Hard drives vs SSD for recorders? at DVinfo.net

Leonard Levy · June 10th, 2012, 12:28 PM

Is anyone using regular hard drives instead of SSD's with outboard recorders like PIX240 or Samurai.

I've been hearing they are very reliable in anything except extreme vibration and are actually more reliable than SSD's which have some tendency to fail out of nowhere. Certainly cheaper.

Just wondering what people are doing out there.

Frank Glencairn · June 10th, 2012, 12:52 PM

I have two SSDs and two regular HDDs for my Samurai - never had a single problem with any of them.

I bought the SSDs for special situations when I'm on shoulder (pretty rare) in a helicopter, a car, on a boat or on a horse ;-)

The two SSDs are enough for those situations - when I buy more disks, they will be HDDs (better bang for the buck).

The SSDs dump faster though, but that's not worth the extra price for me.

Frank

Leonard Levy · June 10th, 2012, 01:03 PM

I've been wondering how safe HDD's are for shoulder work.

Alister Chapman · June 10th, 2012, 01:07 PM

I've lost recordings on HDD's due to loud noise (rock concert), bumps, walking with one shoulder mounted and shooting from a moving car (bumps again). But on a tripod HDD's have been OK other than noise and vibration problems.

So far, I've not had any problems with my SSD's.

I don't think I will use HDD's again now I have enough SSD's for a typical shoot, maybe only as a last resort. I will continue to record in camera while recording to an external recorder just in case for anything that can't easily be re-shot.

Leonard Levy · June 10th, 2012, 02:00 PM

Thanks Alister, that pretty much answers my question. Don't use when hand-holding.

Alister Chapman · June 10th, 2012, 02:29 PM

Most hard drives have a built in Gravity and shock sensor that will momentarily park the heads if they detect a shock, twist or drop. This does a very good job of protecting the drive and does little of consequence in a computer, but when you are trying to write a non stop video stream to the disk, this is not good and will result in dropped frames or a corrupt file. The drive heads float above the discs on a tiny cushion of air. If you bump the drive the head can touch the disc and then that's it the drive is toast. If you have a laptop then you'll know that HDD's can take some knocks and bumps, but they are certainly not immune. I think the worst scenario is shoulder mount where you turn the camera rapidly and maybe jolt it at the same time. The turning motion sets up gyroscopic forces within the drive that cause the platters to warp and again this can cause the heads to touch the disks.

Bill Thomas · June 11th, 2012, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonard Levy

Thanks Alister, that pretty much answers my question. Don't use when hand-holding.

I have shot a ton hand held with my Samurai using a 500gb WD Black HDD and have only had a problem once. It was in a car on a very bumpy road and all that happened fortunately was the video and audio went out of sync. To be safe my editor took the audio track off of the internal recording and synced it up with the Samurai footage. With that, just to be safe, if I know I'll be doing some "dynamic" hand held work I'll use my SSD drive.

Mark McCarthy · June 11th, 2012, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank Glencairn

I have two SSDs and two regular HDDs for my Samurai - never had a single problem with any of them.

I bought the SSDs for special situations when I'm on shoulder (pretty rare) in a helicopter, a car, on a boat or on a horse ;-)

The two SSDs are enough for those situations - when I buy more disks, they will be HDDs (better bang for the buck).

The SSDs dump faster though, but that's not worth the extra price for me.

Frank

Hi Frank, hope you're well. I've never thought of using anything but a HDD for my Samurai. Would you mind me asking you which SSD's you are using with it please. Could be a good option for me when I'm not shooting on a tripod. Thanks in advance, Sparky

Bruce Schultz · June 12th, 2012, 11:01 AM

Totally agree with Alister here, no problems with SSD or HDD on a Samurai other than Samurai issues like the unit bricking when the playback button is pressed after recording (supposedly fixed with last firmware update) - which had no effect on the actual recording.

HDD on a tripod is generally safe. SSD's for any activity that might put gravity or physical trauma into effect.

June 10th, 2012, 12:28 PM	#1
Leonard Levy Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,684	Hard drives vs SSD for recorders? Is anyone using regular hard drives instead of SSD's with outboard recorders like PIX240 or Samurai. I've been hearing they are very reliable in anything except extreme vibration and are actually more reliable than SSD's which have some tendency to fail out of nowhere. Certainly cheaper. Just wondering what people are doing out there.

June 10th, 2012, 12:52 PM	#2
Frank Glencairn Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Germany Posts: 176	Re: Hard drives vs SSD for recorders? I have two SSDs and two regular HDDs for my Samurai - never had a single problem with any of them. I bought the SSDs for special situations when I'm on shoulder (pretty rare) in a helicopter, a car, on a boat or on a horse ;-) The two SSDs are enough for those situations - when I buy more disks, they will be HDDs (better bang for the buck). The SSDs dump faster though, but that's not worth the extra price for me. Frank

June 10th, 2012, 01:03 PM	#3
Leonard Levy Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,684	Re: Hard drives vs SSD for recorders? I've been wondering how safe HDD's are for shoulder work.

June 10th, 2012, 01:07 PM	#4
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	Re: Hard drives vs SSD for recorders? I've lost recordings on HDD's due to loud noise (rock concert), bumps, walking with one shoulder mounted and shooting from a moving car (bumps again). But on a tripod HDD's have been OK other than noise and vibration problems. So far, I've not had any problems with my SSD's. I don't think I will use HDD's again now I have enough SSD's for a typical shoot, maybe only as a last resort. I will continue to record in camera while recording to an external recorder just in case for anything that can't easily be re-shot. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

June 10th, 2012, 02:00 PM	#5
Leonard Levy Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,684	Re: Hard drives vs SSD for recorders? Thanks Alister, that pretty much answers my question. Don't use when hand-holding.

June 10th, 2012, 02:29 PM	#6
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	Re: Hard drives vs SSD for recorders? Most hard drives have a built in Gravity and shock sensor that will momentarily park the heads if they detect a shock, twist or drop. This does a very good job of protecting the drive and does little of consequence in a computer, but when you are trying to write a non stop video stream to the disk, this is not good and will result in dropped frames or a corrupt file. The drive heads float above the discs on a tiny cushion of air. If you bump the drive the head can touch the disc and then that's it the drive is toast. If you have a laptop then you'll know that HDD's can take some knocks and bumps, but they are certainly not immune. I think the worst scenario is shoulder mount where you turn the camera rapidly and maybe jolt it at the same time. The turning motion sets up gyroscopic forces within the drive that cause the platters to warp and again this can cause the heads to touch the disks. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

June 12th, 2012, 11:01 AM	#9
Bruce Schultz Major Player Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Malibu, CA Posts: 480	Re: Hard drives vs SSD for recorders? Totally agree with Alister here, no problems with SSD or HDD on a Samurai other than Samurai issues like the unit bricking when the playback button is pressed after recording (supposedly fixed with last firmware update) - which had no effect on the actual recording. HDD on a tripod is generally safe. SSD's for any activity that might put gravity or physical trauma into effect.