Best Archive Source?

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Indyreel

Well-known member
I have about 50 hours of raw GH1 footage filmed so far for my first feature film.

The more I film the more afraid I am of loosing it, so I bought an external hard drive and store it off site.

BUT, I'm now afraid of the catastrophic 1-2 punch, where my computer craps out and my external hard drive fails, too.

Is there a more stable means of storing the footage? If so, please tell me. If not, then which is the most stable? DVD-R, DVD+R, Blue-Ray Disk or External Hard Drives?
 
Isaac_Brody said:
Pickup another drive, the cost is pretty cheap.
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+1,000,000,000

Hard drive space isn't free, but it's incredibly close to it when you compare video production costs to hard drive costs.

By far the most convenient & least expensive backup plan is to backup to at least 2 (3 or 4 is better) redundant standard hard drives (they don't have to be fancy or fast, especially if you have 3 or more "sets" of identical backup files on separate hard drives) and store them in multiple (on & off-site) locations to protect from fire, theft, etc. Among other things, bank safe deposit boxes can be relatively inexpensive and can hold several hard drives.

LTO tape is very good, too, but tape drive costs are _far_ higher than the cost of hard drives, and generic hard drives can be read by almost any computer/OS usually without special software. However, since all hard drives eventually die (they're far less reliable than LTO tape), plan to replace hard drives _before_ they fail, about every 3-5 years or so. YMMV.
 
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You can see the manufacturer's confidence in external drives by their warranty. Usually internal drives are 3-5years but the external drive (with same internal drive) is often only 1 year. Some of it is them being moved around more but a lot of the danger is heat.

The newer green drives from western digital or samsung work well. You can get 1.5tb drives under $100 now, 1tb for under $65 if you look around. I'd rather have three hard drives than one blu ray disc.

Computer gurus will still tell you tape is the way to go. I question the longterm reliability of DVDs, but if you burn and never touch them they should okay for a while.

The good news is the 1tb you have now will be replaced in 5 years by a 2tb at half the cost (or so goes the trend).
 
But DVD's and Blue Ray Disks don't burn out. Does this mean they are more reliable? and if so is Blue Ray more reliable than DVD?
 
Indyreel said:
But DVD's and Blue Ray Disks don't burn out. Does this mean they are more reliable? and if so is Blue Ray more reliable than DVD?
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DVDs & BluRays disks you burn yourself don't remain readable anywhere near as long as factory-pressed disks, whether you touch the disks or not.

That said, optical media typically "works" at least as long as hard drives. It gets down to cost per unit of storage, and also physical storage density. Shiny disks are cheap, but not very information dense, whereas hard drives start out more expensive, but have vastly greater capacity. Because both are random access and relatively fast, they're convenient. And very important: They're ubiquitous and probably will remain so for at least a few decades.

LTO tape is more reliable over the long term, which is one reason LTO systems cost more. LTO doesn't offer fast random access, and LTO drives aren't anywhere near as common as shiny disks & HDDs, so they're less convenient, and eventually the hardware & software required to read a LTO tape is no longer readily available.

One might backup/archive HD video to a HD videotape format because videotape is known to be reliable for a few decades, but videotape is relatively expensive and eventually dies, and playback decks are expensive and are becoming rarer & rarer.

The best backup/archive media for HD video is probably 35mm motion picture film, which is known to last for decades at least, but for most applications is cost prohibitive.

So, pick your poison. Whatever you backup/archive method you choose, make at least 2 redundant identical backups, store them in a cool dry place, and keep at least one of the backups off-site for disaster protection.

YMMV.
 
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Secondary question...
What's the best storage method for dumping footage on the road?
I could carry a laptop and external hard drive, but that adds to my load.
 
you could try a cheap netbook with a large hard drive? At least it would be small but also allow internet access, etc. Probably wouldn't be able to edit HD video much :)

I think they do make some type of usb hard drive that can act as a master and pull stuff from an sd card, but I thought they were rather expensvie and mostly used for photos. http://the-gadgeteer.com/2004/11/15/qcool_iii_on_the_go_usb_portable_card_reader_hd_case_review/

This link is a pretty poor example of what I'm talking about. I doubt they still make that one. Couldn't find any modern ones, but I'm guessing they are a little expensive.
 
chrisso said:
... What's the best storage method for dumping footage on the road? I could carry a laptop and external hard drive, but that adds to my load.
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You could, and you probably should. :-)

Nexto makes various portable backup devices:
http://www.nextodiusa.com/

The 1st law of backups is to have at least 2 identical redundant backups at all times. So, it might make more sense to keep 1 backup on a small laptop/netbook's hard drive _and_ a 2nd backup on one or more small external hard drives. Especially if one of the ext. hard drives can "travel" with someone other than yourself for a small amount of disaster/theft protection. The hard drives don't need to be especially fast or expensive, just big enough to hold all your files.

The mistake a lot of folks make is to create only 1 backup and then tell themselves "I'll make the 2nd backup later." Which ends up being much later. But before they get around to it, they've already erased the original files and also accidentally erased (or had stolen/destroyed) the one & only backup & then they're screwed. Been there, done that, don't ever want to be there again.

Make ≥2 backups: It's the law. ;-)
 
Peter J. DeCrescenzo said:
DVDs & BluRays disks you burn yourself don't remain readable anywhere near as long as factory-pressed disks, whether you touch the disks or not.

That said, optical media typically "works" at least as long as hard drives.
Click to expand...


Is the optical media you mentioned the disks you burn yourself or factory-pressed disks?
 
Indyreel said:
Is the optical media you mentioned the disks you burn yourself or factory-pressed disks?
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Both, in my experience. DIY & factory shiny disks are readable somewhat longer than hard drives. But I wouldn't trust a shiny disk for more than 10 years or so.

In the past 10 years or so I've had more hard drives go flakey or unreadable than well-cared-for burned-myself DVD-R disks. And when a hard drive dies it typically takes with it way more data than does a shiny disk.

However, because hard drives are high-capacity, fast, and inexpensive per MB, I still think they're fine for temporary backups for up to 3-5 years. But of course, only if there are at least 2 copies (2 drives), preferably 3, stored in separate locations. And after about 3 years or so you should make fresh copies onto new drives.

If possible, whatever backup media is used, it may add a bit of extra "insurance" to use media/devices from different manufactures to lessen the likelihood of them sharing a common mode of failure.

I don't trust any of this cr*p technology any farther than I can throw it. ;-)

YMMV.
 
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