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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Upgrade Red Drive to SSD drives??

steveszol

steveszol

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I was wondering if I could buy 2 laptop SSDs and replace the ones in my RED DRIVE.

any idea if this would work? Don't see why it wouldn't

Cheers
Steven
 
steveszol said:
I was wondering if I could buy 2 laptop SSDs and replace the ones in my RED DRIVE.

any idea if this would work? Don't see why it wouldn't

Cheers
Steven
Click to expand...

Myself and another RED owner have been working on this; don't forget, it's a RAID system. There's a single-chip RAID controller - SIL5723 - in there, and getting this thing into GUI mode to configure the new array correctly is proving something of a challenge... watch this space, but don't hold your breath, it's a low-priority hack for me at the moment. I'm more interested in getting it working with a pair of 1TB drives, to give a 2TB RED DRIVE for very long (many hours) single takes, which is an ability I *will* need at some point.

Mike
 
be very interested if someone gets this working...i heard it's not straight plug in and go, so will take someone with a bit more software knowledge than me. But if they do it i can imagine a massive replacement service offered by that person making some good ol $$$$$$ profit!
 
I'm just throwing this out there. I have no idea if the chip needs to register the array... but has anyone tired building the array outboard on the same chip in a computer and then shoving it into the RedDrive?

If the the chip reads the array information off the drives then it would be a joke to change the drives. On the other hand, if the array info is memory resident on the chip, you definitively have to tinker with the chip.

Just sayin'.
 
At some point capacity may allow the fat32 system to overload ie, approx 18000 files (give or take.. in reality it seems to vary) per folder max, including subfolders.. so there may be a limit to how big you could let a hacked drive become. I wouldn't rent one, but might use one myself..
 
there should be a roll over ssd option coming shouldn't there? u can put 2 ssd modules on, and just roll over record all day and night... a lot safer than putting a single take across 2 tb's of storage if you manage to make it work somehow.

yikes, i cringe at the thought of a 2 tb long take on a single drive....
 
I wonder if it's a software raid or hardware raid?
and where the firmware is stored. a separate partition?

When I have sometime I might crack it open.
 
Chris Luker said:
There's a special RED firmware on the drives as well that you would need to copy... or spoof.
RED might not like that.
Click to expand...

I've heard this said before. Rumours or fact? I can't see any reason the drive might need special firmware, unless there's periodic very low-level drive activity taking place with the standard firmware, which RED would wish to inhibit for the sake of rock-solid continuous write performance... other than that, a drive is a drive, a RAID is a RAID. The controller won't care what drive it's talking to, so long as it responds to the appropriate commands.

The kind of application I have in mind, I can live with a few dropped frames for the sake of very long record times. My choice.

Has anyone ever made 3rd-party plug-compatible RED DRIVE equivalent?

Mike
 
Tom.Wong said:
there should be a roll over ssd option coming shouldn't there? u can put 2 ssd modules on, and just roll over record all day and night... a lot safer than putting a single take across 2 tb's of storage if you manage to make it work somehow.

yikes, i cringe at the thought of a 2 tb long take on a single drive....
Click to expand...

For any normal cinematography, I would agree. But that presupposes regular access to the camera to swap SSD modules is possible, and safe; that won't always be the case for some of what I have in mind (volcanology).

On a point of order, does anyone know the pinout and spec of the drive cable? I'm thinking about re-engineering a RED DRIVE, putting it in something like an ammo box or other robust container with a mil spec connector on it - Amphenol or suchlike. I could really use a RED service manual if such a thing exists.

Mike
 
I remember the whole deal about the R2E Cool Camera Gear RedDrive to ESata cables which is somewhat related to the subject at hand. Poking around the archives revealed a bunch of posts from Stewart regarding the inability to upgrade the RedDrive without some major headaches. No pinout in sight though. Perhaps this would warrant a call at Red.
 
Mike 'Fireman' Ross said:
Myself and another RED owner have been working on this; don't forget, it's a RAID system. There's a single-chip RAID controller - SIL5723 - in there, and getting this thing into GUI mode to configure the new array correctly is proving something of a challenge... watch this space, but don't hold your breath, it's a low-priority hack for me at the moment. I'm more interested in getting it working with a pair of 1TB drives, to give a 2TB RED DRIVE for very long (many hours) single takes, which is an ability I *will* need at some point.

Mike
Click to expand...

have you tried it or is it still a theory?
 
I did this in early 2008 because I needed a solution for doing aerial work. Red-Rams weren't available yet and the CF cards were too small. I had to come up with something. So I opened up the Red-Raid and replaced the 2.5" drives with solid state Mtron drives that were about $1700 per 32GB. I was able to use them on helicopters, twin prop planes, cars and everything else with zero errors.

We never had an issue until they were suddenly locked out of use with build 16 or 17. After the firmware upgrade, we got the error that the media wasn't certified. Never pursued it after that, just bought red-rams.
 
CJ Roy said:
I did this in early 2008 because I needed a solution for doing aerial work. Red-Rams weren't available yet and the CF cards were too small. I had to come up with something. So I opened up the Red-Raid and replaced the 2.5" drives with solid state Mtron drives that were about $1700 per 32GB. I was able to use them on helicopters, twin prop planes, cars and everything else with zero errors.

We never had an issue until they were suddenly locked out of use with build 16 or 17. After the firmware upgrade, we got the error that the media wasn't certified. Never pursued it after that, just bought red-rams.
Click to expand...

And you didn't take any specific action to create or format the RAID via the controller? You just slapped in the new drives, screwed the box shut, hooked it up, and formatted it as per normal? Very interesting.

Mike
 
CJ Roy said:
I did this in early 2008 because I needed a solution for doing aerial work. Red-Rams weren't available yet and the CF cards were too small. I had to come up with something. So I opened up the Red-Raid and replaced the 2.5" drives with solid state Mtron drives that were about $1700 per 32GB. I was able to use them on helicopters, twin prop planes, cars and everything else with zero errors.

We never had an issue until they were suddenly locked out of use with build 16 or 17. After the firmware upgrade, we got the error that the media wasn't certified. Never pursued it after that, just bought red-rams.
Click to expand...

damn! Sounds like something Red put in the firmware to block users from replacing the drives. SOB!!!
 
Mike 'Fireman' Ross said:
And you didn't take any specific action to create or format the RAID via the controller? You just slapped in the new drives, screwed the box shut, hooked it up, and formatted it as per normal? Very interesting.
Click to expand...

Just hit the reset button on one of the boards, while plugged in to a computer and we were good. Fairly easy.
 
Just to be clear, I had done this out of necessity. There were no other solutions. What I did is currently not a solution, due to what ever it is Red does to the drives now. This had worked prior to build 16 or 17. I am not currently condoning this as a solution. The 1.8" should be enough for all of us... if they ever ship.

I understand, to an extent, that RED would not want to be liable for alterations to their equipment and not condone it. I believe it worked great for myself and the productions I was on, at the time, due to the quality of drives I used. I had experimented with cheaper SSD drives that failed very easily.
 
Has anyone tried this lately? Any solutions? It would be great to put in two good quality 64gb SSD:s and have a Drive that can hold a few bumbs on the road
 
I don't think this is a real option.
Problem isn't the technical side, but REDs practical change of POV...

Initially it was a lot of talk about "off the shelf components", (crossing the line was as far as I have understood, shot directly to SATA drives) but then RED realised that cameras sell accesories and the bottom line is in "everything else", pretty much as many rental hoses rent the reda as a "lense mount".

Nothing wrong with this, though.
It is just a practical adjustment to the realities of business life.
 
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