Whats the consensus re: editing your camera files?

[Chris Borjis]

Thanks guys.

ya Tom thats sop here as well.

I’ll keep doing it the way I always did.

Now, instead of transcoding to pro res for fcp, I’ll just copy the camera content
into the capture scratch.

same thing I did for years before except the project archives will be smaller now
since we’re not converting to bigger file size prores clips any longer.

[Walter Soyka]

[Ron Pestes] “I edit with RAID 1 so I always have a backup of everything as I go. This includes project files, stills, original video etc… No other backup and I don’t see the reason to because the chance of both drives failing at the same time is to small to calculate. I edit from these drives and it saves an exact copy to the second RAID 1 drive as I go… A lot of people will disagree with me but their arguments have not conviced me to change.”

Ron, I will disagree with you and attempt to convince you to change.

RAID is not backup.

It doesn’t matter what level RAID you use. RAID may provide you disk redundancy, but it does not provide backup. RAID 1 provides single disk redundancy, but disk failure is the only thing it provides any degree of protection against.

You speak of your RAID set as if you had two copies of the data. This may be true when the drives are offline and stored separately, but it’s not true when they’re online and working together.

When the RAID set is active, the disks are mirrored, so you will not be protected against accidental deletion, accidental overwrite, or file system corruption.

Neither are you protected against any physical dangers, like electrical damage, fire, flood, or theft.

There are many possible failure modes that can result in data loss, but you’re only protecting yourself against one: simple disk failure.

Unless you have more than one independent copy of your data in different physical locations, you don’t have a backup. Personally, I’m not comfortable trusting my reputation and livelihood to two hard drives in the same enclosure.

On the high-end, there are LTO systems, but even low-cost cloud-based backup services or local systems like Time Machine or ChronoSync (onto an external hard drive that can be stored separately) provide additional protections beyond RAID.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Ron Pestes]

Very good points Walter. One problem with that is that whenever someone sends a new file or just a still that needs to be inserted into a program you have to store on another drive as well. While it does protect you it would seem to be a cataloging nightmare to find all the single files that are sent at different times. It would seem that I would be constantly running around trying to keep my backup drives organized instead of getting product out the door. Your system is safer but I can’t see how it is practical. Over time you could have several drives with clips from the same project and not know where anything was. How do you avoid this in your experience?

ronpesteshdvideo.com
Apple Certified Master Pro FCS 2
Sony EX-3
MacBook Pro
Dell M6600
New convert to Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium

[Walter Soyka]

[Ron Pestes] “One problem with that is that whenever someone sends a new file or just a still that needs to be inserted into a program you have to store on another drive as well. While it does protect you it would seem to be a cataloging nightmare to find all the single files that are sent at different times. It would seem that I would be constantly running around trying to keep my backup drives organized instead of getting product out the door. Your system is safer but I can’t see how it is practical. Over time you could have several drives with clips from the same project and not know where anything was. How do you avoid this in your experience?”

I do all my work on direct-attached RAIDs. That’s the “live” copy of the media.

They’re constantly backed up to BackBlaze (though when I start a new project or do some big renders, it can take a few days to catch up).

When I leave for the day, I sync my current projects with ChronoSync (a file/folder snychronization tool) to my laptop or to external storage that comes home with me. It compares two sets of folders — in this case, one on my RAID and one on portable storage — and copies only what’s changed. It also optionally archives modified files if you want the ability to go back to a previous version of a file.

At night, my main RAIDs are automatically backed up a Drobo in my office on my network.

I run periodic full backups to LTO tape.

When the project finishes, I archive it to LTO tape twice; one copy stays in the office, one copy goes home.

Version control and cataloging isn’t an issue, because the hard drive copies are kept in sync (with modified and overwritten files being archived just in case).

I’m more paranoid than most; simple daily file synchronization to a portable external hard drive provides a lot of protection for very little money.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Tom Daigon]

Wow, Walter thats a very impressive archiving regimen.

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

[Ron Pestes]

I like your explanation. It makes sense to me and I will try to get better organized. Thanks for the detailed info. Can’t wait for NAB and the Abobe booth!

ronpesteshdvideo.com
Apple Certified Master Pro FCS 2
Sony EX-3
MacBook Pro
Dell M6600
New convert to Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium

[Walter Soyka]

[Tom Daigon] “Wow, Walter thats a very impressive archiving regimen.”

Thanks, Tom — it suits my paranoia. There’s a saying that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who have lost data, and those who will. I’m in the former, and doing my best to stay out of the latter.

It took a little time to set up, but now it pretty well works on autopilot. I agree 100% with Ron that a backup solution should not cost you more in time than the benefit of data safety it provides.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

[Ron Pestes] “I like your explanation. It makes sense to me and I will try to get better organized. Thanks for the detailed info. “

Thank you — I do hope it was helpful.

[Ron Pestes] “Can’t wait for NAB and the Abobe booth!”

Maybe I’ll see you there!

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Tom Daigon]

See you both there!

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3