Just Curious (NO SSD)

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Marcel Beck

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Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostSun Mar 17, 2013 4:34 am

Hello Blackmagic & Fellow Users,

So I ran into a small occurrence with the NO SSD warning. It happens when I turn on and off the camera several times over a period of few minutes, a typical scenario when your trying to save the internal battery and shoot only what you need.

I had a talks with a few reps, and came to the conclusion that it could be that the SSD has enough 'play' within the SSD Bay with the 7mm thickness compared to what SSD's usual thickness of 9.5mm (see picture below)

Image

On my Samsung 512SSD It came with a spacer that I stuck onto the SSD to bring it back to 9.5mm, It seemed to work until I was back in the field Runnin'n'gunnin, turned the camera off a few times only to see the warning again.

My question is, did anyone else run into this NO SSD warning after turning the camera on/off several times? Typically are you not supposed to turn it on and off like a spastic child?

Note: You need to redock the SSD and safely eject it to use it with the camera again.

I do not believe it to be a camera issue as I used the same SSDs for the entire day without turning the camera off, it focuses more on excessive boot ups and power downs.
Marcel Beck
Cinematographer & Producer
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Sammah

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Re: Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostSun Mar 17, 2013 9:42 am

All I know is, by nature hard drives are not meant to be hot-swappable. I can see that causing the problem if it has enough wiggle room where the prongs are located.
-Sammah
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Chris Pearse

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Re: Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostMon Mar 18, 2013 1:26 am

Hi Marcel,

Which Samsung SSDs are you using? I tested the Samsung 840 (Basic and Pro) series, and they seemed to have frequent mounting issues, both in the Cinema Camera and with some SATA docks.

Whilst I don't believe the problem is the slimmer SSDs, I would recommend always using a spacer with these in the Cinema Camera.
Last edited by Chris Pearse on Mon Mar 18, 2013 4:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
Chris Pearse
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Joe Gonzalez

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Re: Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostMon Mar 18, 2013 4:44 am

Marcel Beck wrote:Hello Blackmagic & Fellow Users,

So I ran into a small occurrence with the NO SSD warning. It happens when I turn on and off the camera several times over a period of few minutes, a typical scenario when your trying to save the internal battery and shoot only what you need.

I had a talks with a few reps, and came to the conclusion that it could be that the SSD has enough 'play' within the SSD Bay with the 7mm thickness compared to what SSD's usual thickness of 9.5mm (see picture below)

Image

On my Samsung 512SSD It came with a spacer that I stuck onto the SSD to bring it back to 9.5mm, It seemed to work until I was back in the field Runnin'n'gunnin, turned the camera off a few times only to see the warning again.

My question is, did anyone else run into this NO SSD warning after turning the camera on/off several times? Typically are you not supposed to turn it on and off like a spastic child?

Note: You need to redock the SSD and safely eject it to use it with the camera again.

I do not believe it to be a camera issue as I used the same SSDs for the entire day without turning the camera off, it focuses more on excessive boot ups and power downs.

Yes my Samsung 840 pro 256g do have problems with no SSD in camera. I just pull it out of the BMCC and put it back in and then it mounts.
Joe Gonzalez - Filmmaker/Photographer/Editor
www.thenewcinematographers.com
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Marcel Beck

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Re: Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostMon Mar 18, 2013 6:51 am

Chris Pearse wrote:Hi Marcel,

Which Samsung SSDs are you using? I tested the Samsung 840 (Basic and Pro) series, and they seemed to have frequent mounting issues, both in the Cinema Camera and with some SATA docks.

Whilst I don't believe the problem is the slimmer SSDs, I would recommend always using a spacer with these in the Cinema Camera.


Hello Chris, I have the Samsung 512GB 840 Pro Series 2.5" Solid State Drive. I also have the kingston 240GB which I believe if I can remember worked like a charm.

So I don't think it has to do with turning the camera on and off frequently but more on the drive?
Marcel Beck
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Chris Pearse

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Re: Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostMon Mar 18, 2013 7:05 am

I just checked the notes I made on these SSDs. The basic versions would drop frames randomly. But the Pro ones basically seemed to provide sufficient speed, when they worked. I didn't have the 512GB version to test, but tried the 128 and 256GB versions. They would occasionally not mount in the camera, and were pretty temperamental when it came to mounting in some docks too. Connected directly into a Mac Pro's SATA port they seemed to work fine. I suspect you're seeing the same problems.

