CODEX HELP CENTER

Transfer Drive Dock (Classic)

(CDX-62102-2)

Storage media compatibility

The Transfer Drive Dock (Classic) is compatible with CODEX Transfer Drives: CDX-37002, CDX-37003 and CDX-37004

Operating system

The Transfer Drive Dock (Classic) is compatible with macOS only.

OS versions

The Transfer Drive Dock (Classic) is compatible with macOS 10.13 or higher.

We would recommend macOS 10.15 or above to support the most recent version of Device Manager.

Apple Silicon M1: macOS 11.4 or above is required to use the Transfer Drive Dock (Classic) with an Apple Silicon M1 Mac.

Drivers and licences

Device Manager for macOS is required to use the Transfer Drive Dock (Classic).

You can download Device Manager from the CODEX Software Downloads page.

Device Manager and HDE

The Transfer Drive (Classic) and Dock requires Device Manager for macOS. (Device Manager is not available on Windows).

HDE can only be applied when offloading from original camera media (such as the Compact Drive or SXR Capture Drive). You cannot apply HDE to clips already offloaded from the original camera media. If using an HDE workflow, you will need to apply HDE before offloading to the Transfer Drive. See our HDE section for more information.

Connection speeds

The connection speed of the Transfer Drive Dock (Classic) depends on the type of Thunderbolt connection. With Thunderbolt 3 the Dock can transfer up to 20 Gb/sec.

We recommend connecting the Dock directly to a Thunderbolt 3 port that is not shared to obtain throughput. The Transfer Drive Dock will then provide a connection speed of 20 Gb/s. If shared with other Thunderbolt devices on the same system, the connection speed will be reduced.

Connecting the Transfer Drive Dock (Classic)

Connect the Transfer Drive Dock (Classic) to the Mac host with a Thunderbolt 3 cable before booting the Mac, or

If the Mac is already booted, connect the Thunderbolt 3 cable to the Transfer Drive Dock first and then to the Mac host.

Connecting on Mac with either of the above methods will result in the Transfer Drive Dock providing the best performance*.

Please note that, although USB-C cables look like Thunderbolt cables, they are different. Make sure the Thunderbolt cable is properly rated for use as they can vary depending on the manufacturer. If you experience reliability issues then try another cable, or a cable from another supplier.

Compatible cabling

The following cable types have been tested and are known to work with the Transfer Drive Dock (Classic):

0.5m Thunderbolt 3 cable (passive type)
1-2m Thunderbolt 3 cable (active type)

Use with the Compact or SXR Capture Drive Dock

You can daisy chain the Compact or SXR Capture Drive Dock to the open Thunderbolt 3 port on the Transfer Drive dock (Classic).

Please note that when daisy chaining Thunderbolt devices, you will be sharing the bandwidth of a single Thunderbolt bus across all daisy chained devices. This may reduce the maximum read / write speed achieved by an individual device.

For optimum performance, connect each device to a separate Thunderbolt bus.

Using a Thunderbolt 2 > Thunderbolt 3 adapter

Thunderbolt 2 > Thunderbolt 3 adapters may limit throughput. Ideally the dock should be connected directly to a Thunderbolt 3 port.

Use with a Mac Pro 2013 model?

You can connect the Transfer Drive Dock (Classic) to a Mac Pro 2013 model using the Thunderbolt 2 > Thunderbolt 3 adaptor.

Technical specifications

You can find the technical specifications at the bottom of the Transfer Drive Dock Product page.

Formatting the Transfer Drive (Classic) for use on macOS

Device Manager (version 6.1 and above) allows you to format a Transfer Drive (Classic) with either an HFS+, ExFAT or CodexFS file system.

Note: It is not recommended to use Disk Utility for formatting of Transfer Drive as Device Manager will have no awareness of volumes created in this way, and will show the Transfer Drive as unformatted.

Redundancy Options:

The table below shows the RAID level of the volumes created when choosing Striped or Parity when you format the volume.

Redundancy	File System / RAID-Level
Redundancy	HFS+	ExFAT	CodexFS
Striped	RAID-0	RAID-0	RAID-0
Parity	RAID-5	RAID-5	RAID-3

You can check how the Transfer Drive is formatted by going to Device Manager > Transfer Drive Rack TB and checking the Type.

Go to Device Manager > Transfer Drive - Rack TB and choose the Format option.

A pop-up window titled Create new volume on Transfer Drive - Rack TB will appear asking you to choose options for three properties.

Choose the following options to create a RAID-5 HFS+ volume with read / write access on macOS:

Volume Name: Any name you would like to give the volume up to 11 characters.
File system: HFS+
Redundancy: Parity

Ensuring data safety if a disk fails

When your Transfer Drive is formatted with an HFS+ or exFAT filesystem, for best data security, ensure you format the Transfer Drive with the Redundancy option set to Parity. This will create a RAID 5 volume.

In this case your data will still be accessible if a single disk fails inside the Transfer Drive. In this case, the status of your Transfer Drive volume will be set to At Risk. If your volume is marked as At Risk, then please backup your data as soon as possible and contact Codex Support.

If you have formatted the Transfer Drive with the Redundancy option set to Striped, this will create a RAID 0 volume. If a single disk fails inside the Transfer Drive, all data will be lost.

Updating Firmware

For information on updating firmware on any CODEX Media Station, please see the Updating Firmware on CODEX Media Stations section of the Device Manager help page.

“At Risk” or “Failed” status

If your Transfer Drive volume status is “At Risk”, we would recommend to back up any data on the Transfer Drive and contact Codex Support.

If your Transfer Drive volume status is “Failed”, please contact Codex Support.

Our support team is available to answer any questions:

9.00am - 6.00pm telephone and email support is available through our teams in London and Los Angeles.

Codex Support Email: support@codex.online
Codex US Support: +1 323 283 8929
Codex UK Support: +44 203 7000 999