Backup strategy

[Craig Thomas quinlan]

Did this originate on tape? If so, it has timecode and if need be, it can be recaptured. If this is tapeless media, and you can’t afford a solid backup solution like LTO tape, you may want to copy this to a few drives and keep them all in different locations.

Most importantly, keep copies of your versioned project files, as well as any nonrecoverable media elements in at least three different places. Everything without timecode needs to be in redundant locations.

Version every couple of hours to two places, like an internal sata and a usb flash drive, or a cd. At the end of the day, back up all the nonrecoverable items again and also to a third place, and bring that home, or somewhere else, so that the whole building could go up in flames and you could start recapturing or reconnecting and be back up, same day. Then again, I’m the paranoid type when it comes to these things.

[Ty Ford]

[Craig Thomas Quinlan] “Did this originate on tape? If so, it has timecode and if need be, it can be recaptured. If this is tapeless media, and you can’t afford a solid backup solution like LTO tape, you may want to copy this to a few drives and keep them all in different locations.

>I got the project on a hard drive.

Most importantly, keep copies of your versioned project files, as well as any nonrecoverable media elements in at least three different places. Everything without timecode needs to be in redundant locations.

>I have copied the original files to another hard drive as backup. I don’t know what you mean by nonrecoverable. I tried running the session from that drive and found pointing the project file to the new location was a problem. There are about 600GB of files.

Version every couple of hours to two places, like an internal sata and a usb flash drive, or a cd. At the end of the day, back up all the nonrecoverable items again and also to a third place, and bring that home, or somewhere else, so that the whole building could go up in flames and you could start recapturing or reconnecting and be back up, same day. Then again, I’m the paranoid type when it comes to these things.”

“Version” as a verb is unclear to me. Save a version of what?

Thanks,

Ty Ford

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[Craig Thomas quinlan]

>I got the project on a hard drive.

I know. What I’m asking is whether the files from your HD originated on tape, like hdcam-sr or digibeta, or are they tapeless media, like xdcam or p2. This makes a huge difference because you can recapture tape by TC if needed. If the original tapes still exist somewhere, this is a form of backup.

>I have copied the original files to another hard drive as backup. I don’t know what you mean by nonrecoverable. I tried running the session from that drive and found pointing the project file to the new location was a problem. There are about 600GB of files.

By nonrecoverable, I mean both your FCP project files, as well as anything without timecode. This means photoshop docs, images, music, sound effects, etc. If it doesn’t have timecode, it needs backing up. Also, don’t just point your project file to a new drive, this isn’t the right backup strategy – you want multiple versions of the exact same project file in its exact same state – a carbon copy – so that if one dies, you can use the other.

>”Version” as a verb is unclear to me. Save a version of what?

By “version”, I mean the process of time-and-date stamping of your project files in its various iterations – so let’s say you start on your FCP project at 10AM and you work for 2 hours. At the end of this time, do a File->Save As… and append the new date and time to the project file. What this does is it both saves another copy of the project file and gives you solid saved copies of the various stages of the editing process. So let’s say at 12pm you save a version, and continue working but realize you accidentally deleted an important sequence – you simply open up the prior version of the project file, copy the sequence and paste it into the new project. Versioning is standard operating procedure for editing, and is crucial as a backup strategy.

So if you’re backing up your project files to three redundant locations, as well as media if it’s tapeless, and properly versioning your project files regularly, you’re able to lose a lot of components and still be able to be back up and running shortly.

[Ty Ford]

[Craig Thomas Quinlan] “>I got the project on a hard drive.

I know. What I’m asking is whether the files from your HD originated on tape, like hdcam-sr or digibeta, or are they tapeless media, like xdcam or p2. This makes a huge difference because you can recapture tape by TC if needed. If the original tapes still exist somewhere, this is a form of backup.

>>Right. No source tapes, etc. I have the only copy on one drive.

>I have copied the original files to another hard drive as backup. I don’t know what you mean by nonrecoverable. I tried running the session from that drive and found pointing the project file to the new location was a problem. There are about 600GB of files.

By nonrecoverable, I mean both your FCP project files, as well as anything without timecode. This means photoshop docs, images, music, sound effects, etc. If it doesn’t have timecode, it needs backing up. Also, don’t just point your project file to a new drive, this isn’t the right backup strategy – you want multiple versions of the exact same project file in its exact same state – a carbon copy – so that if one dies, you can use the other.

>>Right. How do I do that?

>”Version” as a verb is unclear to me. Save a version of what?

By “version”, I mean the process of time-and-date stamping of your project files in its various iterations – so let’s say you start on your FCP project at 10AM and you work for 2 hours. At the end of this time, do a File->Save As… and append the new date and time to the project file. What this does is it both saves another copy of the project file and gives you solid saved copies of the various stages of the editing process. So let’s say at 12pm you save a version, and continue working but realize you accidentally deleted an important sequence – you simply open up the prior version of the project file, copy the sequence and paste it into the new project. Versioning is standard operating procedure for editing, and is crucial as a backup strategy.

>>That’s just the one main project file, right?

So if you’re backing up your project files to three redundant locations, as well as media if it’s tapeless, and properly versioning your project files regularly, you’re able to lose a lot of components and still be able to be back up and running shortly.
“

Yes. It’s the backing up of all the media so I can access it properly. I have copied all the files to the new drive, but when I started the main project file, it couldn’t find the copies because they were not where it expected them to be. If I copy the project file to the new HD, will it know where they are? If not, how do I do that?

Thanks,

Ty Ford

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar