I have a file which was captured as a mov file awhile back. I want to simply burn the raw file to a DVD for backup storage. It's slightly larger than it should be for this. What is the best way to reduce this file size and maintain the quality for future editing should I ever need it?

Also, I have a number of files which are tapes captured whole, which are pretty large. They've been on my drive forever taking up space. They're important files. I"m not sure of the condition of the source tapes... I'd like to keep the digital file as a backup. I wish I could cut them in half! (Does anyone have a pair of scissors?)

In the future, if I dump a whole tape, I'm going to capture it in halves or thirds, or just in clips (the non-lazy way).

I know I need yet another drive, and I will get one soon. However, today what I have to work with is a packed drive that needs space cleared, and a stack of DVDs. Suggestions appreciated. Thanks. =)

Toast allows for disc spanning.

EDIT: If you're on a PC, I BELIEVE Roxio Creator is the equivalent to the Mac Toast product...

Hmmm. DOn't have toast. I'll look into it though. And I'm on a Mac.
Thanks =)

I have a file which was captured as a mov file awhile back. I want to simply burn the raw file to a DVD for backup storage. It's slightly larger than it should be for this. What is the best way to reduce this file size and maintain the quality for future editing should I ever need it?

Also, I have a number of files which are tapes captured whole, which are pretty large. They've been on my drive forever taking up space. They're important files. I"m not sure of the condition of the source tapes... I'd like to keep the digital file as a backup. I wish I could cut them in half! (Does anyone have a pair of scissors?)

In the future, if I dump a whole tape, I'm going to capture it in halves or thirds, or just in clips (the non-lazy way).

I know I need yet another drive, and I will get one soon. However, today what I have to work with is a packed drive that needs space cleared, and a stack of DVDs. Suggestions appreciated. Thanks. =)


Kell,

The simplest and cheapest way is to cut the file into two parts using Quicktime Pro.

If you own any of the Apple Pro Apps like Final cut, you alreay are a licensed user of QTPro. If not, the upgrade from vanilla QT is something like $30.

Then just LOAD the clip by dropping it on the Quicktime Icon.
Set "in and out" points using the dragable triangles that define a clip - then EXPORT that part of the clip to the desktop. Then move the in point to where the out point use to be, and set a new out point at the end of the clip. Export each of those and Bingo - two clips each just a part of the size of the first. How you split the original clip is up to you.

Drag each to it's own backup disk and you're done.

As to cleaning up drives, my favorite weapon is Omni Disk Sweeper.

It shows you all the clips in your system, sorted by size. Makes finding dups and old+large clips a snap.

Then you can dump them to backup and free space on your system.

Good luck

Oh, wow. Thanks. I didn't know that.
My version of Final Cut is pretty old. Don't know if it would apply. How would I find out?

What Bill suggest will certainly work but then you lose the ability to relink in FCP because you now have 2 media files. With disc spanning, you "reconstitute" the files when you bring everything back in.

Do any other utilities, esp. free ones, do disc spanning? Anything in the Mac OS even?
Most of the files I could cut up with QT and it wouldn't matter. But this one particular one, I would like to retain the file as is for FCP project references.

Kell, since its for backup and only slightly too big, have you thought about just zipping the material?

i use winrar WinRAR archiver, a powerful tool to process RAR and ZIP files (http://www.rarlabs.com)
you can split a file into however many parts you need to fit on to 2 or more disc, it has pretty good compression also

What Bill suggest will certainly work but then you lose the ability to relink in FCP because you now have 2 media files. With disc spanning, you "reconstitute" the files when you bring everything back in.

You've got to remember that digital video files are just strings of 1's and 0s. So "relinking" two video clips is about as complicated as cut and pasting two text files into one.

In practice, you'd take your two "stored" clips and plop them on an FCP timeline. Then set an in and out point to cover the entire "reconsituted" piece. Then Export a new DV clip.

You end up RIGHT back where you started from with a precise clone of the original clip.

FWIW.

Then set an in and out point to cover the entire "reconsituted" piece. Then Export a new DV clip.

You end up RIGHT back where you started from with a precise clone of the original clip.


By expanding a disc span, you end up with the files you archived, which you can then relink in FCP. Not saying your way won't work but it's a lousy way to ARCHIVE with the intent of rebuilding an EXACT project.

<<By expanding a disc span, you end up with the files you archived, which you can then relink in FCP. Not saying your way won't work but it's a lousy way to ARCHIVE with the intent of rebuilding an EXACT project.>>

project, or video file? I understand Project, but not why it doesn't recover the video file.

Ian, I was talking about Bill's suggested method of splitting a clip using QT Pro and then reimporting the two halves in a timeline and then exporting the timeline as a new clip. FCP isn't as stable as it once was for relinking offline media and often "chokes" if ANYTHING is "wrong" with the clip. As well, any changes you made to the clip meta data would not come over (aux timecode) and I'm not positive that timecode info would either.

Again, not saying that for Kell's application, Bill's suggestion WOULDN'T work; just saying that as a default method for archiving media for future rebuilding of projects, it is somewhat less than ideal.

I wonder if I could just back them up through FCP? Save as uncompressed files?