I tested the Intel disks you can see on the certified SSD list shortly after the Samsungs, and they were rock solid.
Chris Pearse
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Marcel Beck

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Re: Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostMon Mar 18, 2013 7:19 am

Chris Pearse wrote:I just checked the notes I made on these SSDs. The basic versions would drop frames randomly. But the Pro ones basically seemed to provide sufficient speed, when they worked. I didn't have the 512GB version to test, but tried the 128 and 256GB versions. They would occasionally not mount in the camera, and were pretty temperamental when it came to mounting in some docks too. Connected directly into a Mac Pro's SATA port they seemed to work fine. I suspect you're seeing the same problems.

I tested the Intel disks you can see on the certified SSD list shortly after the Samsungs, and they were rock solid.


Yeah I had my battles with the Samsung's already, I'd literally shoot for an hour in ProRes, turn it off, move to location B turn it on and it said NO SSD... a bummer had to redock the card

I was looking into the Intel SSDs, just waiting a bit longer till they all get more affordable.
Marcel Beck
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Andreas Kaufmann

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Re: Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostTue May 28, 2013 8:19 pm

Hi BM-Support,

I have a Samsung MZ-7PC256B/WW 256GB SSD and have my camera since a week. I was shooting about 2 hours with the camera. Everything worked perfect. Even in raw there was no frame dropping. Suddenly the camera couldn't recognise the SSD. When I push in the SSD it just says no SSD. Already tried formatting the disk about 5 times (exfat and macos). Computer can still recognise the SSD. Can you tell me whats the problem?

Unfortunately I don't have other SSD's at the moment and can't try them out.
Please help BM.

Andreas
www.andreas-kaufmann.net
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John Bartman

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Re: Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostWed May 29, 2013 8:54 am

Mine won´t register either. Was there a solution for this?
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sean mclennan

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Re: Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostWed May 29, 2013 3:17 pm

John Bartman wrote:Mine won´t register either. Was there a solution for this?


Care to update this Bartman? Wasn't your issue a computer problem on your end?
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Budimir Grom

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Re: Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostThu Aug 22, 2013 1:10 pm

I'm using exFAT on 840 Pro (512 GB) and everything's great so far. Haven't tried ProRes though. Only DNG. But I guess it doesn't matter in this regard.
Voting for None of The Above (nopo.rs)
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Jules Bushell

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Re: Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostThu Aug 22, 2013 1:21 pm

I've had no problem with the 840 Pro (512GB) in RAW or ProRes or with mounting or switching BMCC on/off. I hope it keeps going that way.

Jules
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Manuel Lopez

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Re: Just Curious (NO SSD)

PostSun Dec 15, 2013 12:40 am

With kingstone kc300 480gb, same thing. Suddenly "no ssd", when turning on the camera after a interview. Computer Bios dont recognize it even connected to motherboard sata port.

Googling i found this:

A sudden power loss is most common cause for a system to fail to recognize an SSD. In most cases, your SSD can be returned to normal operating condition by completing a power cycle, a process that will take approximately one hour.

We recommend you perform this procedure on a desktop computer because it allows you to only connect the SATA power connection, which improves the odds of the power cycle being successful. However, a USB enclosure with an external power source will also work. Apple and Windows desktop users follow the same steps.

1. Once you have the drive connected and sitting idle, simply power on the computer and wait for 20 minutes. We recommend that you don't use the computer during this process.

2. Power the computer down and disconnect the drive from the power connector for 30 seconds.

3. Reconnect the drive, and repeat steps 1 and 2 one more time.

4. Reconnect the drive normally, and boot the computer to your operating system.

5. If the latest firmware has not been updated to your drive, do so. You can find our firmware update page here.

A laptop computer will also work, but you’ll have to connect the drive and navigate to the system's BIOS menu. (Please refer to your system manufacturer’s documentation on how to access the BIOS.) Allowing the drive to sit in the BIOS will improve the odds that the power cycle will work. For laptops, we don’t recommended using a USB enclosure powered via USB. In addition, Apple users must hold the Option key while they power on the system (with the SSD installed). This will boot the Mac to the Startup Manager screen. The Startup Manager screen works like the BIOS screen on a laptop, in that it gives the drive power without any data throughput.

1. Laptop users will need to be in the BIOS menu, or Mac Startup Manager as stated above. The computer will need to stay powered for 20 minutes. We recommend you don’t use the laptop during this process.

2. Power the computer down and disconnect the drive for 30 seconds, by removing it from the drive bay. If you have an mSATA drive, remove it from the port.

3. Reconnect the drive, and repeat steps 1 and 2 one more time.

4. Reconnect the drive normally, and boot the computer to your operating system.

5. If the latest firmware is has not been updated to your drive, do so. Click here for our firmware updates.

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