Archiving Strategy

[sbeswick]

Hi all,

I am just getting ready to build a new rig which will be used for DVD related "stuff" as much as office type activies. My question regards archiving strategies that any of you might recommend :)

Initially, I have about 100ish DVD's that I allready own that need backed up (about half of these have allready been ripped to the harddrive using DVD Shrink to eliminate menues, extras etc. Assuming I rip the remaining ones the same way, it looks like about 500 - 600 GB to hold it all. In addition, I have another 40ish GB's of home movies etc.

My question is...what is the best (and somewhat) economical strategy for safeguarding all this...keeping in mind the DVD's I have ripped I have the originals for...but I don't want to have to rip them all again for sure :) Soooo....given what I have been reading here about the problems with certain (user recorded) dvd's not playing in certain players etc. is it "safer" to back all this up to DVD's (in the case of ones that I own the originals for...I would still like a back up copy as I have a 5 year old that loves silver frisbees when he manages to get ahold of one and I want them on my HD to stream to other TV's etc.) or put another 600ish GB's worth of hd's on board and back them up that way? By my calc's....even stripped down movies (without compression) would require dual layer media...which is still expensive and has even more problems being read etc. Is this the case?

Thanks for any help...I imagine there isn't a "simple" answer....just wondering what strategy the experts here like the best.

[neo75903]

Same here. I backup thos data again back on other hds. There is by my knowledge no any affordable alternatives.

CD based: Not without playing dj and even with Blueray you still need alot of them.
Tapes: Same prob, capacity is even lower.
Iomega REV: 90gig compressed or 35gig without compression. I just wonder how much of that 90gig is true. Though Iomega has promised higher capacities ...

Here is a recent thread you might be interested:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=85706

[sbeswick]

Thanks for the reply Neo...yep I read that thread you linked. Thats what got me to start rethinking my strategy :)

Smaller home movies I do back up on both CD and DVD just because they are a much bigger pain to re-rip (also at some point tapes start to degrade...I can see this effect in Hi8mm tapes that are only 4 years old or so).

I might take a look at the Iomega REV...would we assume that is "at least" as reliable for long term storage as a regular hard drive or CD / DVD?

Thanks again!

[fccHandler]

Tape degradation is a slow process which is fairly predictable. But even my most degraded 17-year old VHS tapes are still watchable. In large part the video is still there, and it's recoverable.

But when my CD-Rs (and other's hard drives) have died, it happened unexpectedly and suddenly. No chance to recover any of the data; it's lost forever. There seems no sensible reason why some die and some don't.

That's why I'm starting to seriously consider tape-based solutions for long term backup, like DV and D-VHS.

[neo75903]

idd, but then you are again transfering it back to DV or D-VHS.
I think it will be interesting to see a interface between pc and a DV cam for example. I think those DV tapes have huge storage capacity.
Someone knows if such a interface exists? and the possible storage space?

edit: did a little search foudn this on Toms hardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20030912/index.html

hmm 15gig max on a 60dv tape, lower then i though.

[zilog jones]

I remember you used to be able to get programs to back up data using normal VHS VCRs, but I really question their reliability...

That miniDV one sounds pretty interesting, but from that review it also seems a bit dodgy.

[neo75903]

idd. Not very reliable. I remembered that VHS system too. But dont think it will be reliable over a longer period, after all we switched to DVs just becoz of it cons :)

My guess is Opmega's REV drive is the most viable one for home users, 35gig and affordable.
Better wait for the next version with increased capacity then i think things will be more interesting.

[sbeswick]

The DV solution looks promising...but sounds very buggy atm. I think I may take a closer look at the Iomega...in the mean time it sounds like the safest alternative is just to back up on an extra HD.

Anyone have any predictions on when DL DVD burning will settle out so that it is as reliable as SL burning is now (which I assume is approaching cdr at this point?)

Thanks again for all the great info...I wish I had more to contribute but I am still catching up to newbie status :)

[_PN_]

Originally posted by fccHandler But when my CD-Rs (and other's hard drives) have died, it happened unexpectedly and suddenly. No chance to recover any of the data; it's lost forever. There seems no sensible reason why some die and some don't.Some of them die coz they lack to be properly glued. (If any oxygen comes in between the layers that hold the dye, chemical reaction begins and makes the cd-r become not anything more than rotting biological mass...)

[zilog jones]

Originally posted by sbeswick
...in the mean time it sounds like the safest alternative is just to back up on an extra HD.

And that's a pretty affordable option these days - prices have been dropping so quickly with HDDs recently. I've just noticed I can get 200GB drives for just over €100!!

[masken]

200Gb Ultrium (SDLT) tapes and drives would be a solution. The tapes hold for ~100 years, not that there will be tape drives accessible then. Buying an Ultrium drive and tapes isn't cheap though. €/$ 1000+.