What Size Drive for Media Cache?

Hi there,
I'm about to edit a large project (5TB of 4K RED footage and counting) on a laptop and am intending to use the setup below for disks. Ideally I would have gone for a "4 disk" setup, but I've maxed out my eSATA connections and would have to use USB for anything else. If coincidentally you can see any problems with this configuration please let me know!
Disk Setup
C Drive 750GB (OS, Programs)
3x 2TB Drives in eSATA docking stations (Media, Projects)
Second internal hard disk (Previews, Media Cache, Exports)
I'm intending to install a second hard drive in my laptop to use for the  Media Cache. What size/speed drive should be used for this purpose?
Thanks!

barker85 wrote:
Well I needed a field laptop and couldn't afford a new desktop on top of that. Haven't had any problems at all so far - perhaps I'm overlooking something?
Perhaps only that the predominant holy grail on this forum is achieving a high PPBM score, not necessarily edit 4K.
I've worked with 2K and 4K files on very slow machines, and I am not an editor - a systems integrator.  It's being done.
Personally, I wouldn't dedicate a disk or a volume to media cache and DB - I believe that money is better spent on the main media volume's speed and capacity.  People who have done it on modern (not old) systems haven't reported much of a performance boost.  But if you find otherwise, I'd love to hear about it.
In your case, since you don't seem to plan to have a relatively fast main media volume (e.g. an eSATA RAID0), a separate drive for media caching and database may have a performance benefit.  The size of it depends on the size of your projects, how complex your project and timelines are, how much rendering they require.  Usually even a small disk (under 100GB) will do just fine for the purpose; the current "sweet spot" is around 256GB SSD and 500-750GB 7200rpm mechanical drive.

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