GE AR . FAST STORAGE
Beyond that, we encounter storage that’s attached over a network, or we can pile disks into a big rack-mounted computer case and build a workstation with lots of built-in storage. That’s cost-effective, as the disks can be bought at commodity prices – here, Western Digital can help you again – and while there’s some propeller- headery involved in setting it all up, it’s effective. Of course, all of this just gives us an unfiltered place to put files, which is fine, but at some point we need some sort of asset management system. That tends to arise when we’re working in a big facility with a competent IT team, so we’ll leave it there. In the end, we’re only generating these massive bucketfuls of data because of hugely capable flash storage, and that exists only because it’s useful to a million industries beyond film and TV. Whether or not things keep getting easier, though, doesn’t really depend on continued improvements in flash. It depends on whether we keep pushing for ever more resolution and frame rate, so that our appetites for storage keep up with ongoing developments in storage devices. So, 16K anyone?
suggests they would survive a war zone into the bargain. GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS For anyone needing the speed of flash and capacity of spinning metal, there’s the option to cluster hard disks together. A complete discussion of the choices involved in that combination of performance and reliability could fill several articles this size, but even relatively modest set-ups with two disks, such as G-Technology’s G-Raid, can hit 0.5GB/s in some configurations. Putting two disks in one box also gives us up to 36TB of storage and is on Amazon for about £1800. LaCie competes with two-disk options called 2big, but also with the six- and 12-disk versions. At this point, portability options change from ‘backpack’ to ‘cart’, but performance starts to push back up to flash levels. LaCie quotes 2600MB/s and up to 168TB of capacity in a 12big that costs £7199 including tax, and could conceivably travel around in a Pelican case. G-Technology’s answer to this is the G-Speed Shuttle XL (around £7000), an array of eight disks that connects up to 80TB to a Thunderbolt port at 1350MB/s.
Angelbird Lots of people sell flash to camera crews, but Angelbird is one of a few companies that packages sets of cards, specifically designed for particular shooting situations. Blackmagic’s Ursa Mini Pro, for instance, has a pair of CFast card slots and a pair of SD card slots, and Angelbird will happily sell you a box containing exactly that. It’s not the least-expensive option, but the company also offers USB-C disks, designed to work as a cable-attached recording device for cameras which support doing that. They’ll even put an anti-theft engraving on the case, which is worthwhile, given the tendency for producers to wander off with them as if they cost as much as a VHS tape.
Did you know? The world’s highest-capacity, pocket-sized portable SSD is an 8TB drive from Sandisk
– it’s still a prototype.
G-TECHNOLOGY G-SPEED SHUTTLE XL £3197.99-£7727.99 $4422.99-$10686.99
G-TECHNOLOGY G-RAID THUNDERBOLT 3 £551.99-£1449.99/ $763.99-$1999.99
56. DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
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