--- ### HDDs - HARD DISK DRIVES (Spinners) #### ENTERPRISE-CLASS HARD DRIVES - 💲 Highest density (capacity), at the most affordable cost-per-[[Gigabyte\|Gigabyte]]. - ⚠️ HDD prices of Enterprise-class Hard Drives in May 2026 have inflated by 20-40% since mid-2024, and are projected to rise further, as supply continues to tighten. - Enterprise-class HDDs are designed specifically to withstand and perform well in sustained, demanding environments such as Digital Cinema (and Datacenters). - Not to be conflated with 'Bargain' HDDs, which are often constructed with components and specs that are ***NOT*** suitable for the sustained demands of Digital Cinema offloads, editing, and renders. - Historically speaking, Enterprise-class 'Pro' HDDs have long held a reputation for being the most-economical, stable means of storing, and working-with mass quantities of high-performance data for the long-term. ##### EXTERNAL HDDs (Enterprise Class) - [SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE - USB-C](https://www.westerndigital.com/en-ca/products/external-drives/g-drive-usb-c-hdd?sku=SDPHF1A-008T-NBAAD) - MODELS - 6TB - SDPHF1A-006T-NBAAD - 8TB - SDPHF1A-008T-NBAAD - 12TB - SDPHF1A-012T-NBAAD - VENDORS - [DVshop.ca](https://www.dvshop.ca/drives/gdrive.html) - [Codes Pro Media](https://www.codespromedia.com/productlist?keyword=G-DRIVE) - [Vistek](https://www.vistek.ca/search/sale?q=G-Drive) - [LaCie d2 Professional - USB-C](https://www.seagate.com/ca/en/products/creative-pro/lacie-d2/) - MODELS - 4TB - STHA4000800 - 8TB - STHA8000800 - 10TB - STHA10000800 - etc - VENDORS - [DVshop.ca](https://www.dvshop.ca/drives/lacied2drives.html) - [Codes Pro Media](https://www.codespromedia.com/productlist?keyword=LaCie+d2+Pro) - [Vistek](https://www.vistek.ca/search/sale?q=lacie%20d2%20Pro) %% ##### INTERNAL HDDs - %% ##### EXTERNAL RAID ARRAYs [LaCie 2big RAID 0-or-1](https://www.seagate.com/products/creative-pro/lacie-2big-raid/) - ⚠️ For RAID-1 configuration, divide all capacities below by a factor of 2. Eg. 8TB @ RAID-1 = 4TB - 8TB - STHJ8000800 - 16TB - STHJ16000800 - 28TB - STHJ28000800 - etc. - VENDORS - B&H - [Adorama - USD](https://www.adorama.com/lacie-2big-raid-28tb-2-bay-usb-c-hard-drive-array/p/vdlj28000800) - [Insight - USD](https://www.insight.com/en_US/search.html?q=lacie+2big+raid&qsrc=k&tabType=products&country=US&instockOnly=false&start=0&salesOrg=2400&sessionId=B162A34611B0CD06897C958B18B94E9C.appprd3-2&lang=en_US&rows=50&userSegment=CES) ### SSDs - SOLID STATE DRIVES - As of May 2026, the prices of many SSDs suitable for Digital Cinema have inflated by 300-400%+ year-over-year. - [[SanDisk\|SanDisk]] not only markets SSDs, they also manufacture Flash Storage components for Solid State Drives. As a result, SanDisk maintains better stock of supply and competitive prices for SSDs, compared to other manufacturers such as LaCie, who must outsource fundamental components for their Solid-State media. - SanDisk Extreme (Non-Pro) external SSD’s are among the most ‘affordable’ SSDs available on the market at this time. - ⚠️ BEWARE - The USB-C bus jack of external SSDs is vulnerable to irreparable damage, if the cable is left connected when packed, stored, or carried. - LTO Tape for large-scale, long-term Archival may be likely to become resurgent and more economical than HDD storage. ##### EXTERNAL SSDs ###### Sandisk Extreme 'Portable' (V2) - SPECIFICATIONS - [[BUS, JACK\|BUS, JACK]] - [[USB-C\|USB-C]] - [[BUS, PROTOCOL\|BUS, PROTOCOL]] - [[USB 3.2, Gen 2 'SuperSpeed+'\|USB 3.2, Gen 2 'SuperSpeed+']] - [[BUS, BANDWIDTH\|BUS, BANDWIDTH]] - Up to 10 [[Gbps - Gigabits per second\|Gbps]] (≈1.25 [[GBps - GigaBytes per second\|GB/s]]) - POWER SUPPLY - [[Bus-Powered\|Bus-Powered]] - CONTROLLER PROTOCOL - [[NVMe\|NVMe]] - FLASH TYPE - [[NAND, 3D]] - [[TLC\|TLC]] - SPEED, READ - 1050 [[MBps - MegaBytes per Second\|MB/s]] - SPEED, WRITE - 1000 [[MBps - MegaBytes per Second\|MB/s]] - RATING - [[IP65 Shock, Water, & Dust Resistance]] - WARRANTY - 5 Year limited - VENDORS - [SanDisk](https://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/external-ssd/portable-ssd-sandisk-extreme-usb-3-2?sku=SDSSDE61-4T00-G25) - [DVshop.ca](https://dvshop.ca/drives/sdexssd.html) - [Vistek](https://www.vistek.ca/search/sale?q=Sandisk%20extreme%20pro&hierarchicalMenu%5Bcategories.lvl0%5D%5B0%5D=Digital%20Storage) - MODELS - CAPACITIES - 500 GB - 1 TB - 2 TB - 4 TB - 8 TB ###### WesternDigital 'My Passport' External SSD - SPECIFICATIONS - [[BUS, JACK\|BUS, JACK]] - [[USB-C\|USB-C]] - [[BUS, PROTOCOL\|BUS, PROTOCOL]] - [[USB 3.2, Gen 2 'SuperSpeed+'\|USB 3.2, Gen 2 'SuperSpeed+']] - [[BUS, BANDWIDTH\|BUS, BANDWIDTH]] - Up to 10 [[Gbps - Gigabits per second\|Gbps]] (≈1.25 [[GBps - GigaBytes per second\|GB/s]]) - POWER SUPPLY - [[Bus-Powered\|Bus-Powered]] - CONTROLLER PROTOCOL - [[NVMe\|NVMe]] - FLASH TYPE - [[NAND, 3D]] - [[TLC\|TLC]] - SPEED, READ - 1050 [[MBps - MegaBytes per Second\|MB/s]] - SPEED, WRITE - 1000 [[MBps - MegaBytes per Second\|MB/s]] - RATING - [[Drop-resistance]] ≤ 1.98m - WARRANTY - 5 Year limited - VENDORS - [SanDisk](https://www.sandisk.com/en-ca/products/ssd/external-ssd/wd-my-passport-usb-3-2-ssd?sku=WDBAGF0040BGY-WESN) - [Best Buy Canada](https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/wd-my-passport-2tb-external-solid-state-drive-wdbagf0020bgy-wesn-grey/14916471) - [Staples](https://www.staples.ca/products/2997398-en-western-digital-my-passport-2tb-usb-32-external-solid-state-drive-red?CID=PS:GS:CA:::::pla:21203669721&CampaignID=21203669721&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21203676126&gbraid=0AAAAAD_dfLpzd0roeOUd0EfStqVqneQw8&gclid=CjwKCAjwuuPRBhAnEiwA2Ji8ejWeZ3ls5jJuzaZEWZ0GlOGcTYSkIgC-qD0TdgRaIlyTlNvCm2UVDRoCsvIQAvD_BwE) - MODELS - CAPACITIES - 500 GB - 1 TB - 2 TB - 4 TB ## CONTEXT ### 2026 SUPPLY SHOCK As of [[260523Sat]], the storage media market has and continues to be subject to a global supply-and-price shock. The primary factor driving recent spikes in prices, and severely-limiting the availability of certain models of storage devices, has been ascribed to the ongoing boom in construction and outfitting of [[AI Datacenters\|AI Datacenters]]. The scale of this boom in the generation and accumulation of digital information and retention of data is unprecedented, and is resulting in substantial [[inflation\|inflation]] of Average Sales Prices of Enterprise-Class storage media, year-over-year, and even month-to-month. A general assumption by the public has been that the material generated through the use of cloud-based AI chat clients, agents, and generative engines (for images, video, and audio), is that the material generated through those queries is 'ephemeral', or that it is merely temporary, and is discarded in the near-term. This is not the case. Most cloud-based AI services accumulate and store all of the content which has been generated by their users. This is how registered users retain access to their complete query history (eg ChatGPT; Perplexity), or to every iteration of generative AI videos a user has ever made via (eg HiggsField). ## ALSO - [SSD vs HDD: Gaming, Speed, and Data Transfer | Sandisk](https://www.sandisk.com/en-ca/solutions/ssd-vs-hdd) - [Learn More About SSDs | Internal, External & Portable SSDs | Sandisk](https://www.sandisk.com/en-ca/solutions/solid-state-drives) - [SSDs - Choose by Sub-Category | Sandisk](https://www.sandisk.com/en-ca/support/category-selection?cat=solid-state-drives-ssd) - [iPhone External Storage | Sandisk](https://www.sandisk.com/en-ca/solutions/iphone-external-storage) - [SanDisk PRO-CINEMA CFexpress Type B Card Recorder Compatible With MagSafe | Sandisk](https://www.sandisk.com/en-ca/products/accessories/memory-card-readers/sandisk-pro-cinema-cfexpress-type-b-card-recorder?sku=SDDR-F941-GNKNN) ---