Final Cut Pro slowing, beachballing, freezing, sometimes crashing... (new M2 Mini external hard drive)

The report looks ok.

I would not install the WD software, as it is not needed, but you don't have any of the known bad actors that could affect FCP.

It all comes down to the library and the drive.

First, you absolutely should have a backup.

Very big libraries cause slowdowns and run the risk of getting corrupted.

If you can afford one, getting an external SSD will make a big difference.

There is a chance you can even make do with a 500GB one - though 1TB would be great.

You could repurpose your existing HD as a backup.

To get a feel for how great FCP really works in your mac, try disconnecting the HD, make a new library in your internal drive, add a few clips and a test project. I bet there is no beachball and everything just flows smoothly.

One you do this test, you should probably be convinced that there is nothing wrong with your mac, it is perfectly capable and the issue, as said before, is with the library and/or the external drive.

Even if you can't go with an external SSD, there are things we can try in order to alleviate the problem.

Just to add to what Luis said. 600G is way , way to big for a library. It means you have have a huge amount of video stored inside the library, including render files, and maybe optimized and proxies. Of your working with that much media it needs to be stored externally, outside the drive. Have you been working with this library for a long time? Is this one very large, ongoing production, or can it be split into multiple libraries?

Try creating a new Library on the WD.

If it works OK the problem would appear to be something in the old Library.

Your existing Library is quite big and I suspect that could be due to numerous render files so delete all your render files.

Select the Library and then File>Delete Generated Library Files.

Nice work, Ian!

On the subject of HD vs SSD: yes, one can edit off of an HDD, but the OP having a 600GB large library puts things in a different perspective, I'd think. It is one thing to do short projects, large ones with a lot of media pose different demands on one's system. Plus, nowadays the cost of one 1TB SSD is accessible enough, and one can easily do one big project, then copy things off for archival and reuse.

Thank you for posting the Etrecheck report. I will look into it.

To start off, a 600GB library in an old rotating hard drive is probably at least a big part of the problem.

It is surely a bottleneck.

I will look at the report and will come back.

Am I correct in thinking the problem only occurs when you are using the WD?

Your WD seems to be FAT32 which should not normally cause problems, though would probably be better formatted APFS.

When you format a drive it is important to use the correct Partition Map for the formatting method?

Did you have problems with your previous computer and were you using the WD?

One other point . . . the HDD I used for that video and most of my work is a 9 year old Seagate 1TB portable 2.5 inch spinning at 5,400rpm.

I have got desktop 3.5 inch HDDs spinning at 7,200rpm but find that not only are the portable ones more than adequate, they are infinitely more convenient.

So I am not even using the theoretically "best" USB 3.0 HDDs and yet I never get any slowdowns or beachballing . . . except for 2 occasions when I had a corrupted 4K clip . . . nothing to do with the HDD.

I have also done large projects with no problems. Currently my largest Library (with no render files) is around 50GB and I have 65 more libraries on that 1TB HDD, though they are obviously not 50GB in size!

I would never need a 600GB Library which I think is probably the root of the OP's problems.

I'm not advocating everyone should use USBs, I'm just demonstrating that many editors could use them successfully.

Obviously if you are creating a 2 hour Hollywood blockbuster with hundreds of hours of composited footage you might find USB gasping a little.

I have acquired 3 SSDs over the past 5 years, mainly because I thought it would be nice to have the latest technology and partly because of your influence but I never use them apart from as a quick means of transferring very large files from one computer to another . . . a bit of a waste really . . . I don't recollect ever using one to edit a film. I had fun testing them with the BM Disk Speed Test and seeing the high numbers . . . knowing they were there if necessary but I have never needed them.

Don't fall into the trap of assuming that throwing money at a problem will cure it.

There is nothing at all wrong with USB 3.0 technology used for editing and your HDD is probably fine.

The trouble is almost certainly due to the way you are using it as suggested earlier.

I have got 3 SSD drives but I always use my USB 3.0s for editing as they are cheap, huge and perfectly fast enough. For years I used USB 2.0 HDDs for editing 1080p videos with no problems. My SSDs of course are much faster but I have never found the need for the extra speed.

The problems you detail are in no way connected to USB 3.0 technology.

I regularly use 5 tracks of composited green screened video and multiple audio tracks on my 2017 iMac (8GB RAM) and USB 3.0 HDD with ease.

The computer plays the relatively complex 1080p tracks back flawlessly without rendering and exports in around half the film's runtime.

To give an example of what can be done using USBs, here is a short "blockbuster" video I made for fun over Easter with my grandson. The iMac and USB 3.0 HDD sped through the editing, the only thing slowing me down being the speed of my brain!

The original was edited in 1080p with some 4K footage but the finished article was uploaded to YouTube as 720p because I have a slow internet connection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HetsfwB6Hcs

SORRY! Just seen you have already done it.