BackUp of AVI files

[Guest]

I want to make Backups of my home DVC movies. I want to copy the AVI capture
file to DVDs as an AVI file in order not to lose any quality. I calculate
that this will take six to seven DVD-r blanks. Is this the wrong direction
to go? Is it better to copy back to a blank tape in the camera? I have been
reading through the post and concluded that the AVI type 1 is as close to the
original that regular consumer software will allow. Please point me in the
right direction.

Thank You
Kenny

Cannon ZR85
Nero
My DVD
MM2

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

If it's a backup copy of your original tapes, I'd think that copying it to
tape is the easiest way to go... dub it from one digital camcorder to
another.

If it's backing up your edited and saved movie projects in DV-AVI format,
again it's easier to go to tape, and have backup tapes.

If it's to have source files that are able to be reused in a Movie Maker
project, then the data DVD route would work, but not the tape backup. Movie
Maker won't accept the newly captured file from the tape, even if it's a
copy of the original one or another capture of it.

--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org
..

 

[James E Middleton]

Just my 2 cents...



Since the cost of giant HDDs are well within reason, another alternative is
to install another HDD and use it for video storage. (Down side: used for
nothing but storage, it just sits there spinning away the whole time your
computer is on.) You could get an external fire wire / USB 2 box and put the
backup drive there and when it gets full swap it out. I have several older
drives, 20, 40, & 60GB drives that have been replaced by bigger, faster
drives, 100GB or larger. These older drives now serve as archives for raw
video, finished viedos, and project files.



HTH

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

That's sure a lot easier than using data DVDs and having to piece the file
back together if needed.

I like the external drive approach and have added a couple more lately...
and at about 40 cents a GB for the external drive versus about 23 cents a GB
for mini DV tapes... it's even close to being break-even... and the external
drive is so much more versatile.
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org
..

 

[James E Middleton]

Here's a tip if you plan to use HDDs as external storage, especially if plan
to swap the drives in and out of the external case. I use my external fire
wire case as a 'HDD port' of sorts; when I bought it I specifically looked
for one that came apart easily. The case cover is a sleeve that is fastened
with two screws. I leave the screws out. I can slide the cover off, pull the
power and IDE cable off the drive in the case and plug it into another drive
in less than a minute. It's quite easy to swap off two or three drives and
get the files I need or want back on the system. However, some cases are
very complicated to assemble and take apart which doesn't make swapping
drives impossible but very troublesome.

 

[John Kelly]

Hello,

You are describing a caddy system for HD. This is exactly how I transport
data v.large files between computers AND store data...I recently purchased
two WD Cavier 250GB drives as additional storage...they cost roughly US
$140...this method is much better than using tape....using tape eventually
reduces the life of your dv camera...

--
Have A Nice Day.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org
www.the-kellys.co.uk
Check out free video hosting at www.the-kellys.org
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All material gained from other sources is duly acknowledged. No Value is
obtained by publishing in any format other peoples work

 

[steve]

I put in a new 200GB HD for video storage which seems the
easiest way to go fir me. Once that fills, the external
will be the route to go. I do have a question to those who
have repsonded to this thread. When describing 'external'
HDs it seems as though you are techincally
using 'internal' drives in an external case. Is that
correct? I'm guessing that's cheaper than buying self
contained external drives which run just under a buck a
GB. (ie Maxtor 300GB external firewire drives might run
around $279 US).

Steve

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

In my case, yes - internal 7200 rpm drives are really low in price when on
sale.... and then putting them into an external case (I'm using USB2 cases
which work fine with video when the computer has USB2).
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org
..

 

[John Kelly]

Hello,
A store not known for selling electrical items (German Company called Aldi)
have been selling 250GB Western Digital drives for £79 which is several
times cheaper than the computer Super Store about a mile further down the
same road (PC World) I have been told by a chap nearer the production lines
than I am that it will not be too long before the latest Terabyte drives
hit the market. I read a little about the technology involved.....the Spin
on electrons is modified as a means of storing data meaning that the
"track" which is probably not a good way to describe it any more is very
narrow and therefore more data can be stored in the same area.

Anyway, the point of all that is that it may be the HD companies are off
loading their stock...that means its a good idea to keep your eyes open now
for further deals. With regard to the 300GB drives, I think if you do a
little digging you will find that they are actually 250GB drives with an
improved interface to squeeze that bit extra out...it would be interesting
to know what the amount of space lost to the system is on a 300GB and
compare it to a 250GB.

You can get around the excessive cost the companies charge for external
drives by buying a caddy system for swapable hard drives and an EIDE card
and a power adapter...you simply run the caddy externally and plugged into
the eide card...its not as neat looking...but its a hell of a lot cheaper
than some of the absurd prices I have seen in the UK for an external drive,
AND you can run four drives of the one extra card

--
Have A Nice Day.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org
www.the-kellys.co.uk
Check out free video hosting at www.the-kellys.org
----
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(oo)
----------ooO-(_)-Ooo-------------
All material gained from other sources is duly acknowledged. No Value is
obtained by publishing in any format other peoples work

 

[George Ellis]

An alternative is using a cheap miniDV cam as your 'tape' drive. Excluding
HDV and some 24p applications, MiniDV is MiniDV. So, you could use a cheap
cam as your DV In/Out solution. In bulk, tapes are cheaper than $3.50 USD.
4.7GB discs are much cheaper, but creating big AVIs becomes problematic.
The HDD solution is cheaper, but it also depends on how long you want to
store the data. Tape should have a 10 year shelf life. Disc is more that
20-30. Drives might be less than 8 and leaving them on a shelf, powered
down, may not store the data that long (insufficient info - don't ever
remember seeing a stat for that.)

 

[John Kelly]

Hello,

Yes I agree with everything you say with just one exception (I think) DVD
disks in particular and CD disks less so are not performing as well as we
were first told they would...there are complaints apparently that media on
DVD's are already failing...I'm not thinking of the poorly named "Disk Rot"
that was once much spoken of and incorrectly blamed for all sorts of
failures. I hear tell that 5 years for the cheap stuff is optimistic and I
think it was 7 to 8 years for the rest. If this is true and my source is a
scientist in the I. T. industry and not known to be wrong before ... the
industry will still not need to be worried about it...The blue light drives
will hit the market soon and no doubt different dyes will be needed (finer
grain) and everyone will be expected to upgrade...those that don't will
when the red light disk fails be told, "Ah well yes, you should have
upgraded"

Colour me Cynical

A cheap DV camera is a good idea. I have been speaking to a friend who has
been in the computer retail market (He is an MD of a modest sized company)
He has contacts in central China (There is a town there purpose built in
the middle of nowhere where everyone works for the one company) I have
asked him to ask if there is a future for a simple DV device...no display
just a transport mechanism that you could use in exactly the way you
mention...such a device should be a lot cheaper than a camera....but
remembering how much I once paid for a DAT tape system and the tapes to
store my backups on...maybe the price will get pushed up to high on that as
well

I guess the final answer to this will depend on the individual's
circumstances. I have hard drives and dvd burners coming out of my ears at
the moment, however, I bought them as insurance against the future as much
as any other reason...being at an age where I do not particularly want to
spend more money on updating whole systems (I have been retired around
10yrs and no longer feel the need to have the "latest") and as my equipment
usually lasts a long time it will probably last as long as I have still got
an interest in it.

--
Have A Nice Day.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org
www.the-kellys.co.uk
Check out free video hosting at www.the-kellys.org
----
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(oo)
----------ooO-(_)-Ooo-------------
All material gained from other sources is duly acknowledged. No Value is
obtained by publishing in any format other peoples work

 

[James E Middleton]

No, I'm not describing a caddy system. A caddy system imposes the
restriction of installing a receiving tray in an open 5 ¼ bay for each
computer you want to insert a HDD caddy into. So, if I want to move large
amounts of data between my PC at home and my PC at work, both must have a
receiving tray. To do this would require me to purchase two complete setups:
down side; cost, upside; now I have two caddies. Another point to consider;
what if I want to load files onto my friends computer, or share some files
at work? Chances are those computers won't have (compatible) hardware.



Even though drives can be swapped in and out of a caddy, it can't be done as
easily and the caddy has to be completely reassembled to be placed into the
receiver.



On the other hand external drive enclosures, although they may be a bit
bigger, can be connected to any computer with a USB or fire wire port, so
you only need one. And as I mentioned in my previous post, you can switch
between drives very quickly without having to completely reassemble the
external enclosure. [From the task bar, disconnect the drive, power down the
external case, pull the power and IDE cable off the drive that is inside the
enclosure, plug them into another drive, power up the enclosure, Windows
recognizes the drive, you get the files you need, repeat as needed.] Maybe
for the average user this is not an issue, and they may only need to do this
once in a blue moon. And some may think it's a bit unorthodox to have a HDD
drive dangling of the end of some cables from an external drive bay. But,
IMHO, I prefer this to swapping drive in and out of a caddy.

 

[abram]

You may want to consider http://www.firestreamer.com/fs/, however video
to tape would be more reliable than data to tape.

 

[George Ellis]

On the DVD life span, DVD Demystified (the best book on DVDs - BUT it is
very technical and about 600-800 pages) has a section on the planned age of
the dyes (it does vary be format - but 20 years is listed as about the
minimum of any of them). The 'CD rot' has not been attributed to all CDs,
just some of the more unreliable mfgrs. I have not paid much attention to
it though. But, since it is all new, we will see. Hey, they tried to tell
us poly pipe would last forever when it only lasts about 7 years ( or
if you have had to replace it)

I told my HP inhouse guy the same thing. They could make a cheap 13GB
consumer backup system to sell for under $100 and sell miniDV tapes for
them. Just a simple USB appliance. Jeez.

 

[John Kelly]

Hey, they tried to tell
us poly pipe would last forever when it only lasts about 7 years ( or
if you have had to replace it)

Ha! Love it...now where did I put that Guarantee

--
Have A Nice Day.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org
www.the-kellys.co.uk
Check out free video hosting at www.the-kellys.org
----
\|||/
(oo)
----------ooO-(_)-Ooo-------------
All material gained from other sources is duly acknowledged. No Value is
obtained by publishing in any format other peoples work