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Author Topic: Drive Fail Rate Ed Forth Film Handler Posts: 11 From: Syracuse, NY, USA Registered: Jul 2010 posted 07-23-2011 01:46 PM                        Yes, I meant the drives that the features/trailers shipped on. And yes, it's a Sony Projector. (Since we're one screen, I don't even have a server, just the projector's RAID for storage) So hopefully it was just a fluke (although I think I'll just blame all you snooty first-run guys for breaking the drives. It wasn't enough to scratch up all my prints when we were doing film??? )  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-23-2011 02:36 PM                     (...gee, that was a bit uncouth to post...) - we know better than to drop drives..  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-23-2011 03:25 PM                     quote: Carsten Kurz They will probably then ship them in cushion envelopes instead of boxes. Here in the US Deluxe has actually shipped drives in generic UPS document boxes. Yeah they placed a piece of bubble wrap in there, but that in no way will protect the drive. That was a TERRIBLE idea, but from a bean counter's perspective I see why they tried it. If UPS would pay for their shipping boxes, then that would be another dollar they could save. In the end though, the math is there that in no way would that actually save money due to the replacement drives they would have to buy and the panic "same day" freight shipments required for drives damaged in transit. Deluxe is also the only company that still ships those HORRIBLE USB only antique drives. Until they all die, they will keep re-using them and re-using them. I wouldn't cry if those drives got accidentally dropped down a flight of stairs, then accidentally got dropped down a flight of stairs again. Those really should be taken out of circulation and CRU only drives shipped.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-23-2011 03:37 PM                     Yea, those "Addonics" units - totally horrible...looks like they're still using "hot swapping" sled units of a decade ago.. Cinedigm used to have a horrible USB one as well (the round edged blue ones..), but they got smart and eliminated those  |  IP: Logged Ed Forth Film Handler Posts: 11 From: Syracuse, NY, USA Registered: Jul 2010 posted 07-23-2011 06:16 PM                        quote: Monte L Fullmer (...gee, that was a bit uncouth to post...) - we know better than to drop drives.. Just some friendly ribbing from the tail end of the distribution chain  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-24-2011 09:45 AM                     Yea Brad... those bubble packed drives... I couldn't believe it the forst time I saw one. I thought they had just run out of shipping cases or something... but then another one arrived. Thankfully all but one fo the the drives I've seen arrive have worked. USB has to be kept an option and the switch to USB3 at the dcp level needs to start now. I don't think USB3 will be a bad way to ingest. You still will need USB just in case a drive case is bent and won't slide into the CRU bay. Mark  |  IP: Logged Adam Fraser Master Film Handler Posts: 499 From: Houghton Lake, MI, USA Registered: Dec 2001 posted 07-24-2011 10:10 AM                        A bit off topic, but is Sony the only brand that you can run without a server for a single screen install? Any disadvantages to running without a server or is it built into the Sony projectors?  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-24-2011 11:11 AM                        and going a little further off topic: quote: Carsten Kurz because they regularly find weird stuff,alien data, viruses, etc. Does this mean there is potential for digital attacks on theatres?  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 07-24-2011 11:13 AM                     quote: Mark Gulbrandsen I don't think USB3 will be a bad way to ingest. You still will need USB just in case a drive case is bent and won't slide into the CRU bay. Devil's Advocate: The people who are still using the USB-only drives Brad's complaining about are gonna take forever to use USB3... so it's all moot.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-24-2011 12:13 PM                     Thank you Chris. And also Mark, the cost to upgrade to cru drives to a USB3 connector...not going to happen.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-25-2011 12:50 AM                     quote: Adam Fraser Any disadvantages to running without a server or is it built into the Sony projectors? It's called a "media block", and it's located in the lower section of the unit below the light engine assembly.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 07-25-2011 04:49 AM                     quote: Martin McCaffery Does this mean there is potential for digital attacks on theatres? Depends. So far, this kind of alien data would only be transferred to the drives when they are connected to a Windows machine, or in general, a machine with a popular OS with potential for virus spreading. As most DCI servers run under Linux, there is little potential for any general viruses to have an effect on a server. Also, these drives are usually mounted on the servers in a special way for ingest only, that is, usually only dedicated DCP content will be copied from it. Of course, if these drives automount, there could always be some remaining risks for contamination by the usual methods like buffer overflows in the mount mechanism, etc. Anyway - to contaminate a cinema server, a virus would probably have to be tailored to the software that runs on the server. Not impossible to do, but I see no reason why anyone would invest this effort for the relative small number of potential targets and distribution methods. Servers like the Doremi run from a write-protected flash disc, so there is even less risk that an infection would survive the next reboot. There are some servers running under Windows, and there is a potential drive automount vulnerability that has been exploited widely by contaminated USB sticks. Don't know if that ever happened to a DCI server in the field. I would think that the server manufacturers will apply the necessary security fixes in these cases. I would think that an online connection of the server is a higher risk, since from the network side, it just looks as another Linux machine with the usual set of network protocols - and potentially 24/7 vulnerability. Even if no specific attacks can contaminate the server, they could still cause some stirr on the network and interrupt a show. So a good firewall is mandatory. I heard of cinemas having the servers connected to a plain-vanilla ADSL router with an open or badly protected WIFI. Not a good idea I guess. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged

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