CODEX Compact Drive™

The Compact Drive Express is only supported in the ALEXA 35, ALEXA 35 Xtreme and ALEXA 35 Live. Any other camera will flag this drive as 'INVALID'.

If your recording media is flagged as “INVAL” and you are not using a Compact Drive Express with an ALEXA Mini LF or ALEXA 265, the issue is most likely due to an outdated camera Software Update Package (SUP). In rare cases, a drive firmware update may be required.

If your camera is already running the latest SUP and does not prompt you to update the drive, please save the camera log files and contact your nearest ARRI service center for assistance.

• Do not use tape on any sides of the drive! Even small amounts of residue can prevent proper thermal connection to the camera and cause the drive to run hot. Peeling tape off a drive may accidentally remove serial number labels (Compact Drive) or damage the plastic end cap.
• Drives obviously should be kept away from dirt, dust, and liquids.
• Only place drives down on clean surfaces.
• If not used for an extended duration, drives should be stored in their cases.
• Make sure that the connectors are kept clean.
• Never force the drive into a slot. It is easy to damage the connection pins if they are obstructed by small objects or if the drives are inserted upside down.

The Compact Drive is based on PCIe NVMe memory that is not supported by ALEXA LF, ALEXA SXT or the original ALEXA 65. Therefore, these drives cannot be used even though the Compact Drive Adapter offers a perfect mechanical fit.
The Compact Drive Adapter is intended to allow the use of an SXR Capture Drive Dock, the CODEX Vault, or other media stations. 

• Do not use tape on any sides of the drive! Even small amounts of residue can prevent proper thermal connection to the camera and cause the drive to run hot. Peeling tape off a drive may accidentally remove serial number labels (Compact Drive) or damage the plastic end cap.
• Drives obviously should be kept away from dirt, dust, and liquids.
• Only place drives down on clean surfaces.
• If not used for an extended duration, drives should be stored in their cases.
• Make sure that the connectors are kept clean.
• Never force the drive into a slot. It is easy to damage the connection pins if they are obstructed by small objects or if the drives are inserted upside down.

• The surface of drives, docks, and readers can be cleaned with a lint-free cloth and 70% isopropanol alcohol (IPA). Wipe gently and pay attention not to rub the paint from painted surfaces of e.g. the Drive Docks or serial labels.
• The connector should only be cleaned with an air duster to avoid mechanical damage to the pins. Anything that cannot be blown away can be cleaned off very carefully using a soft brush with some 70% IPA. Ensure that the connector is completely dry before loading the drive in a camera or reader.
• Check the downloads for detailed cleaning instructions from CODEX!

HDE files cannot be recorded in the camera; To get an HDE file, you shoot ARRIRAW camera originals and then generate HDE files using either the CODEX Device Manager/Codex VFS or the ARRIRAW HDE Transcoder. For more information, please check the ALEXA 35 workflow pages or codex.online.

An older Mac Pro (introduced late 2013) does not offer USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 ports. To access Compact Drives, you can use:

• An SXR Capture Drive Dock Thunderbolt 2 with a Compact Drive Adapter.
• An SXR Capture Drive Dock Thunderbolt 3 with a Compact Drive Adapter and an Apple Thunderbolt 3-to-2 Adapter (works in both directions) for the connection to the Mac.
• A Compact Drive Reader USB-C with a CalDigit TS3 Plus, connected to the Mac Pro with an Apple Thunderbolt 3-to-2 Adapter.

The Compact Drive Reader has been designed to work with host machines offering a USB-C port. The port has to offer at least 10 Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 2) and at least 3 A power delivery. The reader can also be used on a USB 3.0 host at reduced speed.

To achieve the maximum download speed:

• On an Apple Silicon (M1 or later) machine, ensure you installed macOS12.4 or later and the latest version of CODEX Device Manager (check help.codex.online) to address a hardware/firmware issue described in "My Compact Drive Reader (USB-C) does not work OK with my M1 Mac."
• Only USB-IF certified cables and adapters should be used. Non-compliant cables are likely to cause speed issues.
• On a Mac, the USB-C cable always has to be connected to the reader before it is plugged into the computer, to allow correct USB power delivery negotiation.
• If the reader needs to be connected to a USB Type A port, it's important to use an actively switching adapter. A good example is the Angelbird USB Type A to Type C Adapter. USB Type C-to-A adapter cables should be avoided at all times. Most of these cables are simple charging adapters and some of them may drop your speed to USB 2.0 40 MB/s or less.
• USB-C hubs should be avoided, too. All devices connected to the hub will share one 10 Gbps connection and may cause the reader to not get enough power.
• The use of a Thunderbolt 3 (TB3) hub/docking station can work and can be a good solution, but there also have been reports that this solution did not perform as expected. We recommend to verify that the USB-C ports on a Thunderbolt 3 docking station really offer 10 Gbps bandwidth and 3 A power delivery.

When loaded in the USB-C Compact Drive Reader, the Compact Drive LED will indicate the power it is getting from the host system:

Note: USB-C is great for connectivity, but you should be very cautious when you bring in new components and always check that they do not impair the performance of your system. It is not recommended to use USB Type C-to-A adapter cables, as most if not all of them only support USB 2.0, which will drop the copy speed below 40 MB/s.

The Compact Drive Dock has been designed to work with Thunderbolt 3 host machines.

• On an older Mac with Thunderbolt 2 ports, it is also possible to connect the Compact Drive Dock with a Thunderbolt 3-to-2 Adapter. This will lower the speed to ~1200 MB/s. That's still much faster than the USB-C reader, which could only connect via USB 3.0 in this case and therefore offer about 400 MB/s.
• It is possible to connect the Compact Drive Dock to a Thunderbolt 3 loop-through port on e.g. an SXR Capture Drive Dock or a Thunderbolt 3 connected RAID. This, however, will be slower than using both devices on two separate Thunderbolt 3 ports.

Thunderbolt is backwards compatible, so the Docks can be connected using a Thunderbolt 3-to-2 Adapter e.g. from Apple, which works in both directions.

Yes, you can daisy-chain an SXR Capture Drive Dock or Compact Drive Dock to the open Thunderbolt 3 port on an SXR Capture Drive Dock. Sharing the same Thunderbolt 3 port on the computer, however, means both docks share the connection bandwidth. That's usually OK on a 20 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 connection.

Particular care should be taken when the Compact Drive Reader (USB-C) or Compact Drive Dock (Thunderbolt 3) is connected to a Mac. Ideally, the Compact Drive Dock or Reader should already be connected before the computer is booted.

When the computer is already booted, please always follow this sequence to allow proper operation:

1. Connect the cable to the Compact Drive Reader (USB-C) or Compact Drive Dock (Thunderbolt 3).
2. Connect the cable to the computer.

Unfortunately it does not. The hardware architecture of the SXR Capture Drive Dock does not allow the device to be certified on Windows. The SXR Capture Drive Dock only works on Mac computers and requires the installation of the CODEX Device Manager (including CODEX Platform system components, Device Manager, and RAID support). You can download the latest version of Device Manager at help.codex.online.