Clipping is a storage-heavy habit
A single long recording can be several gigabytes, and you may keep dozens of sources plus every export. Storage is the quiet constraint that catches clippers off guard: the machine fills up, a project stalls, and footage gets deleted in a panic — sometimes the footage you later wish you had kept.
Working files versus the archive
The useful distinction is between files you are actively editing and files you are keeping. Active files want fast local storage — an internal drive or a quick external one — because editing off slow storage is painful. The archive wants capacity and safety more than speed, which is what cloud storage and cheaper external drives are for.
Keeping the two separate stops your fast working drive from filling with material you rarely touch.
The rule that prevents disasters
Anything you cannot re-download or recapture should exist in more than one place. Source footage from a live session, an original recording, an approved final cut — one copy is not a backup. A second copy on a different drive or in the cloud is cheap insurance against the failure that eventually happens to every drive.
Managing the library so you can find things
Storage is also about retrieval. A consistent folder structure — by creator, by date, by project — is the difference between finding a source in seconds and re-scrubbing an hour of footage. The tool matters less than the habit of naming and filing as you go.