Externat hard drive format for use with DCP content

[Miguel Moreno]

Hey friends, maybe someone has already asked this.
I receive content via the internet directly to my PC with TMS and from there I transfer it to the IMBs.
I have a folder in downloads with the content files and I'd like to download it from there to an external hard drive in order to send it to another cinema complexe
. What format should the hard drive be in?
xFat, NTFS?

Thanks for your help.

[Ioannis Syrogiannis]

You are not mentioning if the drive is meant to be connected directly to a cinema server for ingesting or to some other computer.
If it is for ingesting, very high chances are that the cinema server can read and ingest from an NTFS. The drive needs to be MBR and not GPT. That has restrictions on how many TBs (2) the partition can be.
The universally compatible would be EXT2 or EXT3 with an inode 128 (see more here: https://www.film-tech.com/vbb/forum/...storage-device).
Yet, since you don't want to export anything, I would go with MBR>NTFS if I were you.

Edit, if it is to be connected to a personal computer and from there, via network, to the server, whatever that computer is more familiar with. xFAT may be slow, though.

[James Gardiner]

NTFS is the best, work on EVERY computer (Linux, Mac-ReadOnly, PC), file format to use.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Also make sure there are not multiple partitions if you don't want to confuse the recipient. Some servers don't play nice with multiple partitions, or it's not very obvious to the user that they need to select a different one in the interface.

[Dave Macaulay]

The only caveat is that most - if not all - Linux based servers (I think they are all Linux) will read NTFS drives, but many will not write to them. If you want to export content from a server to a drive it should be formatted be EXT2 (or EXT3 but this is a "journaling" type that isn't really needed for a portable drive). EXT formatting is not easy (ie super not easy) from Windows but simple enough from a server although you're doing stuff with dangerous commands as root. There are programs to access EXT drives from windows for putting content onto a drive.
FAT32 can generally be read and written by servers but has a filesize limit of 4GB ... and many feature movie image files are larger than that. But for trailers or ads, it should be OK. NTFS does not have that limitation.

[Miguel Moreno]

Do Christie's IMBs and GDC and Dolby DVs detect NTFS? The idea is to download movies from the PC that come in DCP format.

[James Gardiner]

Lets put is this way. Some local content distribution agents in my region use CRU disks predominantly in NTFS. Everything reads NTFS as its SO old now. All linux system do unless they intentionally removed it. From my understanding, every DCI-player that has been released can read NTFS.

But on ext2/3 yes, I would recommend only using a real linux machine using native ext2/3 drivers. Commercial and freeware ones exist, but I have had issues with them. (Outside of the DCP use model, but in POST workflows) I have linux machines everywhere, so... I just go to one of those if I need to do this type of work.

[Luis Garcia]

Hola Miguel,

El sistema de archivos NTFS es compatible con los Servidores de Cine Digital (Dolby, GDC, Christie).

Formatea el Disco Duro externo qué vas a utilizar en NTFS y graba los DCP's que descargues, identificandolos por carpetas, en la raíz del disco.

Al conectarlo al servidor te deberan de aparecer sin problemas al igual que la Ingesta.

[Scott Norwood]

As noted above: single partition, ext2 or ext3, 2TB or smaller disk, with the DCP files in the root directory or one level down from the root. NTFS will work, but only Windows can reliably write to it. With ext filesystems, my understanding is that the 128 inode size is only necessary for the disk to be read using Windows/Mac drivers for TMS or office computers. Linux D-cinema servers will read ext filesystems with the default inode size just fine. MBR partition tables used to be preferred--is GPT supported universally now?

Do _not_ use exfat or HFS+, as neither is widely supported on cinema servers.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I'm pretty confident a DCP2000 will not read GPT-partitioned disks, so the MBR and 2TB limit is still valid, for now. You can use larger disk, just not use anything beyond the first 2TB...

NTFS should be supported across all DCI machines, but ext2 has been the "de-facto standard" ever since the first DCP was shipped on a disk. I'm not sure if the DCI specs actually ever specified any hard supported file systems list, list of supported partition table formats and parameters...

[Carsten Kurz]

Classic Doremis and ShowVault are able to read 4TB discs since... 2.8.18 or so. However, I would still stick to max 2TB, as USB-SATA bridges will do non-standard cylinder translations for discs larger than 2TB, this can result in weird issues.

If the goal is to actually 'send' the disk to other cinemas, I would probably use a slick max 2TB USB3/USB-C SSD, as they are more robust and fit in smaller shipping containers (or even envelopes). Some of them are only 5mm thick. MBR, NTFS.

[Jim Cassedy]

I've done dozens of drives for over a decade. Although I have a program that will format
in EXT2, 99% of the time I use NTFS and I've never had any problems. If you do this,
USE A CLEAN DRIVE- - the only thing on it should be the DCP content. No extra text
files, script revisions, shopping lists, family photos, press releases, etc.
Only DCP content.

[James Gardiner]

Realistically, anyone sending a DCP is using a 2TB or smaller, especially if its a CRU. But yes. CRU are actually more expensive and costly to keep using these days, especially shipping cost wise.
USB3 on a micro drive is a far better path, and content distributors buy them from local office supplies when needed. They are cheap and disposable, like a paperclip.
The incumbents are still using CRU as.. people like to keep using what they know, but at some point money will force a change.

Digital delivery is where its at. Its relatively easy to purchase a FTP service, drop the DCP there and send out the hostname,username,password. Most DCP studios offer it for a minimal or as part of the cost (free)
If a site can work out Email, they can work out how to use filezilla.

The larger distributors do force constraints of this but its more about perceived power and control over getting content to exhibitors than anything else.
I have mentioned many times how it's crazy in my region, the control and money spent on this. It will eventually all shake out. Especially in this contraction era we will be in for the next 3-5 years.