes (275 MB/s): 4 drives in RAID 5
  • • 4K RAW (1.2 GB/s): 8+ drives in RAID 5/6

NVMe SSD

~3,000–7,000 MB/s per drive

  • • RAID 5: N - 1 × 3500 × 0.85
  • • RAID 0: N × 3500 (for scratch)
  • • 8K RAW (4 GB/s): 2 NVMe in RAID 0
  • • Multi-edit 8K: 4 NVMe in RAID 10
Example: You need 1.5 GB/s for multi-stream 6K RAW editing. With 7200 RPM HDDs (200 MB/s each): RAID 10 → 1,500 / (200 × 0.95) × 2 = ~16 drives. With NVMe (3,500 MB/s each): RAID 5 → 1,500 / (3,500 × 0.85) + 1 = just 2 drives. The upfront cost of NVMe is higher per GB, but the density and performance are transformative.

The connection between your storage and your workstation is often the bottleneck — not the drives themselves. Here's how the topologies compare:

Thunderbolt 3/4 DAS

~2,500–3,000 MB/s

Lowest latency (~3 μs). Ideal for single-editor raw workflows. Daisy-chain up to 6 devices. Best-in-class for direct-attach.

10GbE NAS

~1,000–1,200 MB/s

Daisy-chain topology to shared storage. Higher latency (~100 μs). Supports multi-editor access. 25GbE pushes to ~3,000 MB/s.

Direct NVMe (M.2/U.2)

~3,500–14,000 MB/s

Lowest latency (~2 μs) via PCIe 4.0/5.0 lanes. Max performance. Limited capacity (2–8 TB per slot). For active projects only.

Latency Comparison

Direct NVMe
~2 μs
Thunderbolt 3/4
~3 μs
10GbE (RDMA)
~50 μs
10GbE (TCP/IP)
~100 μs

The filesystem you format your RAID with matters more than most guides admit. Different platforms and workflows impose different constraints:

macOS

APFS (recommended) / Mac OS Extended (HFS+)

  • • APFS supports sparse files, snapshots, and cloning
  • • Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is still fine for HDD RAID
  • • Avoid APFS on network volumes (SMB/NFS) — use HFS+
  • • macOS does not support ReFS, XFS, or ZFS natively

Windows

NTFS (standard) / ReFS (advanced)

  • • NTFS: universal, stable, maximum compatibility
  • • ReFS: better integrity, faster parity rebuilds on Storage Spaces
  • • 64 KB cluster size recommended for large video files
  • • Pro tip: disable 8.3 filename creation on media volumes

Shared Storage

ZFS / XFS

  • • ZFS: built-in compression (lz4), dedup, snapshots
  • • ZFS: ARC + L2ARC read cache transforms HDD RAID
  • • XFS: excellent for large files on TrueNAS/Synology
  • • Both support 1 MB+ record sizes for video throughput

Stripe Size Matters

For video workloads, set your RAID stripe size to 256 KB or 1 MB. A larger stripe ensures individual video frames fit within a single stripe, reducing read-modify-write cycles. Filesystems should also use matching allocation units: 64 KB-1 MB cluster/record sizes align with the RAID stripe and eliminate write amplification.

Shared storage is where RAID meets networking. The goal: multiple editors, colourists, and VFX artists all reading/writing the same footage pool without stepping on each other.

NFS vs SMB for Video

NFS (v3/v4)

Lower overhead, better for raw throughput. Preferred on Linux/TrueNAS. NFS v4.2 adds server-side copy, labelling, and sparse file support. macOS NFS has quirks — use "resvport" mount option.

SMB (3.0+)

Best cross-platform compatibility (Windows + macOS + Linux). SMB 3.0 adds multichannel (bonds NICs), RDMA (SMB Direct), and encryption. Slower than NFS on the same hardware — but much easier to set up.

The Proxy Workflow

For multi-editor shared storage, the standard approach is a proxy workflow:

  1. Ingest source media (RAW/ProRes) to the shared RAID/NAS
  2. Transcode proxy files (H.264 1080p at 10–50 Mb/s) — store these on fast local NVMe or RAID 0
  3. Editors cut with proxies — storage requirements drop 10-50×
  4. On lock, relink to source media for colour/finishing
  5. Only the online/colour suite needs full-bandwidth access to source RAID
Result: 10 editors can share a single 10GbE NAS if they're cutting proxies

Network bandwidth for video is straightforward to estimate — but most people get the formula wrong by forgetting overhead and concurrency:

Required BW = Bitrate × Concurrent Streams × 1.5

(1.5× overhead accounts for protocol headers, retransmits, and SMB/NFS framing)

WorkflowFormulaRequired BWNetwork
1× 4K ProRes275 × 1 × 1.5~413 Mb/s *1GbE sufficient
3× 4K ProRes275 × 3 × 1.5~1.24 Gb/s10GbE recommended
1× 4K RAW1,200 × 1 × 1.5~1.8 Gb/s10GbE minimum
3× 4K RAW1,200 × 3 × 1.5~5.4 Gb/s25GbE / Dual 10GbE
1× 8K RAW4,500 × 1 × 1.5~6.75 Gb/s25GbE / Thunderbolt DAS

* Mb/s = megabits per second. Storage is typically measured in MB/s (megabytes). 1 GB/s = 8 Gb/s. 10GbE is ~1,250 MB/s theoretical max, ~1,000 MB/s real-world.

