--- ### 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, and 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 - %% ### 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]] - WARRANTY - 5 Year limited - VENDORS - [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 - ⚠️ There are many families and models of the SanDisk Extreme SSD. The following are considered to meet the above specs, which are reasonably suited to, and affordable(ish), for 4K Digital Cinema. | Capacity | Color | SKU | Spec match | | -------- | -------- | ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 500GB | Black | SDSSDE61-500G-G25 | Yes sandisk+1 | | 1TB | Black | SDSSDE61-1T00-G25 | Yes sandisk+1 | | 1TB | Sky Blue | SDSSDE61-1T00-G25B | Yes [sandisk](https://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/external-ssd/portable-ssd-sandisk-extreme-usb-3-2) | | 1TB | Monterey | SDSSDE61-1T00-G25M | Yes [sandisk](https://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/external-ssd/portable-ssd-sandisk-extreme-usb-3-2) | | 2TB | Black | SDSSDE61-2T00-G25 | Yes newegg+1 | | 2TB | Sky Blue | SDSSDE61-2T00-G25B | Yes [sandisk](https://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/external-ssd/portable-ssd-sandisk-extreme-usb-3-2) | | 2TB | Monterey | SDSSDE61-2T00-G25M | Yes [sandisk](https://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/external-ssd/portable-ssd-sandisk-extreme-usb-3-2) | | 4TB | Black | SDSSDE61-4T00-G25 | Yes sandisk+1 | | 4TB | Sky Blue | SDSSDE61-4T00-G25B | Yes [sandisk](https://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/external-ssd/portable-ssd-sandisk-extreme-usb-3-2) | | 4TB | Monterey | SDSSDE61-4T00-G25M | Yes [sandisk](https://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/external-ssd/portable-ssd-sandisk-extreme-usb-3-2) | | 8TB | Black | SDSSDE61-8T00-G25 | Yes sandisk+1 | ## CONTEXT ### 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. This digital revolution is resulting in substantial inflation of Average Sales Prices of Enterprise-Class storage media, year-over-year. A general assumption by the public has been that the material generated through the use of AI chat clients, agents, and generative engines (for images, video, and audio), is that the material generated in those queries is 'ephemeral', or that it is merely temporary, and is discarded in the near-term. This is not the case. Most AI services accumulate all of the content which has been generated by their user base. This is how registered users retain access to their complete ChatGPT / Perplexity history (for example), or to every iteration of generative AI videos a user has ever made via HiggsField. The scale of this boom in the generation and accumulation of digital information and retention of data is unprecedented. ## 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) ---