𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗙𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗧𝘆𝗯𝗲-𝗕 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰

[Phil Holland]

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Reposted what I just shared across social and FB Groups as this is relevant to anybody using DSMC3 cams.

It's been a few heartbeats since I dropped my last round of CFx notes. Two quickies for both RED filmmakers and anybody who uses CFx in their cameras.

Firstly, if you have Angelbird/RED media, make sure you update your firmware of your media. Free software available on AB's site. Process is simple and fast. Took me about 15 minutes to update two dozen cards. Some performance gains are worth gaining by doing this. If you're using other brand media, it is also worth checking if anything is available.

Secondly, the state of CFx readers! I have pretty much everything released to date in the office. And several I have traveled and used regularly for a long, long time. Blackjet, Sabrent, and Trebleet have worked fine. Mass compatibility is the RED/Angelbird USB-C drive, just not the fastest. Fastest offloads are now via USB4/Thunderbolt4.

There are very fast readers out there, but some get really hot with not great thermals, which hurts performance when dealing with 512GB through 4TB media.

The most recent OWC Atlas USB4 is the best thermal and speed combination I've found as of March 2024. Fanless, but nice and thick heat sink. Certainly a size weight consideration to be made versus the smallest readers, but if you're carrying 1-2 readers, no biggie. Speed and media longevity are always on the mind if yiu are cycling lots of cards. Works with everything btw, which is pretty important here. It's faster than their previous FXR reader too. 2-4X faster than some of the other readers I mentioned.

Also, on the topic of speed. OWC offers a Software Utility for free to quickly chance from "Better Performance" to "Quick Removal" for Windows. This will also help you in your offloads as well as backups. If you know where to look in settings, you can do this too, but a free tool with a single button click is easy mode. You just have to eject the drive rather than rip it out.

Thirdly, Ewok. Yub, yub. Hope this info is helpful.

 

[DJ Meyer]

What kind of speeds would one see on the blackjet rack mount thunderbolt units?

interested in highest possible sustained offload speed in a studio environment

Have the SanDisk Pro Dock now, which works fine, but the reader to bay connection appears to be 10Gb, limiting single card performance

https://www.westerndigital.com/products/accessories/sandisk-professional-pro-dock-4?sku=SDPD14F-0000-NBAAD

 

[M Harvey]

Thanks for this

 

[Phil Holland]

What kind of speeds

Highest possible speeds are limited by the media, port connection, reader, thermals, and what you are writing to. I should also mention the boards and system config play a role.

If you know how to maximize all of this and mitigate things like thermal issues, you'll get the fastest possible speeds.

And here's an additional layer to that cake. CFexpress has 1.0, 2.0, and now 4.0 cards. 4.0 is very new and currently up to 2TB from most manufacturers who offer them. 2.0 up to 4TB.

The difference between a 2.0 and a 4.0 cards is:
- 2.0 - typical fastest read possible = 1300MB/s a second, likely fluctuating down to 900MB/s or so depending on the above.
- 4.0 - current fasted read possible = 3600MB/s-3000MB/s a second, likely fluctuating down to 2000MB/s a second, potentially lower.

TL;DR, 4.0 is about twice as fast to read versus 2.0 in practice.

Write speeds are also interesting. Fasted sustained today is around 1500MB/s, and others in the 1300MB/s range. I'm unsure if Raptor Class cameras can utilize these faster speeds and protocol, but it would be really nice if they could. Possibly bumping up 8K 120fps from LQ to MQ in the best case scenario.

Long term, if and when we get to CFx Type-C, it could potentially be 4X as fast (or more, around 4000-6000MBs sustained write) as well as 4X the current capacities. Type-C was in private testing in 2019 in my world, but the pandemic and other factors have created about a 3-5 years delay from my estimates. Cameras will get scary during that generational leap in wonderful and terrifying ways.