Video Editing SSD Capacity & Workflow Planner

1TB vs 2TB NVMe Allocation, RAID-0 & Headroom Simulator
Workflow Presets
Project Parameters
Footage Resolution & Cameras
15 hrs
150 Mbps
3
Generate Editing Proxies Render ProRes / DNxHR lightweight proxy files
Drive Grade / Budget Tier
“Leave working headroom rather than keeping the SSD almost full. SSD write performance tanks when free space drops below 20%.”
Scratch Required
450 GB
Render cache + timeline proxies
Total Headroom
1250 GB
62.5% free on 2TB
Recommended SSD
Single drive or RAID-0
Estimated Cost
$165
Balanced PCIe 4.0 street price
2TB NVMe Internal Partition Model (2,000 GB Capacity) 750 GB Used / 2000 GB
OS & Apps (300 GB)
Scratch (450 GB)
Headroom (1250 GB Free)
OS & Premiere/DaVinci Install (~300 GB)
Cache / Scratch / Active Proxies
Working Headroom (SLC Cache & Wear Buffer)
Architectural Recommendation Validated Quora Bay Standard

2TB NVMe single drive or dual 1TB NVMe in RAID-0 recommended for optimal 4K headroom without bottlenecking USB-3.2/PCIe slots.

Single 1TB NVMe Tight Headroom
Usable Scratch ~700 GB Max
Remaining Free 250 GB (25%)
Read/Write Bandwidth Up to 5,000 MB/s
Bottleneck Risk SLC Cache Drop
Dual 1TB in RAID-0 Peak Speed
Total Capacity 2,000 GB Striped
Sustained Speed ~9,500+ MB/s
PCIe Slots Consumed 2x M.2 Slots
Fault Tolerance Zero (Scratch Only)
Bus Interface Match: PCIe 4.0 NVMe runs at ~7,000 MB/s, whereas external USB-3.2 Gen 2 enclosures bottleneck at ~1,050 MB/s, and mechanical HDDs cap at ~180 MB/s. Never use mechanical HDDs for 4K multicam timeline playback.
Grounded in editing bay practices from Quora: Which is better for video editing, 1TB or 2TB SSD? Local engine • Zero telemetry lag
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