Blackmagic HyperDeck Extreme HDR User Manual Storage Media

HyperDeck Extreme can record to CFast cards via the two front panel slots, external storage connected via the rear USB-C port or network storage via the Ethernet connection. With Blackmagic MultiDock 10G, you can have 4 SSD’s connected at once!

Depending on your workflow and desired recording resolution, you may already have CFast cards or external disks fast enough to use. For example, standard definition workflows, such as archiving from Digital Betacam to file, will not require the fastest media. For workflows recording the highest resolutions, such as 8K video, media with higher write speeds is required. When recording to network storage, using the optional internal cache is important to ensure your recordings don’t end unexpectedly in the event of a network outage or when there is a lot of traffic on the network. As with recording to CFast cards and external drives, the file will record to the cache initially before being copied over to the server.

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TIP The following approved media is based on recording 8K video to HyperDeck Extreme 8K HDR without the optional cache installed.

CFast Cards

When working with high data rates it is important to carefully check the CFast card you would like to use. This is because CFast 2.0 cards have different read and write speeds. The tables below identify the CFast cards recommended for use.

Choosing a CFast 2.0 Card

The following CFast 2.0 cards are recommended for recording 8K Apple ProRes LT up to 60 fps.

The following CFast 2.0 cards are recommended for recording Ultra HD ProRes LT up to 60fps.

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NOTE Slower CFast cards are compatible when the optional cache is installed. This is because the cache can accept overflow data when the card cannot keep up. However, it might take a few minutes for the cache to finish copying to the card when recording stops, depending on the speed of the media card.

USB Disk

With HyperDeck Extreme you can record directly to USB-C flash disks via the ‘ext disk’ USB-C connection. These fast, high capacity drives allow you to record video for long periods. You can then connect the flash disk to your computer and edit directly from them!

For even higher storage capacities, you can connect a USB-C dock or external hard drive.

To connect your Blackmagic MultiDock 10G or USB-C flash disk, connect a cable from your USB-C connected device to the ‘ext disk’ port on the rear of HyperDeck Extreme.

Choosing a USB Drive

The following USB-C drives are recommended for recording 8K ProRes HQ up to 60 fps.

The following external USB-C drives are recommended for recording 8K Apple ProRes LT up to 60 fps.

The following external USB-C drives are recommended for recording Ultra HD ProRes HQ up to 60fps.

The following external USB-C Drives recommended for recording Ultra HD ProRes 422 up to 60fps.

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TIP With the optional cache feature, you can even use slower CFast cards and external disks as the cache will continue recording even if there are problems with your media, no matter what resolution you are recording!

Preparing Media For Recording

Preparing Media on HyperDeck Extreme

CFast Cards and storage media connected via the rear ‘ext disk’ USB-C port can be formatted directly on the unit or via a Mac or Windows computer.

HFS+, is also known as Mac OS X Extended, and is the recommended format as it supports ‘journaling’. Data on journaled media is more likely to be recovered in the rare event that your storage media becomes corrupted. HFS+ is natively supported by Mac. exFAT is supported natively by Mac and Windows without needing any additional software, but does not support journaling.

Formatting Media on HyperDeck Extreme HDR:

1. Tap the drive area icon on the front panel to enter the storage manager.

2. Tap the format button to open the format menu. The two CFast cards will appear in the first two slots. The active USB drive will appear in the third slot. If the slot is empty or you have network storage selected, the slot will be disabled. Select the media you wish to format and tap the format media button.

3. If you want to rename the media, tap on the pencil icon to open the keyboard, type the new name using the touchscreen keyboard and press ‘update’.

4. Choose ‘Mac OS Extended’ or ‘exFat’ and tap the format button.

5. A confirmation window will appear detailing which card is to be formatted, the selected format option and the card name. Tap on the format button.

6. When prompted, hold down the format button for three seconds to format your media. Formatting will begin. While the card is being formatted the status led on the CFast slot will illuminate green.

7. Once formatting is complete, tap ‘ok’.

Preparing Media on a Computer

Formatting Media on a Mac Computer

The Disk Utility application included with Mac can format a drive in the HFS+ or exFAT formats. Make sure you back up anything important from your disk as you will lose everything on it when it is formatted.

1. Connect an SSD to your computer with an external dock or cable adapter and dismiss any message offering to use your SSD for Time Machine backups. For CFast cards, connect it to your computer via an external card reader.

2. Go to applications/utilities and launch Disk Utility.

3. Click on the disk icon of your SSD or CFast card and then click the erase tab.

4. Set the format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or exFAT.

5. Type a name for the new volume and then click erase. Your media will quickly be formatted and made ready for use with HyperDeck.

Formatting Media on a Windows computer

The format dialog box can format a drive in the exFAT format on a Windows PC. Make sure you back up anything important from your SSD or SD card as you will lose everything on it when it is formatted.

1. Connect an SSD to your computer with an external dock or cable adapter. For CFast cards, connect it to your computer via an external CFast card reader.

2. Open the start menu or start screen and choose computer. Right-click on your SSD or CFast card.

3. From the contextual menu, choose format.

4. Set the file system to exFAT and the allocation unit size to 128 kilobytes.

5. Type a volume label, select quick format and click Start.

6. Your media will quickly be formatted and made ready for use with HyperDeck.

Use the Format dialog box feature in Windows to format your SSD or CFast card in the exFAT format

Storage Indicators

The status of the storage media slots can be seen on the bottom toolbar of the main display.

These icons display the number, name, progress bar and status of the CFast slots and active external disk drive.

