A safe for tapes
 

Do they make a safe, like a gun safe etc, that would be friendly to video tapes?

I have a large safe deposit box at the bank for all of my most important source tapes, slides and negatives. It costs $50 a year for a good-sized box in the climate-controlled, firewalled vault in a high-rise building downtown. I have unlimited access to the box during business hours.

I'm planning on getting yet another hard drive for another footage backup just to keep in my safe deposit box. It is a great off-site backup and good way to secure peace of mind.

I looked at many types of home safes, but any affordable ones would not protect delicate tape and film against *all* of the hazards - fire, moisture, etc. Most were not quite big enough for everything I wanted to put in them.

A house fire would be the worst-case scenario for any videographer, and the thought always made me shudder. You can replace your gear, but not your years of work!

good point dan...i keep mine in a pelican case....safe from all but that fire thing....
Jerry

Our mastered shows are stored on hard drives. One set is at my home office. Another duplicate set is at the home office of another one of our co-producer/owners.

Safes can be fire-resistant. But a serious fire can eventually bake the contents of most safes.

Yes - offsite backups are another great idea, maybe even more effective than a safe. I have copies of my most important tapes/ hard drives with friends/family in four different states. I might be a little obsessed with backups, and it does take some extra time and money - but it is great to know that everything is safe from just about any calamity that nature or man can throw at you.

OK. 4 different states. You win.

If we get hit by a massive tsunami then that's the end of the show... :-)

But what a show it would be! As the water recedes, there will be fish everywhere just waiting to be plucked from the beach!

Wait a minute...Dean lives where I live...

I worked for a company that had me put the previous day's system backups in my Chevette and drive them to another location and store them in a safe. A security officer at the location was assigned to check the tapes in and out every day. I think the flaw in their plan was the Chevette, but it was a good idea in general. Considering the value of tapes (until the video is delivered to the customer), I like to store mine in a fire-resistant safe. You can fit a whole lot of mini-dv tapes in a small safe.

I put all tapes in a ziplock bag. The plastic bag protects the tapes from moisture and keeps projects seperate.

I would also suggest putting Silca Gel Desicant packets in tightly enclosed spaces, such as safes, to absorb any moister. And, yes, moisture can penetrate safes.

Duane

If moisture can get into a closed safe, then it can get out, too. The result is that the air in the safe is neither wetter nor dryer than the air in the surrounding room.

You should really only have to worry about desiccant packs in completely air-tight containers.

Safety deposit box
 

I plan on getting a safety deposit box within the next couple of weeks, containing all of my master DV tapes, important documents, my late father's lyrics and writings (he was a lyricist, musician, and writer), one copy of each film I've done on DVD, and an external hard drive with all of my files pertaining to my films and my film company.

I know others have stored film and/or other media in their boxes, so I don't think static electricity or magnetic forces would come into play here. Maybe I'm wrong.

Anyone know?

A standard fire-resistant safe isn't designed to protect media, which are likely to be damaged at lower temperatures than paper. Search on "media safe" and you'll find that they're pretty pricey. The best deal I've found is one made by Brink's.

Here are the specs: "Protects film, video, cassettes, computer disks, back-up tapes, photo negatives by maintaining the internal temperature to below 125 degrees during a fire up to 1550 degrees for one hour. Approximately .15 cu ft of storage capacity. Inside dimensions are 8 1/2"W x 8 1/8"D x 6"H.UL listed"

I paid $ 150. and it only holds a handful of tapes, so I use it for stuff that I haven't had a chance to copy and keep off-site.

JP