What is the best way to backup P2 to a DVD?

Jimmy Moss

Jimmy Moss

Well-known member
Whats the best way to backup P2 to a DVD? I know everyone says "use a HDD" problem is this is for stuff I want to delete but am keeping a "just in case" backup. Also, I have too many HDD's already.

Can you split up a card into smaller 4GB folders using P2CMS?

Why do I see no "last clip" file in the new folder after exporting using P2CMS?

Can you zip a P2 card using stuffit or other compressing software without causing errors in the footage/file structure?

Thanks in advance!!!!
 
Yes you can use zip or stuffit, although it won't get you much additional space.

Splitting up discs is possible, since by definition all P2 files must be smaller than 4GB because they use the FAT32 file system. But that'd be a lot of work and I don't know how much I'd trust it. I'd rather use something like an actual backup program that would intelligently know how to span DVDs and make a complete set all at once, rather than trying to cherry-pick pieces here and there and potentially messing something up.
 
backing up p2 to dvd is creating more work than its worth. just buy HDs or tape drives
 
So far I only have 8 Gig cards... for mission critical jobs... I burn to Dual Layer DVD's... I've tried splitting the media up to fit on 4gb DVD's but that never really worked for me...

I guess with larger capacity cards will have to look at Blue Ray.. but with cards going to 64gb don't think there is a disc based backup available...

Cheers
 
Thanks for the responses,

Again, this is just stupid footage of my backyard and some time-lapse stuff I did that didn't really turn out fantastic. I would just delete it but I'm one of those guys that never gets rid of anything "just is case." Most of the cards are like 4-6GB so splitting it up or zipping it wouldn't be an issue if its possible.

Only thing I'm worried about is the fact I don't see the last clip file and I don't want put it on one DVD by mistake and some footage that needs it on another. This is using P2CMS to export by the way. Does P2CMs eliminate the need for a last clip file?

PS. you can get a WD 1TB drive for $99 on newegg, holy crap! They were 279 like 8 months ago.
 
I don't know the size of your practice but we just came on board with Rimage. They specialize in P2 to DVD transfers. The workflow is REALLY easy and it is all automated with a robot that feeds the burners and the thermal printer. The printer will include thumbnail of the first and last clip of P2 on the disk and other info.

http://www.rimage.com/products/professional-series/5300n.html

Let me know if you're interested in a demo and/or some information regarding the P2 workflow.

Sincerely,

Andrew Hoffman
Vice President
Specialized Communications Corp.
20940 Twin Springs Dr.
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510 USA
800-359-1858 (US)
301-790-0103
Fax: 301-790-0173
andrewh@spec-comm.com
www.spec-comm.com
www.twitter.com/speccomm
 
You could get a bluray burner and discs (they are 25 bucks per disc lol) but they are 50 gigs. If it is that worth it to you I'd go for it.
 
Jimmy Moss said:
Only thing I'm worried about is the fact I don't see the last clip file and I don't want put it on one DVD by mistake and some footage that needs it on another. This is using P2CMS to export by the way. Does P2CMs eliminate the need for a last clip file?
Click to expand...
Yes, P2CMS export eliminates the need for a lastclip.txt file.
 
We started using dual layer discs for our 8gig cards. We would dump to our laptop in the field. Then while shooting we would burn a backup DVD. It took way too long.
Now we dump to the laptop and to an external drives.
To be honest, as we've added more cards we usually don't even backup till we dump to the edit bay and then to the backup drives.
Yeh, they have gotted much more reasonable thank goodness.
 
On the cheap and fairly easy side... disc burning software like Toast (and I'm sure it's PC equivalents) will automatically break things down into disc-sized chunks and prompt you to put in successive discs until they're all backed up. This is referred to as "disc spanning" in Toast terminology.

I find that 2 4.7 DVDs burtn a lot faster than 1 DL DVD!

-B
 
GOD, but why waste your time waiting for a dvd to burn? buy a hard drive with a decent rep for $100. drag, drop and go to lunch...

people always forget to factor in the cost of YOUR TIME.
 
At the last workflow seminar I was at, we had probably three dozen P2 users there, plus a few who were new to it. Of course the question came up "how do you archive" and I asked the room "is there anyone in here who is using any archive system other than leaving the footage on hard drives?"

Nobody raised their hands.

So -- the question is whether you're comfortable with it. If you are, there's lots of company, that's pretty much how most (if not all) of us are currently working.
 
...because a HD is not a good backup medium. It's POPULAR now because of the ease and speed. But nothing as complex and volatile as a HD is a good choice for backup.

Of course, I use HDs for convenience... but always backup to at least 2 different HDs, and usually 3. A computer crash, blackout, drive firmware glitch, overheating, or drive manufacturing problem can take a drive down at any time. A passive backup medium is much safer and longer-lasting, and not at all a bad idea for crucial projects. So for those, I will back up to DVD; and certainly all my final productsand materials are archived to multiple DVD-R copies.
 
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