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Paul Mailath · March 11th, 2009, 05:08 AM

I'm still using tape but there are an increasing number of us that don't now - I had a chat with a mate today who lost part of a music video shoot by erasing a card without backing it up. there didn't seem to be too much via seach so I though it might be worth discussing.

What are your backup/archive procedures with tapeless aquisition? do you use generational backup or daily/weekly archive? how do you ensure that you don't overwrite original footage or completed work?

Bruce Foreman · March 11th, 2009, 07:55 PM

Easy.

After a shoot I immediately copy the files from the media card to both the C:drive and to at least one external hard drive. That's just temporary because as I review the files on the C: drive I rename them from the numeric filename format to a project related sequence that will mean something to me in a day or two or week or two when I start serious editing.

After the review and rename I copy those to two external drives and then I can erase the media card. At that point I have all the files I need to retain on 3 separate hard drives, the internal drive and 2 externals. The external drives are powered off when not actually needed and one is physically disconnected.

I just picked up another 500GB external drive and I plan to backup files to this one and store it at my daughter's house, to have one backup off premises.

Dean Sensui · March 12th, 2009, 01:53 AM

If you're handling media transfers on set, have someone who is assigned to do just that and only that. It's too easy for someone to get distracted and forget if they have done something or not.

I always copy footage from a card to a mirrored RAID and check to see that everything is there before erasing the cards. This will be done at the end of the day and not during the shoot when I have enough to think about.

After everything is edited, the finished project, along with all the related media files, are archived onto yet another mirrored RAID. And even that gets backed up onto another drive and stored somewhere else.

Les Wilson · March 12th, 2009, 09:13 PM

Tape is a space efficient way to archive. Same as film. What to do once you've gone tapeless is the same problem of going Filmless in stills. If all you do is store it once on a disk, you only have one copy and working disks only last a couple years. Raids take a lot of worry out because you automatically have it stored on two disks. It's still subject to theft, fire etc.

I use two sets of firewire drives and store them in a safe deposit box. I rotate them once a month from my Raids so only one month's work is at risk. The Caldigit units are nice and narrow for safe deposit boxes.

Les Wilson · March 13th, 2009, 10:20 AM

I forgot to mention that some recent RAID modes are very helpful in making disk technology serve as reliable long term (>4 years) storage. The ability to detect disk failure pre-emptively and swap in a replacement without data loss is key.

Raid modes such as 5 and 10 blend the speed of stripping mode with the recoverability of mirror mode. The DROBO is a nice implementation of this. Here's a really well written explanation of Raid 5 versus Raid 10:
http://miracleas.com/BAARF/RAID5_versus_RAID10.txt

March 11th, 2009, 05:08 AM	#1
Paul Mailath Trustee Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Central Coast - NSW, Australia Posts: 1,606	backup your data I'm still using tape but there are an increasing number of us that don't now - I had a chat with a mate today who lost part of a music video shoot by erasing a card without backing it up. there didn't seem to be too much via seach so I though it might be worth discussing. What are your backup/archive procedures with tapeless aquisition? do you use generational backup or daily/weekly archive? how do you ensure that you don't overwrite original footage or completed work? __________________ Cheers - Paul M. www.perbenyik.com

March 12th, 2009, 01:53 AM	#3
Dean Sensui Inner Circle Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 2,054	If you're handling media transfers on set, have someone who is assigned to do just that and only that. It's too easy for someone to get distracted and forget if they have done something or not. I always copy footage from a card to a mirrored RAID and check to see that everything is there before erasing the cards. This will be done at the end of the day and not during the shoot when I have enough to think about. After everything is edited, the finished project, along with all the related media files, are archived onto yet another mirrored RAID. And even that gets backed up onto another drive and stored somewhere else. __________________ Dean Sensui Exec Producer, Hawaii Goes Fishing

March 11th, 2009, 07:55 PM	#2
Bruce Foreman Trustee Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: San Angelo Texas Posts: 1,518	Easy. After a shoot I immediately copy the files from the media card to both the C:drive and to at least one external hard drive. That's just temporary because as I review the files on the C: drive I rename them from the numeric filename format to a project related sequence that will mean something to me in a day or two or week or two when I start serious editing. After the review and rename I copy those to two external drives and then I can erase the media card. At that point I have all the files I need to retain on 3 separate hard drives, the internal drive and 2 externals. The external drives are powered off when not actually needed and one is physically disconnected. I just picked up another 500GB external drive and I plan to backup files to this one and store it at my daughter's house, to have one backup off premises.

March 12th, 2009, 09:13 PM	#4
Les Wilson Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Boca Raton, FL Posts: 3,014	Tape is a space efficient way to archive. Same as film. What to do once you've gone tapeless is the same problem of going Filmless in stills. If all you do is store it once on a disk, you only have one copy and working disks only last a couple years. Raids take a lot of worry out because you automatically have it stored on two disks. It's still subject to theft, fire etc. I use two sets of firewire drives and store them in a safe deposit box. I rotate them once a month from my Raids so only one month's work is at risk. The Caldigit units are nice and narrow for safe deposit boxes.

March 13th, 2009, 10:20 AM	#5
Les Wilson Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Boca Raton, FL Posts: 3,014	I forgot to mention that some recent RAID modes are very helpful in making disk technology serve as reliable long term (>4 years) storage. The ability to detect disk failure pre-emptively and swap in a replacement without data loss is key. Raid modes such as 5 and 10 blend the speed of stripping mode with the recoverability of mirror mode. The DROBO is a nice implementation of this. Here's a really well written explanation of Raid 5 versus Raid 10: http://miracleas.com/BAARF/RAID5_versus_RAID10.txt