Backing Up: Best Practices (page 2)

Tape Workflow

This workflow hasn't changed too much since the beginning of time - video time that is (circa 1950) - or at least since the beginning of the Hard Drive Age. In this workflow, the source tapes or field audio and video become the backup medium for the media. With all the source tapes, the original assets and the project file, you can recreate an entire editing project at any time. There are challenges. I have a bunch of source tapes on Hi8 video from the mid-nineties, and, if I ever want to recreate those projects, I'll have to locate a Hi8 deck or camera in order to capture. But there are always challenges, right? This is editing on computers, after all. Truth is, I haven't had to return to those source tapes yet. The full-frame, full-motion final pieces have worked for my purposes so far.

But you never know. Maybe you've shot twenty hours of footage in the Uyuni Salt Flats of Bolivia back in early 2000, and all of a sudden you find you need some of that footage in 2009. No problem. Find your Microsoft Excel sheet (or, in my case, the free, open-source OpenOffice.org spreadsheet document) entitled Source Tapes 2000. Oh, I haven't mentioned the spreadsheet. Virgos, you probably already do this, but it's a good idea to do a simple spreadsheet with the unique name of the tape, total minutes of shoot source footage, dates shot, a summary of the footage (including unique people taped and any other information that is important to your type of work). I keep one per year. If you want to get fancy, you could have your total minutes column calculate your end-of-the-year sum of total minutes shot.

Source tapes, database of tapes... oh yes, other assets. This one is important. I mentioned earlier that, before you start a project, you should make a folder on your media drive where every single asset associated with the project must live: music, voiceovers, still photos, titles/graphics made outside of your editing project... everything! If you are diligent in keeping all of these assets in one place, this step in your archiving is simple. Otherwise, it can be the most difficult step in your whole editing process. Depending on the size of the folder, I burn to a clearly-labeled CD or DVD, and I store the originals with my source tapes.

One last note on source tapes: I keep mine in a fireproof safe in my closet. ( Warning: Make certain that any fire-resistant storage device you consider has a media rating. Otherwise, in the event of a fire, it is possible that the temperature will rise high enough to melt the media inside the device, thereby negating the value of the device in the first place, as well as giving you a false sense of security. ) I have never experienced a house fire (touch wood), but these safes are relatively inexpensive at most chain office supply stores and even come with a lock, if you need that kind of security. The main thing is that you keep all of your labeled tapes in one secure spot, safe from water, direct sunlight, fire, etc., so if you do need them, you know exactly where to…