Backing up footage - XF100

F

fishcough

Member
Hi,
I'm really having trouble figuring out the best way to back up footage from the XF100 while I'm on the road.

Ive got the right gear, I believe: Macbook Pro, two 1TB external drives. My plan is to shoot to CF (obviously), and then backup the footage on the drives at night and re-use the cards.

I'm not quite sure of the actual backing up process, however. Is the best way to use the Canon Utility? When I do that, I create a virtual media. When I create it on the computer, do I just copy and paste to the hard drives? When I do that, however, canon utlitily can no longer find the footage (on the externals when I remove the virtual media from the desktop). I've tried just copying and pasting the footage from the CF card to the hard drive, but the issue there is that when I try to add a second CF card to the external, it wants to overwrite the previous (since they are both tagged CONTENTS).

Does anyone have a simple workflow plan? I want to be sure to have two copies of all the footage from an upcoming shoot, I just can't figure out the best way.

Thanks!
 
Canon Utility is the best if you need/want to hang on to clip metadata (There is a lot of metadata). If you don't have a need for the metadata, drag and drop is just fine. The main thing is to never change the naming or structure of your CONTENTS folder. I usually create "Reel" or "Card" folders to put my CONTENTS directory in. For example, if I had been shooting the first day of a 3 day shoot with two XF300's, when I'm backing up footage my hard drive might look like this:

I'll start with a folder with the name of the project, then under that have a folder called "Day 1" and under that have an "A Cam" folder and a "B Cam" folder. If I had used 3 cards in my A Cam that day, I would put the subfolders "Card 1" "Card 2" and "Card 3" in my A Cam folder, and place the proper CONTENTS file within it's respective "Card" folder. Same for B Cam. Next day, do it all again in my folder called "Day 2."

This is just an example, and you should do whatever works best for you. Media storage and backup workflow is an individual thing for everybody, but just remember - organization is key! Take the time to do it now, and it will save you a lot of time down the road.

Because I transcode to ProRes in FCP anyway, I don't worry too much about the metadata (the Canon XF metadata doesn't transfer when you transcode). So after I've copied my footage onto my primary drive with Canon Utility, I will just drag and drop from the primary drive to the backup drive. Either drive will be able to read by FCP's L&T.
 
Cowpunk, thanks very much. Your method makes a lot of sense. I wasnt even thinking about setting up "day" folders in the external drives, but that would certainly solve the "overwrite" problem...

I'm not sure what the metadata will give me since I'll be logging each card by hand, so maybe just the drag and drop. I assume I just grab everything in the contents folder, correct?

Thanks again.
 
And you're not kidding about the "contents" folder part. In testing, I was backing up footage from each day. I didn't fill a card one day, so the next day I tried to grab just the "aaa00.." folders, and FCP wouldn't recognize them at all.

I guess the choice is either delete the content of a card after backing up, or back up the previous day's footage (again) with the new day's?
 
fishcough said:
And you're not kidding about the "contents" folder part. In testing, I was backing up footage from each day. I didn't fill a card one day, so the next day I tried to grab just the "aaa00.." folders, and FCP wouldn't recognize them at all.

I guess the choice is either delete the content of a card after backing up, or back up the previous day's footage (again) with the new day's?
Click to expand...

You can always choose which clips you'd like to transfer via Final Cut's Log and Transfer window - so even if you haven't deleted material you've already transfered, you don't have to transfer it again. Just select the files that are new!
 
cowpunk52 said:
You can always choose which clips you'd like to transfer via Final Cut's Log and Transfer window - so even if you haven't deleted material you've already transfered, you don't have to transfer it again. Just select the files that are new!
Click to expand...

Good point, but I'm actually going to avoid any FCP work until we're back. This will just be backing up footage to the external drives. I think, due to space issues, I'll load the "contents" folder from the day's shoot to the first drive, then to the second, then, GULP, delete it off the card so I will have a fresh "contents" folder the next time I use the card. I'd love to back everything up more than twice, but I'm just not going to have the room....
 
I use "Create Virtual Media" in the XF utility...

I use "Create Virtual Media" in the XF utility...

fishcough said:
Good point, but I'm actually going to avoid any FCP work until we're back. This will just be backing up footage to the external drives. I think, due to space issues, I'll load the "contents" folder from the day's shoot to the first drive, then to the second, then, GULP, delete it off the card so I will have a fresh "contents" folder the next time I use the card. I'd love to back everything up more than twice, but I'm just not going to have the room....
Click to expand...

I'm on the road with my XF300, so this might work the same - but I'm also on a pc laptop...
I first do a "backup" through XF Utilities, then "Create Virtual Media," which makes the file structure that Canon needs to retain the metadata. Then I Select All and drag the files from the card to the new folder. Having a USB3 cardreader REALLY helps, btw... (laptop is a Sony F series with USB3 ports). I then do a NEW Create Virtual Media folder on my external 3TB drive (also USB3) and again copy the files from the card or laptop to the external drive. Then, with copies in 2 places I can re-initialize the card and reuse it.

It's really quick and it retains the file structure that the software is looking for. A full 32gb card transfers in about 8 minutes. It's even quicker copying from the laptop to the external drive. I know Macs don't use USB3, but at least firewire 800 should be used.

Larry
 
cowpunk52 said:
Yep, just drag CONTENTS folder and put in whatever subdirectory you made for that card's footage.
Click to expand...
Dumb question most probably, but I'm kind of new with that gear.
I usually drag the subfolder only in my project folder. Like AA00001.
From there, with the .mxf and .xml files, is there a way to be able to read the metadata? Can't be gone forever. Can I create another CONTENTS folder and put them back in it?
 
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