
NVMe storage solutions are ideal for these kinds of workflows.

This arrangement makes it difficult for hard drives to access and retrieve image-sequence-based formats with the same regularity as container-based (like MOV and MXF) formats. This is in part due to the higher data-rates involved, but also the fact that these are individual files – each frame is its own file. However, once you start playing back a sequence of frames, mechanical hard drives in particular struggle with these kinds of formats. For instance, EXR formats can allow a VFX Compositor to change the exposure of an image by up to 30 f-stops! These formats come with their own workflows and hidden storage needs.Ī single 4k DPX frame is 36MB in size, which does not sound like a lot. These formats offer excellent image quality and flexibility in terms of the level of adjustments an artist can perform. VFX artists, Photographers, Animators, and Motion Graphics Artists often work with uncompressed image file formats such as EXR, DPX, TGA, TIFF, BMP, and DNG. The Lightning-Fast OWC ThunderBlade NVMe Thunderbolt Drive The combinations are endless, and the choice is yours! Set up an Apple Time Machine backup in bay 1 and 2, add an SFX library in 3 and 4, a stock image library in bays 5 and 6, and use 7 and 8 for video. Each bay can be used as its own private dock any way you’d like. The 8-bays do not need to be configured as a single array. In an SSD-based array, real-world speeds are north of 2500 MB/s which makes the OWC ThunderBay 8 ideal for Video Editors, DITs, Dailies Technicians, Colorists, and just about anyone else who needs fast render times. The enclosure design allows quick and easy access to the hard drive bays for endless configuration possibilities. If that were not enough, 2.5” SSD drives can be used in lieu of 3.5” platters without the need to purchase adaptors.

To put that in perspective, an entire feature film that shoots 5 hours of Apple ProRes 4444 UHD footage a day would record approximately 65TB total. A 144TB volume would offer 126TB or 72TB usable storage in RAID 5 or RAID 1+0 (10) security levels, respectively. By selecting disks up to 18TB in size, the OWC ThunderBay 8 can scale up to 144TB per unit. Up until recently, creative professionals like Digital Imaging Technicians (DITs) were forced to decide: “ do I want a large array, a fast array, or a safe array?” The answer is now: pick all 3. With real-world read speeds starting at 1000 MB/s, a Video Editor will have enough overhead to playback 10 streams of Apple ProRes 422HQ or 10 steams of Avid DNxHR HQX in 4k UHD resolution! It really is lucky number 8.
#Best thunderbolt drives for mac pro
By pairing 8 hard drives together, any creative pro will immediately appreciate the enhanced read speeds, storage sizes, and data protection made available. If a single hard drive fails in the array of drives, you will be protected by the data parity provided on the other disks.Įnter the OWC ThunderBay 8, a versatile and affordable desktop storage solution. By combining multiple hard drives together in an array – called a RAID – you will be afforded levels of data redundancy.

Single hard drives, even the best of them, are still a single point of mechanical or physical failure.
#Best thunderbolt drives for mac professional
If you are a creative professional and you do not have any RAID-protected storage in place, this is where you need to start.
