On-Set Data Management: A DIT's Guide to Fast File Transfer

The DIT Transfer Challenge

You're responsible for some of the most valuable data on a production. Every day, you need to:

• Offload and verify camera media
• Create redundant backups
• Apply viewing LUTs for dailies
• Transfer dailies to editorial
• Document everything for post

The transfer step is often the bottleneck. Production is waiting for yesterday's footage, but you're still uploading or waiting for a courier pickup.

Transfer Options Compared

Integrating Handrive into Your DIT Workflow

Step 1: Pre-Production Setup

1. Install Handrive on your DIT cart workstation.
2. Connect with post: Add the editorial team as contacts. They need to add you back (Handrive's privacy model requires mutual opt-in).
3. Establish naming conventions: Agree on share naming (e.g., "Dailies - YYYY-MM-DD - [Camera]").
4. Test the connection: Do a test transfer before principal photography.

Step 2: On-Set Daily Workflow

# Morning: Verify yesterday's transfer completed
# Check Handrive transfer history

# During shoot: Standard offload workflow
1. Offload camera cards to primary RAID
2. Create checksum (MD5/XXH64)
3. Clone to backup drive
4. Verify checksums on both copies
5. Apply viewing LUT if generating dailies

# Wrap: Initiate transfer
1. Create new share: "Dailies - 2026-02-20 - A-Cam"
2. Add editor as member (Editor role)
3. Add producer as member (Viewer role)
4. Add files to share
5. Verify transfer begins
6. Continue with second camera if applicable

Step 3: Transfer Monitoring

Handrive shows transfer progress. For critical transfers:

• Monitor until at least 10% complete to verify connection stability
• Note estimated completion time
• If transfer will complete overnight, ensure your machine won't sleep
• Check completion in the morning before deleting camera cards

Handling Common DIT Scenarios

Scenario: Hotel WiFi

Hotel internet is often unreliable. Handrive's satellite-grade protocol handles:

• High latency: Protocol is latency-independent.
• Packet loss: Tolerates packet loss that would break standard uploads.
• Resumable: If connection drops, resume manually from where you left off.

For very poor connections, consider:

• Transfer overnight when network is less congested
• Prioritize camera originals over transcoded dailies
• If impossible, fall back to shipping drives

Scenario: Remote Location

If you're shooting in a remote location with limited connectivity:

• Satellite/Starlink: Handrive's protocol was designed for satellite links. It handles high latency well.
• Cellular: Works over cellular networks, including bonded cellular setups.
• Prioritize: Send camera originals first, transcode proxies on the post side if bandwidth is limited.

Scenario: Multi-Camera Shoot

For shoots with multiple cameras generating terabytes daily:

• Create separate shares per camera (easier to track completion)
• Start transfers as soon as each camera wraps
• Consider running multiple simultaneous transfers if bandwidth allows
• For extremely large volumes, a studio headless server ensures post can receive 24/7

Scenario: Post Isn't Online

Direct P2P requires both parties online. Solutions:

• Coordinate: Schedule a window when both are available.
• Headless server: Studio runs Handrive on a NAS that's always on. You transfer to the server; editors download when ready.
• Time zone advantage: If post is in a later time zone, start transfer at your wrap — it'll be their morning.

Data Volumes and Transfer Times

For very large volumes over slow connections, consider:

• Sending proxy files for immediate editorial, originals overnight
• Shipping drives for camera originals, electronic for proxies
• Staggering transfers to arrive by next day's wrap

Checksum Integration

Your checksum workflow should integrate with file transfer:

1. Generate checksums during offload (Silverstack, Hedge, etc.)
2. Include checksum report with transfer (add to share as a file)
3. Post-side: Verify checksums match after download
4. Keep checksum reports with camera reports for archive

Handrive doesn't generate checksums internally (it handles integrity via E2E encryption), but you should maintain your standard checksum workflow for camera originals.

Documentation

Include with each dailies transfer:

• Camera report
• Sound report
• Checksum report
• LUT file if applied
• Any metadata files from camera
• Notes on any issues (partial takes, corrupted clips)

Create a "Documentation" folder in each share for these files.