Number

Drives ‘1’ and ‘2’ show the two CFast card slots on the front panel. Drive ‘3’ shows the status of the external drive connected via the ‘ext disk’ USB-C port on the rear.

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TIP If you are using a drive hub you can connect multiple drives via the ‘ext disk’ connector on the rear. In this case the third drive icon will only display the active drive.

Name

The text to the right of the number is the name of the CFast card, USB drive or network storage folder. For CFast cards, USB drives and SSDs, this will be the name you selected when formatting the storage and is especially helpful if you are using the Blackmagic MultiDock in order to make sure you are playing or recording to the correct drive. For network storage, it will be the name of the network folder you have connected to.

Progress Bar

The bar icon will be either blue, white or red depending on its current status. The intensity of the color will also display the used space on the media.

	The blue drive icon indicates the active drive. If you press play, playback will start from this drive, if you want to record video, it will be to this drive.
	A white drive icon indicates there is storage media connected, but not active. A solid white icon indicates the drive is full.
	The bar will be red during recording.

Status

Text underneath the progress bar will display either the storage space remaining or the status of the slot.

Capacity remaining

When your storage media has space remaining, the duration available will be displayed in hours:minutes:seconds based on the current source format and your chosen codec and quality settings. If there is less than an hour left, it will display minutes:seconds remaining only.

If a valid source is not detected, the available storage remaining on the media will display in gigabytes or terabytes.

Slot status

‘No card’ and ‘no drive’ will display if there is no media connected to that drive slot.

Once a CFast card or drive is full, the icon will display ‘card full’ or ‘drive full’ so you know it’s time to swap out the storage media. If you have another CFast card inserted, the recording will automatically spill over and start recording onto it. If you have USB-C disk connected, the recording will spill over when the second CFast card is full.

A locked drive will be shown with ‘locked’ under the progress bar.

If you see ‘blocked’ display underneath the progress bar, this means you are unable to play or record to that media. To resume playback or recording on that CFast card or drive, eject it and reconnect. The CFast card or ext disk will now be available.

Active storage media

When using HyperDeck Extreme, you can connect up to 2 CFast cards, 5 ext drives and network storage all at once. This means you can access terabytes of recording space all from the one HyperDeck Extreme disk recorder!

If you only have a single drive or CFast card connected, it is your active media for all playback and recording.

If you are using more than one card or drive, you can select which one you want to use for recording and playback.

Selecting Active Media

1. Tap on the drive icon area in the bottom screen.

2. In the storage media window, three large icons will appear. Tap on the heading of the media you want to make active. In playback mode the active media will appear blue. In record mode the active drive will be red.

If you are using a dock to connect multiple external disks, such as the Blackmagic MultiDock 10G, or connecting to network storage locations, you can access the full list of attached drives by tapping below the heading on the third media slot.

To select an active drive from the drive list:

1. Tap the center of the storage icon to open the drive list. The current active drive is indicated by a blue line to the left of the name.

2. Select a drive from the list, once it is highlighted blue, press use drive. This drive will now be the active drive. Press exit to return to the previous screen. Once network storage is added, selected volumes will appear under the drive list. The blue line on the left hand side indicates which drive is selected.

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NOTE Spill recording is available when multiple cards and drives are connected. Your HyperDeck Extreme will automatically spill recording from one CFast card to another when it is full. Once the second CFast card is full, recording will spill over to the active USB disk.

Connecting to Network Storage

When HyperDeck Extreme disk recorders are connected to your network via Ethernet, you can use network storage for recording and playback. For example, recording clips to Blackmagic Cloud Store. Once your HyperDeck Extreme and network storage are on the same network, you can add the network storage location to HyperDeck Extreme. It’s worth noting that the optional cache is needed when recording to network storage to prevent the recording ending in the event of a network outage or dropout.

To add network storage:

1. Tap on the storage icons in the lower toolbar on the HyperDeck Extreme to open the storage display.

2. Tap the ‘network’ button on the lower right hand corner of the display.

3. Servers on your network will appear in the list view. If you can find your preferred server, tap the name to highlight it and tap the ‘connect’ button. When prompted enter your username and password or tap ‘connect as guest’ if your storage does not require credentials.

4. Tap on the shared disk. To select the volume and record files in the first folder, tap on the ‘choose’ button. To navigate within the shared disk to find different folder, tap on ‘open’.

5. Continue navigating within the file path or tap ‘choose’ to select the current folder or tap ‘new folder’ to create a new location. The menu will return to the drive list.

6. The mounted storage folder will now appear under the third media icon. Tap on ‘exit’ to return to the main display.

Add more folders or volumes by repeating the steps. Once multiple network locations are added, they will appear in a list and you can select between each by highlighting the folder in the list and tapping ‘use drive’.

To remove a volume, select it in the list and tap ‘remove drive’.

If your shared server isn’t seen by HyperDeck Extreme, you can also add network drive manually using the touch screen.

To add network storage manually:

1. Tap on the storage icons in the lower toolbar on the HyperDeck Extreme to open the storage display.

2. Tap the ‘network’ button on the lower right hand corner of the display and tap on ‘add manually’.

3. Using the touchscreen keyboard enter the address for your network share. This might be an IP address or the network server name.

4. Tap ‘connect’. A confirmation window will appear as the connection is made. Once connected, select your folder using the list.

Once you’ve mounted folders from the network they will appear in the list when selecting your active drive. For more information on selecting an active drive, refer to ‘active media’ earlier in this manual.