Formatting a SSD Drive

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dolphinnose

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Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri Apr 19, 2013 1:21 am

It appears very simple but could not figure how. How do I format the SSD drive? I just got my BMCC camera from Adorama (Ordered yesterday and got it today). I got intel 240gb SSD.
I popped the SSD into the Cam and cam says NO SSD. So I figured I need to format it.
But I am stumbled as to how? CanI use http://www.amazon.com/Uspeed-External-Docking-Station-Chipsets/dp/B005UA3I72/ref=sr_1_13?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1366333967&sr=1-13&keywords=ssd+sata+connector ?
Or any other solutions?
TIA
Subbu
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Brian Mills

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri Apr 19, 2013 1:39 am

On a Mac:

Connect the hard drive via a dock, then in Utilities folder of Applications go to Disk Utility, select that drive and select Erase. THis will format it (select "Mac OS Extended - Journaled" as the format).

I can't speak to PC.

Shame you can't do this in camera.

They say you are to reformat the drive before every shoot to avoid dropout issues.
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Chris Hocking

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri Apr 19, 2013 3:20 am

There are instructions for formatting the drive on both Mac and PC in the manual.
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Thomas Schumacher

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri Apr 19, 2013 4:03 am

The info in the manual is a bit outdated for PC-users as since firmware 1.2 you can format your SSD to exFAT, so there is no need for macdrive anymore.

What I got for on the road is a cheap icybox-USB3-SSD-connector (RaidSonic Icy Box IB-AC603 2.5Zoll SATA), connect it to your pc and format to exFAT as you would do with any external HD. Done.
https://www.gernemehrfilm.de/
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Chris Hocking

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri Apr 19, 2013 4:06 am

gmf wrote:The info in the manual is a bit outdated for PC-users as since firmware 1.2 you can format your SSD to exFAT, so there is no need for macdrive anymore.


The latest manual includes this information on Page 27.
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Thomas Schumacher

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri Apr 19, 2013 4:26 am

Chris Hocking wrote:
gmf wrote:The info in the manual is a bit outdated for PC-users as since firmware 1.2 you can format your SSD to exFAT, so there is no need for macdrive anymore.


The latest manual includes this information on Page 27.


Oh, guess I had an old copy lying around then!
https://www.gernemehrfilm.de/
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Frank Glencairn

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri Apr 19, 2013 7:07 am

Just for the record, you can always format your drives in a Ninja or Samurai.
Both devices even play back the ProRes and DnxHD files, by the way.
http://frankglencairn.wordpress.com/

I told you so :-)
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adamroberts

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri Apr 19, 2013 7:16 am

Frank Glencairn wrote:Just for the record, you can always format your drives in a Ninja or Samurai.
Both devices even play back the ProRes and DnxHD files, by the way.


Good tip Frank!

:-)
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sgierth

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri Apr 19, 2013 8:56 am

Hi Dolphinnose,

I am on a PC (Win7-64bit) and us a simple HD/SSD docking station with USB3.0 to connect my SanDiskExtremes 480GB to the PC.

Once the connection is established, you open windows explorer and right-click on the drive letter of the SSD. This gives you "format" options (NTFS or ex-FAT) I believe - choose ex-FAT. Then you bring the formatted SSD "online".

Alternatively, you can open the Computer Administration menu and do above steps from there (this is how I do it).

To remove the SSD physically from the dock, you bring it "offline" prior to pulling it out of the dock.

Let me know if this works for you!
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dolphinnose

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri Apr 19, 2013 5:49 pm

Thanks for all the responses.
sgierth - Thank you. That helps a lot. I just bought Sabrent dock from B&H. Will give it a go and see...

Thanks again.

theoretical.sounds

Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri May 10, 2013 12:41 am

Easy fix four Windows users:

No option to exFAT formatting your SSD?

Try this:
0. Open a command prompt by typing cmd into the Start/search box, right clicking and running as admin
1. Type format g: /FS:exFAT and then Enter to begin formatting the G drive as exFAT

Replace g with the correct drive letter of your external drive.
To see all other options, type format /? and press Enter.

-theoretical.sounds :ugeek:
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Slothrop

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostTue Jun 04, 2013 1:52 am

My BMCC does not recognize my Sandisk formatted with exfat.
Although formatted with HFS + macdrive works.
But I would preferably like to use exfat!
I formatted using the command line, even though the option "128kb allocation size" did not work (gave me a "wrong argument"). So I left this option. My system is win7 64, 1.3.1 firmware, sandisk extreme 480
Has anyone else this problem?
Sorry for my bad english.
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sean mclennan

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostTue Jun 04, 2013 3:53 am

IF you're on a mac, use the Disk Utility to format. exFat and 128Kb is right. Works for me and my Sandisk Xtreme 480...not sure why the command line approach isn't working...
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ThroxxOfVron

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostWed Jun 19, 2013 1:33 am

Any recommendations for an SSD Dock for connecting the discs to a MacBook Pro via Thunderbolt or USB 3.0?

