A RAM disk question for transcoding. Not using DVR / Recording

Plex Media Server
1

Hi, I’m reading I can avoid wear and tear on the SSD by allowing transcoding to happen on a RAM disk.

I’ve got 32GB system memory on Mac silicon. I don’t use the DVR functionality. I’m not worried about system performance.

The [Transcoder article](https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250347-transcoder/#:~:text=The%20directory%20used%20(whether%20default,of%20the%20transcode%20plus%20100MB.) says I need “The directory used (whether default or not) needs sufficient free space, roughly equal to the size of the source file of the transcode plus 100MB.”

So if I’m watching a big 4K file (say 50GB) I would need 50GB of space on the RAM disk? I think I read somewhere else that Plex transcodes a minute’s worth of video at a time, so maybe up to 500MB or so per minute for a higher bitrate file, but that would be less than 50GB obviously.

I’m wondering if I set aside 4GB, would that be “adequate”. Usually just one system user at a time, potentially up to 3 at a time but that never happens.

Thanks!

2

In my experience, the “size of the source file of the transcode plus 100MB” guidance is not always true. I did a test where I did tone mapping of multiple 4k HDR streams on a Linux server with 8 GB RAM and it worked fine. Each stream used about 700 MB of the ramdisk.

I say just try it and see what happens. You can always change your mind.

1 Like
3

I’m on unRAID and tried a 4GB RAM disk, it worked most of the time but occasionally would fail saying not enough space.

So I went back to using my SSD to save the hassle.

4

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.