These are my musings on how to minimise and streamline the amount of kit needed for an on-set Datawranglers kit.

I would like to build a cyberdeck to use on set for datawrangling.

It would be great to hear advise from the community to guide me as this is a first attempt at any sort of computer hardware reconfiguration and upcycling.

I will start uploading pics and design thoughts soon.

Ultimately I am going to have to start small and gradually add functionality and the list below is way out of my comfort zone at present but I am pretty confident by being methodical I can get something slapped together.

I managed to be lucky enough to have an employer gift me a HP Elitebook 8440p an HP Probook 850 G2 and an IPAD2.

Using the components I would like to attempt to build the entire thing into a pelican case and have a wish list of functionality.

I will upgrade these as much as humanly possible to get the fastest transfer speeds and provide redundancy in the form of a secondary computer which utilizes the same breakout ports and power in case of failure.

I am aiming to be able to match or approach an industry standard setup.

Where (and this is not current) the main workstation is something like a  Mid 2012 15" Retina MacBook Pro 2.6GHZ Quad Core CPU, 1GB GPU, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD or better.

Obviously I am looking to keep costs as low as possible and am looking to combine where possible technologies such as cables that have different ports but all attach to mainboard via USB-C 3.2 Thunderbolt connection. So like a spliced cable with multiple ports to a single USB-C3 plug. Or possibly selected via hardware switch.

The Most Basic Description of functionality is.

Transcoding Footage

Backing up source DATA on CAMERA SSD's to multiple destination SSD's

Hash Checking Data at multiple points during the transfer process
Playback and Visual inspection of Footage
Erasing SSD / Media Cards and SSD / Card Prep including labeling repeatedly over a day.
Logging Footage Information
Syncing Footage to Cloud and / or local NAS Drives / RAID's

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I pulled a lot of these specs for reference from

SOURCE: https://filmdrives.com/blogs/blog/whats-in-a-data-kit

DATA TRANSFER

The main focus is on redundancy and speed of transfer using multiple backups simultaneously from a Camera SSD card such as  RED PRO CFAST 512GB - https://www.red.com/red-pro-cfast-parent

To 3 x 1TB SSD's

Via 

USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 for fast ingestion of CFexpress (20 Gb/s) = = (Thunderbolt 3?)

USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gb/s) = = (Thunderbolt 3?)

CARDREADERS

Codex Mag Readers, Codex CFast Readers, RED Mag Readers, XQD Card Readers, etc. Card Readers that the Data Wrangler could have in their kit include SD/CF Card Reader, SxS Card Reader, CFast Card Reader. 

SD/CF CARD READER - (Essential)

like Lexar USB3.0 SD/CF Card Reader

SxS CARD READER - (Essential)

Like Sony USB3.0 SxS Card Reader

CFAST 2.0 CARD READER - (Optional)

Like  Lexar CFast Reader or SanDisk CFast Card Reader.

KANEX THUNDERBOLT TO USB3.0 ADAPTER - (Essential)

APPLE THUNDERBOLT ADAPTERS - (Essential)

USB-C to THUNDERBOLT 3 x2
USB-C to USB TYPE-A
THUNDERBOLT 2 to FIREWIRE 800
THUNDERBOLT 2 to ETHERNET

SD TO MicroSD ADAPTERS - (Essential) Preferably built in somehow

HARD DRIVE DOCKING STATION - (Optional)

Like  a VoyagerQ HDD Docking Station which sports USB3.0, FW800 and eSATA Connection. It requires external power to run and ships with a power adapter.

CABLES - (It would be awesome to have a really elegant cable management system to prevent shit being everywhere and to provide quick access to all types of ports)

USB-C to USB-C CABLE x2
STANDARD USB3.0 CABLE x6
1M THUNDERBOLT CABLE
eSATA CABLE

GIGABIT ETHERNET CABLE x2
FW800 to FW800 CABLE
FW800 to FW400 CABLE
FW400 to FW400 CABLE

USB 2.0 TYPE-A to USB 2.0 TYPE-B CABLE

USB 2.0 to MINI-USB
USB 2.0 to MICRO-USB

POWER

1 x PSU for both laptops and powerboard to pipe power to other devices (with some sort of bypass incase it fails)

UPS - (Essential)

Like  Eaton 3S 700 UPS

POWERBANK & DEVICE CHARGING Quadbox - (Optional)

10W Charger for iPads 

5W Charger for iPhones.

old school 30-Pin Charge Cable 

microUSB

LABEL MAKER

I'm thinking build in a label maker as well. It would super awesome and I can probably figure this out alone to automatically print a colored and IDTagged Label based upon the timestamp, location, shot-number, cam and other associated METADATA for each backup as it happens.

Something which gives a result like Brother PTouch.  But is upcycled or hacked from other bits n pieces. 

https://www.brother.com.au/en/products/all-labellers/labellers/pt-p910bt

IN / OUT CARD FILING SYSTEM.

Im also thinking some sort of simple easy to see from a distance card holding filing system built as an insert or something into the case.

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Here are some more recent specs and links I have gathered for further reference.

THEIRBUILD========DATAWRANGLER & DIT==========================

SOURCE: https://www.alexbartz.com/the-post-flow/build-a-powerful-portable-dit/data-wrangler-kit-for-under-6k

CASE:
SKB Injection Molded 4U ISeries Studio Flyer Rack Case with Handle and Wheels
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MXS8JZ7?tag=tpf089-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

COMPUTER:
Apple 16" MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, 9th-Gen 8-Core Intel i9 2.4GHz, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8GB, Space Gray, Late 2019 Z0XZ0007A
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08374BBQG?tag=tpf089-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

CARD READERS:
-Blackjet UX-1 RED Edition Thunderbolt 3 [Intel Certified] Cinema Dock Video Workflow, RED Mini-MAG, 4K, Digital Cinema
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QZFG7FK?tag=tpf089-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1
-Blackjet UX-1 Thunderbolt 3 [Intel Certified] Cinema Dock Video Workflow, CFAST, XQD, CF, SD, microSD, Studio, 4K
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079K89HSW?tag=tpf089-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

UPS:
APC SUA750RM1U 4-Outlet Smart Rackmount Uninterruptible Power Supply (750VA, 480W, 120V, 1U)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000078CVG?tag=tpf089-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

SSD:
4 X 1TB That out perform the camera media roughly 500mb/s
You must transfer to 2 un-raided separate drives so two copies and two backups
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078DPCY3T?tag=tpf089-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

SOFTWARE:
-Adobe Creative Cloud
-DaVinci Resolve 16 - For color grading and generating proxies. 
-ARRI Meta Extractor - For extracting the metadata from the ARRI files.
-REDCINE-X PRO - For creating camera profiles and modifying RED footage.
-ShotPut Pro - This software is my absolute favorite for offloading and making backups. And it’s much cheaper than Silverstack. 

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THEIR ==========DATA WRANGLER RENTAL KIT==========================
SOURCE: https://www.bigflickrentals.com/set-kits
THE SUPERVISOR (Have removed all camera and DIT Equipment)
x6 Lexar Professional 1667x 128GB SDXC UHS-II Memory Card
x1 Pelican Carry-On Case
x1 Apple box
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