-I'll want to format and access Sandisk Extreme SSD 480GB 2.5" SATA 6 Gb/s.

Thanks.
John Ralston -Throxx Of Vron
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sean mclennan

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostWed Jun 19, 2013 1:58 am

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... No=3516746

This is what I use. Works perfectly.
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Milen Mladenov

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostWed Jun 19, 2013 10:14 am

Slothrop wrote:My BMCC does not recognize my Sandisk formatted with exfat.
Although formatted with HFS + macdrive works.
But I would preferably like to use exfat!
I formatted using the command line, even though the option "128kb allocation size" did not work (gave me a "wrong argument"). So I left this option. My system is win7 64, 1.3.1 firmware, sandisk extreme 480
Has anyone else this problem?
Sorry for my bad english.


PC or Mac? I am on a PC and with Windows 7 and the exFAT option works fine!
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marcos.jdss

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostTue Oct 15, 2013 6:03 pm

is exfat as good as hfs+? do everytime I copy the files from the ssd disk to computer I have to format the disk?
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Ed Yago

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostTue Oct 15, 2013 7:10 pm

Here's a question to the Windows folks:

How do you induce TRIM on an exFAT drive when TRIM/Optimization is only supported on NTFS? (Not including using O&O to enable a scheduled optimization on exFAT).

I have a convoluted round-trip to induce it but I was wondering if there was a better way?
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Kathi F Elder

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri Aug 02, 2019 6:02 am

You can format an SSD drive using a Windows or Mac computer.
1.Formatting an SSD Drive in Windows

Verify that the SSD drive you want formatted is either installed in your computer, or attached to your computer via USB cable.Go to “Start” and click on “Control Panel.”
Click on “System and Maintenance,” then click on “Administrative tools.”Open the “Computer Management” application.Click on “Disk Management” in the left pane of the Computer Management window.Click on the name of your SSD drive in the list of drives displayed on-screen.
Click on the name of your SSD drive in the list of drives displayed on-screen.
Right-click on the SSD drive, then select “Format.”Place a checkmark next to “Perform a quick format,” then click on “OK.” Your computer will format your SSD drive.
2.Formatting an SSD Drive on Mac OS X
Step 1: Plug the flash drive into the USB port.
Step 2: Launch a Finder window.
Step 3: Run Disk Utility.
Step 4. Choose a format for your flash drive.
Step 5. Format your flash drive.
Every time you want to permanently delete files on your USB drive, you don’t have to format it again. You can just use a reliable file shredder to conveniently erase files in a secure way.

iMac-Cleaner File Shredder does just that. You can use it to delete confidential files on your Mac, external hard drives, and SD cards as well.
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rick.lang

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostFri Aug 02, 2019 5:46 pm

marcos.jdss wrote:is exfat as good as hfs+? do everytime I copy the files from the ssd disk to computer I have to format the disk?


ExFAT is likely slightly faster than HFS+ when writing to the drive. So an edge considering speed. HFS+ may be slower due to some handshaking to verify data is written. So an edge for safety.

I use either. If there’s no problem with the drive performance with HFS+ on a Mac, then makes sense to use HFS+ all the time. I know the Wise cards are always delivered as exFAT but that may be simply for compatibility with Windows and macOS.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Rick Lang
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wjfarrell

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostMon Oct 14, 2019 2:40 pm

I purchased a SanDisk SSD PLUS (1TB) card / drive, with write speeds up to 535 MB/s that I can't format.
I've tried the solutions listed in this thread.

I have successfully formatted about 10 other, older SanDisk SSD cards. These older cards are 480GBs.

So, does the new 1 TB card/drive have a different formatting workflow, can I use it in the "Production" camera, did I buy the wrong SSD card?

Reading the fine print on the back of the card I did notice this difference:
SSD 480 GBs has this listed.... +5.0VDC 1.6A
SSD 1TB has this listed........... +5.0VDC 1.0A

I have two Black Magic Production camera. One has a firmware update the other does not. Does this make a difference?

When I updated one camera with the firmware update, it stopped working, I sent it back to BM and you guys fixed it (thanks) but I don't have time to send the other camera in, if the firmware takes it offline.

Anyhow... I suppose I need to try the newly formatted 1 TB card in the camera with the newest firmware update. So, I'm doing this now......

If any of you super highly intelligent folks have any hints, lemme' know.

Thanks :P
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JaphetDeOliveira

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Re: Formatting a SSD Drive

PostSun May 17, 2020 2:16 pm

We have the BMC6k with T5 1TB SSD - first 30 min recording was great at 4k ProRes. Second recording would stop within 90 seconds each time same error message as above. Should we reformat the SSD from ExFat to Mac OS Extended Journaled inside the camera or external or is there something else going on. I had not removed the 30 min recording and we had 10 min break between recordings - just moved location from Power to Battery source.

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