Barco ICMP now ships with SSD instead of HDD

[Marco Giustini]

I don't think the issue is Write Endurance or MTBF here.

I think the issue is some sort of Firmware/Hardware incompatibility. In a home environment you wouldn't notice if your HDD slows down a second. In a cinema (or a critical server environment) the film would pause.

Cinema servers are very niche products, hence the "potential incompatibility" ghost is always there. My old NAS is running "unsupported" HDDs. It's working fine. But from a support standpoint, you can't afford to invest resources because thousands of small incompatibilities with different hardware around the world.

(Kind or reminds me when I did the Christie training and we were explained that the IMB would work with a specific Netgear NAS - but no Firmware indication was given. "It doesn't matter" I was explained. I was not sure. Some time later I remember stumbling into a bulletin from Christie asking customers to install a specific FW for their Netgear NAS as an incompatibility with the latest FW had been found...

Which is also why - massive OT - Microsoft has a much bigger job to to to maintain Windows than Apple!)

[Ryan Gallagher]

I don't think the issue is Write Endurance or MTBF here.

I think the issue is some sort of Firmware/Hardware incompatibility. In a home environment you wouldn't notice if your HDD slows down a second. In a cinema (or a critical server environment) the film would pause.

Cinema servers are very niche products, hence the "potential incompatibility" ghost is always there. My old NAS is running "unsupported" HDDs. It's working fine. But from a support standpoint, you can't afford to invest resources because thousands of small incompatibilities with different hardware around the world.

(Kind or reminds me when I did the Christie training and we were explained that the IMB would work with a specific Netgear NAS - but no Firmware indication was given. "It doesn't matter" I was explained. I was not sure. Some time later I remember stumbling into a bulletin from Christie asking customers to install a specific FW for their Netgear NAS as an incompatibility with the latest FW had been found...

Which is also why - massive OT - Microsoft has a much bigger job to to to maintain Windows than Apple!)

For sure it is more than just like for like performance and durability... but if you were seeking compatible drives when none are published (after warranty), those traits are a good starting point for comparison... there are certainly SSD designs to avoid like a plague out there... and this approach to a minimum requirements would at least have you avoiding those.

[Carsten Kurz]

DCI servers are miles away from the write endurance even common desktop PC SSDs need to offer. And these usually operate single device, not in a RAID configuration.

[Juan Jose Garcia Calvo]

Speaking of hard drives for ICMPs: Do you know of any (non-Barco) trays that are compatible with the Alchemy bays?

[Ryan Gallagher]

Speaking of hard drives for ICMPs: Do you know of any (non-Barco) trays that are compatible with the Alchemy bays?

For GDC I had luck using reverse images search to find the OEM. Not so much luck with the Barco ICMP/X trays. But I also don't have one available to take better pictures of. Are they fully enclosed like the portable CRU drive sleds? Or just some rails and a front panel like is more common with hot swap trays? (Manuals make them look enclosed but that might just be how they chose to represent the HDD in the isometric line drawings).

[Ryan Gallagher]

DCI servers are miles away from the write endurance even common desktop PC SSDs need to offer. And these usually operate single device, not in a RAID configuration.

I wouldn't say that necessarily... a busy desktop user would have to write enough sectors to equate to a full drive overwrite per day to break the 1 WPD mark. I know we don't get close to that either but I easily cross 1 over-write per week when in festival mode on the whole array. The storage array does benefit that there are not many tasks other than ingesting that cause writes though... unlike a desktop user system drive. It really depends on what kind of work a desktop user is doing of course.

[Carsten Kurz]

Juan - can't remember - did we write about building our own ICMP drive sleds a few years ago? They are really easy to make from a piece of sheet metal. Not much is needed.

[Tacky Ting]

New ICMP-XS Does anyone know how it is different from the old ICMP-X?

[Jim Cassedy]

I noticed the other day that the ICMP-X in our new BARCO HDR-LS4K is populated with SSD's.
(The LS4K was installed about 10days ago- - a new screen goes in this week)

[Ryan Gallagher]

I noticed the other day that the ICMP-X in our new BARCO HDR-LS4K is populated with SSD's.
(The LS4K was installed about 10days ago- - a new screen goes in this week)

Easy to read the brand/model/capacity SSDs that came with your new system? I assume same barco factory ones others have, but good to know info.

[Elia Orselli]

ICMP-X are coming with Advantech SSDs (at least the 2TB version)