How do you archive all of your video files and information?
 

What do you use to archive your video projects? DVD? Tape? Some kind of external mass media storage device?

These video projects have a lot of large files and information. Just wondering how you save your projects. . . .

(Just gathering information so that I can get my computer ready for both video and audio recording & editing.)

Ted

Ted,

There are DV holders/cases that you can get, if you want to be really fancy. I prefer the old school route of just using shoe boxes. They are cheap and easy to come by.

Pro Tape carries the DV storage cases if you are interested: http://www.pro-tape.com

Archiving
 

I'm assuming you mean archiving all the bits, not just a finished movie export? If so, I'm interested in the answers too, but one approach I've recently discovered (and tried) combines DVD-R/RW media with software that will span disk volumes as it burns. This allows for multiple disks if required by the number and size of files associated with the project. BackUpMyPC is what I used, but be aware that you must have the application to restore an archive because the file extension created is particular to the software.

Archiving
 

I'm assuming you mean archiving all the bits, not just a finished movie export? If so, I'm interested in the answers too, but one approach I've recently discovered (and tried) combines DVD-R/RW media with software that will span disk volumes as it burns. This allows for multiple disks if required by the number and size of files associated with the project. BackUpMyPC is what I used, but be aware that you must have the application to restore an archive because the file extension created is particular to the software.

Here's a tip from Douglas Spotted Eagle:

Get an external firewire drive enclosure. When you're done with a project, just go buy a slow hard drive that can fit all your media (40 gig drives really are cheap people!). Put it in the enclosure, and copy all your media to it. Pull it back out, toss the drive in a static bag, and put it in your storage area, be it a safe or shelf or whatever.

I'd just store it on a 250GB ide external drive. If someone is paying for it? I'd put the whole external drive away. HD's exposed are no good.

I just keep the Master tapes, the final Master, and the project files. If I want to recreate the project, the project files will prompt to reload the clips from the master tapes.