Local Storage Bandwidth Specifications
The following charts include both theoretical bandwidth and actual throughput speeds for specific local storage devices. There is a difference in these values due to the overhead required to physically transmit the data as well as other limiting factors.
For calculation purposes:
- 1 Byte (B) = 8 bits (b)
- 1 MegaByte per second (MB/s) = 8 Megabits per second (Mb/s)
- HD and SD Media Bandwidth Specifications
- DNxHR Codec Bandwidth Specifications
Technology:
| Drive Read/Write Bandwidth Comparison | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderbolt | PCIe flash | |||||||
| Storage | Promise Pegasus R6 | Promise M4 SSD | Lacie Little Big Disk | M.2 | HP Z-turbo | Apple on board | ||
| Drive technology | 6x SATA drives | 4x SSD | 2x Flash | 1x flash | 1x flash | 1x flash | ||
| Single Drive Speed | 100 MB/s | 500 MB/s | N/A | N/A | ||||
| SCSI/SAS limit (1 port) | 6Gb/s | 6Gb/s | N/A | N/A | ||||
| Theoretical limit | TB1 = 10Gb/s TB2 = 20Gb/s | TB2 20Gb/s | TB2 20Gb/s | x2 PCIe 8Gb/s | x4 PCIe 16Gb/s | x2 PCIe 8Gb/s | ||
| Actual Throughput Speeds in MB/Sec. | ||||||||
| Read Single Channel | 500 | 1200+ | 1375 | 750 | 1100 | 900 | ||
| Write Single Channel | 500 | 1000+ | 1180 | 700 | 930 | 800 | ||
| Drive Read/Write Bandwidth Comparison | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCSI (EOL technology) | SAS | |||||||||||
| Storage | Mediadock U320 | VideoRaid RTR320 5 drive | VideoRaid RTR320X 10 drive | VideoRaid RTR320X 20 drive | VideoRaid ST 5 drive | VideoRaid ST 10 drive | VideoRaid SR 8 drive | VideoRaid SR 16 drive | Xtore 5 drive | Xtore 16 drive | ||
| Drive technology | SCSI | IDE | IDE | IDE | SATA | SATA | SATA | SATA | SATA | SATA | ||
| Single Drive Speed | 80MB/s | 50MB/s | 50MB/s | 50MB/s | 90MB/s | 90MB/s | 90MB/s | 90MB/s | 90MB/s | 90MB/s | ||
| SCSI/SAS limit (1 port) | 265MB/s | 265MB/s | N/A | N/A | 3Gb/s | N/A | 3Gb/s | 3Gb/s | 3Gb/s | 3Gb/s | ||
| SCSI/SAS limit (2 port) | 530MB/s | N/A | 530MB/s | 530MB/s | N/A | Dual 3Gb/s | N/A | N/A | Dual 3Gb/s | N/A | ||
| Actual Throughput Speeds in MB/Sec. | ||||||||||||
| Read Single Channel | 265 | 200 | N/A | N/A | 300 | N/A | 360 | 685 | 400 | 400 | ||
| Read Dual channel | 480 | N/A | 350 | 400 | N/A | 480 | N/A | N/A | 750 | N/A | ||
| Write Single Channel | 265 | 160 | N/A | N/A | 300 | N/A | 340 | 560 | 400 | 450 | ||
| Write Dual channel | 380 | N/A | 320 | 360 | N/A | 400 | N/A | N/A | 750 | N/A | ||
Due to the popularity of today’s HD and High-Resolution workflows, the above charts do not include information about USB, Firewire or other storage technologies. Though they may be popular or affordable, these formats do not have the necessary throughput to be very useful in today’s production environments.
As an example, one stream of Uncompressed HD (8-bit, 1080i @ 59.94fps) required a bandwidth of 120MB/s to play back. As you can see based on the estimated actual throughput below, the following technologies are incapable of playing back a single stream of this media type:
| Technology | Theoretical Bandwidth | Estimated Actual Throughput |
| Firewire 400 (1995) | 400Mb/s | 35 MB/s |
| USB 2.0 (2000) | 480Mb/s | 40 MB/s |
| Firewire 800 (2002) | 800Mb/s | 70 MB/s |
| USB 3.0 (2010) | 5Gb/s | 100 MB/s |