Best Backup Media?
 

I'm starting to media manage a bunch of FCP projects in preparation to move them to storage media and then delete them from my machine. I figure that I could split up the media to several DVD-R discs per project (I wouldn't be working off the discs, obviously). Does anybody see a problem with this? Would a hard drive be better? (I'm trying not to spend more $$$ on a HD, if I can get away with it)

If just one DVD-R is bad, what effect will that have? You'll have to balance the cost against the cost of the media. You don't need the latest and fastest harddrives for storage. You could also use removeable drives. Fill 'em up, pull 'em out, put 'em away. Otherwise, though slow, nothing beats DLT for long-term storage reliability. Cost of tapes are on a par with DVD-R.

Backup is a real problem. I just keep buying more firewire drives, but they fill up fast too. Personally, I don't think DVD's are viable, unless you are burning MPEG2, and then there is a quality loss issue. I'm not interested in burning 60 DVD's to backup a 250GB drive...

i really don't know anything about this subject so i should keep my mouth shut, but what happened to high capacity tape drives? wouldn't those be cheaper?

That's a good point- never would have thought of that. That might be fine because I just need them for archival purposes. If I were to work on them again, I'd copy them back to the computer.... although firewire drives would mean no copying...

Hmmmm... the gears are turning now. Thanks for the input guys.

having been a pc network admin for years, i can tell you that tape formats come and go, as does the computer interface to hook the drive up to, and the software to control it with... all of a sudden you end up with nothing but a boat anchor.

you are also gambling that fcp will always and forever be capable of opening up old projects, that were created with a format that'll sooner or later be obsolete... that'll probably be the first thing to go.

so define your storage goals as best as possible... quality dvd blanks will last longer than any tape ever made, but what do you want to do with it?