Just to add my twopence worth here...
Unfortunately it's not the case that all servers can read NTFS. Almost all can, but I've encountered some that can't. And one was in the past month so it remains a current issue. I'm afraid I can't remember server make/model.
I would also warn against Paragon's EXT driver on Mac. I've had some terrible problems using it and now completely abandoned it. It worked fine for it's stated purpose but caused problems with Mac format drives over USB3. It was responsible for completely borking my RAID among other horrors.
Totally agree with CJ about following the standard. This is the whole point of DCP - if a DCP plays in one place, it should play anywhere - that's the reason for having a public standard. Anything else and you're asking for a panicked phone call the one day, the one time when you least need it.
I keep a cheap linux box under my desk and it's the only thing I
ever use to load up drives. I work on Macs mostly and then copy
over the network. That Linux box cost £100 and is worth it's
weight in gold.
However, it's a bugbear of mine that, now that DCP-o-matic has
put the power to films to screen back in the hands of filmmakers
and cinemas, without exorbitant post house rates, the one sticking
point now seems to be getting the damn thing on a drive! It's one
of the few remaining barriers to full democratisation of this
technology.
Jim
Manuel, hello
I understand that NTFS often works in many servers (and that if you are going to use NTSF that best results come if it is formatted with MRB). But it doesn’t have to. As DCPs move toward SMPTE Compliance, new server software and firmware is released more often and is more complicated. A new update for any server could pass inspection without NTSF working. NTSF is a proprietary format of Microsoft and some company may decide that they don’t want to have the liability of using MS code in their system, or to pay for it or the alternative source for the code.
Ext2 is the standard.
The professional thing to do is to follow the standard. If the originator of material wasn’t a professional before, he is a professional now. And we as suppliers should be professional and make certain to tell them how to step up their game from lens to lens. Following the spec is the only way to make that happen.
Thanks Leslie. Just to round out your info. I use Paragon’s ExtFS for the Mac, and it is very good for reading and writing. Formatting to any ext formats is straightforward if you are going for the 256 inode size. But changing the inode to 128 is not on the list. Actually, Paragon have sent me a command that is supposed to work, but it is completely undocumented, and I haven’t had a chance to try it.
Is that your experience with Windows? Or does it have an easy way to write inode 128?
Thanks, and sorry for the rant Manuel.
C J
On Jan 10, 2017, at 22:59 000PM, Manuel AC via DCPomatic <dcpomatic@carlh.net> wrote:
Just sent it in an NTFS formatted disk. If possible make sure that the partition table is MBR and not GUID or something else.Being in a windows machine is the easiest and safest. It will work without any problem.
_______________________________________________
On Wed, Jan 11, 2017 at 1:14 AM, Leslie Hartmier via DCPomatic <dcpomatic@carlh.net> wrote:
If you have no experience with it, you should get someone else to format the drive, and you use ext2fsd, ext2 IFS, or Paragon's EXTFS for Windows to copy the DCP to the drive. Windows does not exactly support linux partitions very well.
The instructions below are amazing, but they are a bit daunting if you've never done it before.
Leslie
Thank for the information. I was hoping I could format a USB memory stick to EXT2 on my Windows machine and then copy the DCP file structure onto that EXT2 formatted USB memory stick. I don't have Linux on my Windows machine. I don't know Linux. Is this possible?
On Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 5:01 PM, cjflynn@digitaltesttools.com <cjflynn@digitaltesttools.com> wrote:
Leslie is correct that the DCP creation platform is not relevant.
But I think it is a mistake to follow the advice of submitting your work on the opposite format of what the festival have asked for…even if they asked in an odd sort of way.
It is true that some software versions of some media servers will accept FAT32. But there are some that don’t and the festival seems pretty specific about what they want. They do that because there is only one formatted drive specification that all cinema systems must use.
That is the EXT2 that Leslie mentioned.
And, make certain that if someone makes this drive for you that they make the inode size 128, since that is in the DCI and ISDCF and SMPTE specifications.
And, if the drive was originally formatted in FAT32, you’ll be limited to a 4 Gig file size, regardless of the size of the drive. First format in exFAT, or leave it with NTSF if that is what it was bought as.
Here is what I do.The ISDCF document gives the following command line in a linux type system.
mkfs -t ext3 -I 128 -m 0 /dev/xddN
with xddN being the drive ‘name’, which is most often something like ‘sdb1’ – you can find that name by the command
Then unmount withsudo lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT,LABEL
sudo umount /dev/sdb1And here are two other formatting commands that work. Myself, I prefer the last one since it allows me to name the partition as it is being made.
sudo mke2fs -t ext3 -I 128 -L DCPs 0 /dev/sdb1 – slightly different command set
sudo mkfs.ext3 -I 128 -m 0 -L your-chosen-name-of-drive /
dev/sdb1 – this one adds a disk name (change "DiskName" to 'my_dcp_drive' or whatever name you want to give it) while formatting and partitioning...change that 'sdb1' to the proper partition number.Formatting the disk is not so quick – Those Superblocks might take a few minutes to assemble.
Follow up by giving permissions to the drive with: (755 is usually recommended, but I use 777 for myself)
sudo chmod -R 777 /media/Your_Login_USER_NAME/yo
ur-chosen-name-of-drive You might find that you need to change ownership
sudo chown owner:owner /media/owner/your-chosen-name-
of-drive I usually put my name twice, such as 'cj:cj', then '/media/cj/ctt_dcps'
I hope this helps. I’d hate you to have a black screen after getting this far. Good luck. Tell us how it worked out and what you ended up doing.C J Flynn
On Jan 10, 2017, at 15:45 000PM, Leslie Hartmier via DCPomatic <dcpomatic@carlh.net> wrote:
______________________________No, the platform you use to create the DCP is not relevant. They may be wanting the content on a EXT2 drive.
If it is small enough, you can provide it on a USB thumb drive formatted using FAT32. (Most USB drives come formatted that way.)
Leslie
Hello
I've used DCP-o-Matic on a Windows machine to create a DCP for a short film I made. Worked great. I entered the short film in a film festival and got accepted. They are asking me for a Linux compatible DCP. Do I need to create the DCP on Linux for it to be Linux compatible?
Thanks
Joseph_________________
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