What do most of you do when it comes to archiving old projects?

[Jeff Kirkland]

I have hard drives. Lots of them. I keep a copy of the original camera card files and a copy of the project library with render files, optimised media, etc deleted. Each drive is duplicated so there’s at least two copies of everything on separate drives.

Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland

[Jeremy Garchow]

I keep everything as we really can’t afford not to.

If a client calls and needs something back or updated, or whatever, we would be remiss to say, we didn’t save everything.

We use LTO, but the process would be the same if using hard drives in that a set of tapes go on the shelf, and then a dupe set of tapes goes offsite.

Jeremy

[Bret Williams]

Current projects are on a Pegasus raid 5. Completed projects eventually migrate to a mirrored 3TB raid where I delete the camera media eventually but keep the ps, AE, music, sfx, etc. The camera media is backed up in multiple places on USB 3 drives. I try to keep ongoing backup drive(s) off site in case of break in or fire.

[Bill Davis]

Media is stored in Sparse Disk Bundle Card Clones. These get mirrored onto 2 drives if the project is normal. 3 drives if the project is critical. Any large project (i.e. not audio or “move on still” based) is worked as Referenced Media linked to those card clones. So the FCP-X project files stay small and as such, I can “drag dup” the Libraries onto secondary and tertiary drives to clone the database as needed. I typically use just a secondary during the live life of the work, then make an additional backup to the tertiary drive after the project is complete.

I’ve played around using the internal X “Camera Archive” system for making the sparse bundles – but I still find it more convenient to use Andreas Kiels’ SCDI utility to create them. Just so I don’t have to launch X in the field to make the clones.

Since X can use ANY card clone group. And any mirrored copy of the library to re-launch the project, the key in my thinking is to have a standard as to the location/files where you do “live” work – and a strict path to where you store backups and how you ripple changes throughout the backup locations.

The editors who have a constant flow of daily projects would need a much more sophisticated daily backup system. This works great for me.

FWIW.

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[Pete Johnson]

Thanks that’s really interesting. Just out of curiosity what level do you guys operate at, professional, semi-pro, ect.

[Scott Witthaus]

I budget in a USB3 drive or equivalent to each project. At the end of a project I copy and archive all the assets to that drive and hand it over to the client. For smaller jobs, multiples may be put on a single drive.

I tell them I will keep the project active on my system for 3 or 6 months, depending on client, and then will delete. It’s their responsibility at that point. I can’t afford to be, or want to be, the archivist for my clients.

Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

[Mark Morache]

My projects aren’t huge. I just did one that went over 100gb. I create a folder on the root of my working drive that contains the library, and folders with all my media, scripts, notes, important copies of emails, graphics, original layered photoshop files that I use to create merged graphics and final exports. This is backed up daily or more frequently depending on how much work I can afford to lose and re-do.

Keeping all the media in external folders keeps the library size small.

When I’m done and approved, I nuke my render files and I drag my entire folder with my library and media onto a backup drive (I use raw drives in a Voyager dock), which I keep a clone of. Repeat clients get their own hard drive for compiling projects.

I also try to keep backups of every motion effect in my effects library. I tried re-opening an old project one time and couldn’t find a lower third I created, so I had to re-create it and replace the offline clips.

———
Don’t live your life in a secondary storyline.

Mark Morache
FCPX/FCP7/Xpri/Avid
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com

[Bret Williams]

I have found that unless the client is a video producer, they have no clue where that drive is even months later. So for all inclusive clients we keep copies of everything. If the client is a producer we do just like you mention, but sometimes just the project and USED media since they already have their own copies of the camera footage.

[Nick Papadopoulos]

We have 3 drives:

1. Archived projects
2. Camera Media Archives
3. Final Videos

In drive 1 we put the project folder with the media and no exports. We use Final Cut Library Manager and trim the library down to the minimum.

In drive 2 we ingest the media with the Create Archive option of FCPX in the beginning of the project (CF, SD cards etc…).

In drive 3 we export 2 versions of each delivered clip. One Clean and one Dirty version with 8 Channels of audio. Clean is without graphics. Dirty is the finished clip with everything and the kitchen sink on it!!… Channels of audio are as follows (tip: we use roles for this)
8 Channels:
01 Full Mix – Stereo Left
02 Full Mix – Stereo Right
03 International Sound (Atmo) – Stereo Left
04 International Sound (Atmo) – Stereo Right
05 Music & Effects – Stereo Left
06 Music & Effects – Stereo Right
07 Voice Over – Mono
08 Dialogue – Mono

That way if the project is not opening with all plugins etc… a year from now, we still have a clean version to cut from with most audio available seperately. 8 Channels was chosen mostly for compatibility with XDCAM discs. One can use as many channels as they like….

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

The multitrack file is a great idea. It’s nearly like having another copy of the project. I always exported one HD file with the total downmix and an aiff with the voiceover off for international versions, but dividing Music, Dialogues and so on is much better. thank you for the tip!

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy
early 2008 MacPro, BM Intensity Pro, early 2008 iMac, 2011 MacBook Pro, FCP7, FCPX, OSX 10.8.3