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Filed under: Business •Hardware •

Anything Worth Backing Up…

Recently, there was a good discussion on the MediaMotion After Effects list about archiving projects. Some use RAIDs and shared network storage devices; some use tape drives such as the Quantum LTO-3; some use stacks of DVDs; some use raw hard disks with adaptors like the Wiebetech ComboDock (which Art Adams wrote about a few weeks ago). However, three universal themes emerged:

• Not all CD or DVD media is created equal. Some media will deteriorate frighteningly quickly if exposed to bright light. Gold discs are the gold standard, but often expensive or unavailable; the best price/performance solution seems to be to use Taiyo Yuden media. Here is an article explaining why. This article also suggests that it is better to use DVD+R media over DVD-R media as it has more robust tracking. I admit to having avoided DVD+R because it does not seem to be as broadly compatible as DVD-R, but for internal archives, DVD+R may be the way to go.
• Enlist software such as CDFinder which will help you track down which project or file is on what piece of backup media, whether it be a disc or a drive. (For day to day workflow - not just archiving - GridIron’s Flow looks like it’s going to be the mother of all file trackers, by the way.)
• Make more than one copy. Discs, tapes, and drives do indeed eventually fail - or get dropped, or get lost. As tapes hold more (800 GB advertised for LTO-3) and drives hold more (1.5 terrabyte disks are readily available now), one failure can take out even more data than ever before. Make at least two copies, and keep one copy in a physically different location (off-site, if at all possible). We’ve always made duplicates even back in the day when we were using painfully slow Exabyte tape drives; now that data transfer rates are so fast, there is no good excuse to not make two copies of everything - unless, of course, you’re the type that laughs at danger. Trust me: You won’t be laughing for long...

By the way, if you go the hard drive route, consider dedicating a unique drive per project or client. That way, you can either charge them for it, or give them a specific end-of-life deadline (such as one year) at which point it may be erased. We sometimes do that with film and television show titles - film titles in particular are rarely revisited after release, and therefore may just be taking up space in your storage closet. On the other hand, corporate clients have a way of coming back from the dead (10 year retrospectives and the such).

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Shooting with EX1
I’ve been backing up to
Verbatim Inkjet Printable DVD+R DL
P/N 95123 (Made in Singapore)

Given the amount of data I’m generating, I’ve been willing to pay the price for +R DL discs but you don’t mention the reliability of Verbatim other than their use of Taiyo Yudan in some cases (which doesn’t seem to be DL). I was under the impression that with DVD+R DL, Verbatim is the most reliable. Please share your thoughts on this.

Alternatively I’m thinking of moving to Blu-ray data discs for backup. I’ve been reluctant to move to it due to a lack of readers (never know when pulling the media will have to be at another computer). I spoke to someone at Dalkin who claim their 23GB archival discs are best (they don’t make or trust 50GB discs for archival). Any research and brand quality here?

Posted by  on  11/01  at  05:08 AM

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I’ve also bought Verbatim for DL discs. Although, because of the price difference, I’ve been using single layers far more.

We’ve been hoping to use Blu-ray for a few years now! It’s a promise that’s been dangled out there for ages. For now, I wouldn’t use it for client hand-offs, because as you say you don’t know what they will have, but for internal archives, as long as _you_ have a reader, you’ll be okay (and I think they’re becoming more common). If you’re really cautious, you might get one external reader with a common interconnect such as FireWire or USB2 so that you’ll have one handy even if they lose favor and get phased out of being internal drives in the future (we went through that with Zip etc.). Otherwise, I have no experience with brands or quality on Blu-ray.

Posted by Chris Meyer  on  11/01  at  08:03 AM

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I guess with the volume of data I’m creating, having half the number of discs has value to me. My discs are already number into the hundreds and that’s with using DL. Storage space does have a cost especially if one lives/works in an apartment. Currently DL is about 5 times the price though (SuperMediaStore). Something for me to think about.

My mixed feelings about Blu-ray are that burners and players eventually fail (age). DVD has been around since the ‘90s and DL around 4 years I believe. I believe backward compatible DVD readers will be around for a long time. I’m not yet convinced the manufacture of Blu-ray disc readers will endure.

Yes, I went through the Zip days too and that’s why I mention player longevity issues.

Thank you very much for your response Chris.

Posted by  on  11/01  at  08:38 AM

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