New StoreData RAID DRAC for digital post-production

SM Data introduces a new RAID system optimized for digital post-production that provides two simultaneous 2K DPX video streams.

The transition to digital cinematography represents a very important change both in post-production workflows and in the infrastructure necessary to carry it out. Until now, the storage systems used had to have a sufficient transfer speed to be able to reproduce without the loss of any frame. Generally, not the entire film was digitized, but only those scenes that had to be digitally composed to add some special effect, now called digital effects. Currently, as the original is a digital camera, the filmed material must be stored in its entirety. The ratio between the material shot and the material that is finally used in the film is easily in a ratio of 20 to 1, so the storage capacity of the system has to be high. Furthermore, in many cases, the workflow itself or the needs of the post-production studio require having several films stored simultaneously, so the total capacity of the storage system must be enormous.

Two of the most important characteristics that a RAID array controller must have, in addition to obviously protecting against disk failure, working for example at RAID 5 level, are that it must provide a high transfer speed to the files it stores (MB/s) and be capable of providing a high input/output (I/O) speed. However, it is not easy for a controller to be able to simultaneously provide high values ​​in both parameters.

Fortunately, there are few applications that require high transfer values ​​and that have to simultaneously open and close many files (high I/O speed). However, one of these applications is digital postproduction.
When working in DPX format, each frame is an independent file. If we take into account that each frame in 2K Cinema format (2048 x 1556 pixels) has a capacity of 12 MB (and we must bear in mind that during the post-production process 4K is increasingly used), for a booth to be capable of opening 24 of these files per second and also in a sustained manner, that is, in real time, the storage system must have considerable power.

DRAC RAID

The new StoreData RAID DRAC 2*2344B-24T-4 array is specially configured for digital post-production applications with 2K formats and optimized to record multiple simultaneous video streams and work in DPX format. It is a cabinet with a redundant controller that uses the 4 Gbit Fiber Channel protocol, so it can be connected directly to an editing station, or through a Fiber Channel switch to a SAN, so that several workstations can share it. Starting from an initial configuration of 24 TB, the StoreData RAID DRAC 2*2344B-24T-4 system is scalable up to 108 TB with SATA-II drives. Additionally, the system is host independent and can therefore connect to any operating system.

The new StoreData RAID DRAC 2*2344B-24T-4 system can meet the demanding demands of digital post-production applications, which require at the same time a high transfer speed in the files they store (MB/s) and a high input and output (I/O) speed when opening and closing many files. The main objective is to be able to reproduce in real time without the loss of any frame, but without forgetting that the system must be fault tolerant, for which the StoreData RAID DRAC 2*2344B-24T-4 system has all the critical components redundant (controller, power supply and fan module), so that the eventual failure of one of them does not mean that the cabin stops working.