Real-world tip: If your switch doesn't support jumbo frames (9,000 MTU), throughput will drop ~15-20% for large video transfers. Enable jumbo frames on all endpoints and on the switch. For macOS, also set sysctl net.inet.tcp.delayed_ack=0 for NFS mounts.

Based on real-world experience in post-production environments, here are three proven configurations for different budget and scale tiers:

SOLO EDITOR

Budget 4K Rig

  • • OWC ThunderBay 4 (4-bay RAID)
  • • 4× 8–12 TB WD Red Pro (CMR) in RAID 5
  • • Thunderbolt 4 connection
  • • ~24 TB usable, ~600 MB/s
  • • + 1 TB NVMe internal for proxy cache
≈ $1,800–$2,200
SMALL TEAM ★BEST SELLER

Synology 10GbE NAS

  • • Synology DS1823xs+ or DS1821+
  • • 8× 16 TB Seagate IronWolf Pro (CMR)
  • • RAID 6 (dual parity for safety)
  • • 10GbE NIC (Synology E10G18-T1)
  • • 2× NVMe SSD cache (read + write)
  • • ~80 TB raw, ~60 TB usable
  • • ~900 MB/s read / ~500 MB/s write
≈ $4,500–$5,500
PRODUCTION HOUSE

DIY TrueNAS 25GbE

  • • Supermicro X13 or ASRock Rack mobo
  • • 12× 20 TB WD Gold / Seagate Exos
  • • ZFS RAID-Z2 (dual parity)
  • • 25GbE Mellanox ConnectX-4 Lx
  • • 256 GB ECC RAM + 2 TB Optane ZIL
  • • 4 TB NVMe L2ARC read cache
  • • ~240 TB raw, ~180 TB usable
  • • ~3,000 MB/s sustained
≈ $12,000–$18,000
All configurations use CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording) drives only. SMR drives are not suitable for active video editing — their write performance collapses under sustained load.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, absolutely — RAID 5 is the most common recommendation for single-editor 4K workflows. With four or more drives, RAID 5 delivers 300–800 MB/s sequential read, which comfortably exceeds the ~275 MB/s needed for 4K ProRes 422 HQ. The parity calculation overhead adds ~15-20% write penalty, but since video editing is typically read-heavy during timeline playback, this is rarely a bottleneck. For multi-stream 4K or compressed raw formats (e.g., RED, BRAW), step up to RAID 5 with 6+ drives or move to RAID 10.
This depends entirely on your network fabric and RAID throughput. A 10GbE-connected NAS with 6× 10K or SSD drives in RAID 6 can sustain roughly 500–700 MB/s. With 4K ProRes 422 HQ at ~275 MB/s per stream, you can support 2–3 editors cutting concurrently before saturation. The real bottleneck is usually random-read IOPS during scrubbing and timeline jogging — SSDs in a read cache pool (ZFS L2ARC or Synology SSD cache) dramatically improve multi-user responsiveness. For 3+ simultaneous editors, plan for 25GbE networking and an all-flash or hybrid pool.
Proxies are lower-bitrate files (often H.264 at 10–50 Mb/s), so they place almost no demand on storage performance. RAID 0 is safe and effective for proxy caches — if a drive fails, you only lose your proxy cache (which can be regenerated from source media). However, the most popular approach is to store proxies alongside source media on the same RAID 5/6 array or on a dedicated NVMe scratch volume. The key insight: proxy workflows shift the performance burden from the RAID to the CPU/GPU during the transcode step, not to the storage layer.
Direct Attached Storage (Thunderbolt 3/4 or USB4) wins on pure performance, offering 2,500–3,000 MB/s with low latency — ideal for single-editor 6K/8K raw workflows. Network Attached Storage (10GbE+) wins on collaboration and flexibility, allowing multiple editors, colourists, and VFX artists to access the same footage simultaneously. For a solo editor cutting 4K or below, DAS is simpler and faster per dollar. For a team of 3+, NAS is mandatory. Many post-production houses use a hybrid: Thunderbolt DAS for local scratch/cache and a 10GbE NAS for shared media and archiving.
Yes, and with modern RAID controllers and filesystems this is standard practice. Direct-to-RAID editing is the norm for DAS (Thunderbolt RAID) and well-configured NAS (10GbE) setups. Key considerations: always format your video RAID with a stripe size equal to or larger than your typical file access size (256 KB or 1 MB stripe is common for video), ensure your controller has enough cache (1 GB+ for RAID 5/6), and never use SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) drives for active editing — they tank under sustained writes. CMR/PMR drives only.
RAID // VIDEO GUIDE

This guide covers real-world configurations for 2024–2025. Storage technology evolves quickly — always benchmark your specific workflow before committing to a RAID level or network topology. When in doubt, more spindles and 10GbE networking are rarely a mistake.