Workaround for RED Flash or SSD recording in RED

[Harva Raj]

----This Hack Is NOT Recommended by RED-----


is there any hack that could be done on RED Drive, where you replace the hard drive with a SSD? i know SSD is expensive but there are 128 GB SSD (100MB/s) that are out there, which is so tempting to be used as recording medium.

 

[Paul Leeming]

Well I've opened ours up to fix a loose connector so if it's any help you can check the thread with photos here:

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=12834

I can't see how it wouldn't work as long as the SSD specs meet or exceed all the specs of the Hitachi HDDs used in RedDrives. I don't imagine the hardware has any artificial limits on the size of HDDs to be attached to the controller board so if you've got the cash, why not give it a try and report back to us all how it goes? And of course it will void your warranty!

Cheers,

Paul

 

[Harva Raj]

RED Drive is using 5400rmp drives? thats a news! i'm keep hearing about this Perpendicular Magnetic Recording hard drives. how different are those than normal drives as a recording media? what is actually preventing RED from selling 16/32/64/128/160GB RED Flash? Flash is expensive,yes. but those who really needed this solution are the one who is going to pay the price for it. for the rest of (who's on budget) can use the CF card option.

If i had to swap the red drive with a 160GB SSD, do i have to format it? is it on FAT 32 or mac os journal?

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

RED Drive is using 5400rmp drives? thats a news!

http://www.realworldtech.com/page.cfm?ArticleID=RWT061801032003

 

[Harva Raj]

"5400 RPM seems to be able to sustain a higher transfer rate for a longer time."

GOT IT. so is it save to replace(hack) a 1TB hard drive in RED Drive? (i just need longer recording time without any dropframe issues from hand held works. good for longer slowmo too).

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

And just how would you fit a 3.5" HDD into the 2.5" RED DRIVE enclosure? There might be a way to pull the RED DRIVE apart and rig up your own power supply and attach two 3.5" HDDs to the internal controller board on some form of home made mount. But I'm going to assume that the RED DRIVE's firmware and RAID settings are tuned and optimized for the disks it comes with and there's not much of anything you can do to change that.

We've been doing handheld work here with the RED DRIVE, no troubles to report. If you need longer record times, then I guess I have to ask just what it is that you're doing?

 

[Harva Raj]

4-5 hour stage performance/concert. i get these projects alot. i did 2 projects this year and there is another one in august. i hate to change tapes every hour and i want the option of reframing in post, (hence RED 4k). and i need to shoot the 'making of' the concert in hand held. Concerts are crazy place and you would bump alot of people in the process of shooting.(hence higher GB SSD)

i just need a longer recording time-with audio,longer battery life and reframing option. will the RED body be too hot to operate in 4-5 hours?

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Well, if you have more than 2 hrs of footage with one drive that should be a step up from what you are doing now with tape. You can unmount the drive and mount the other one very fast.

I've done a lot of event coverage and RED's manual 35mm DOF focusing in this type of shoot will reduce the amount of useful footage compared to what you are used to now. Plus, if you want many different angles constant moving around the place will be a greater challenge. You can use RED for this purpose thanks to its multi functionality - if reframing, picture quality and short DOF are your primary interests, but I personally wouldn't recommend it for the shoots where you mostly don't get second chances and you need predetermined specific length of the final cut.