Media Asset Management

[corex]

I do a lot of video-editing. One thing I want to know? Is it best just to capture all your DV to files and burn these files to DVD for later use or is it best just to leave them on the DV-tape? I mean, what happens 10 years later? What is best?

[setarip_old]

I'd do both - and store the tapes properly...

[Zarxrax]

Heh... well your DVD's probably wont still be good in 10 years...

I've had some fail after only 1 year. If you buy a good brand though, your data is MUCH safer.

[corex]

So, I should stick to DVD's (A good brand) ? And every 10 year re-copy them?

Thanks for your reply's.

[CWR03]

So, I should stick to DVD's (A good brand) ? And every 10 year re-copy them?
It can't hurt to re-copy the DVD's every year, copying from the original as often as you're able. Don't rely on ISO images, which if I'm not mistaken are analog copies. Unprotected DVD's you've created can be copied as data so there's no loss of quality, and can be copied over and over in successive generations so long as there's no corruption during the copy process.

DVD burning is still relatively new, and there's no definitive answer as to their longevity. Current projections show it to be less stable than videotape, including DV.

[corex]

Okay, now I am a little confused. Zarxrax recommends DVD's and you recommend using DV-tapes instead of DVD's ?

Which one to follow ?

[communist]

I'd take the DV tape anytime. Not just because it will last longer but also stores more ;)

[corex]

This is very interesting. Next, question then. How do you record content BACK to DV-tape :) (yes, I am a newbie, hehe).

[Doom9]

I have started converting my backup library back from physical CDs to a HD (I know if it fails I'm screwed but there are physical space contraints). I'm talking about hundreds of gigs of data accumulated over the past 5 years. So far I'm about through with the CDs and I found that my "house brand" Smartbuy was a really stupid buy. Acer, Sony, TDK and Kodak CDs exhibited no failure whatsoever, but with Smartbuy I had a failure rate going up to 80%. Interestingly, the oldest Smartbuy discs exhibited the lowest error rate, but still, every error is too little. I've begun to process the DVDs now and so far ran into one snag with a Verbatim discs, and had to completely throw out two cheap brands. But my bottom line is, pay the premium for Verbatim or TDK and if you want to be really sure, keep a second copy in another format. Depending on the size of the data you might want to consider setting up a SAN with RAID 5 and do proper monitoring so you know when a disc goes bad.

[corex]

Would these DVD's be a good choice ?
# DVD-R for General media compatible with all other DVD-R drives (speed dependant)
# Proprietary Advanced AZO recording dye
# Superior archival life
http://billigmedien.de/images/43548-l.jpg

[Doom9]

that's one of the brands I use. I also use the +R discs from Verbatim and both -R and +R discs from TDK. Although I'm afraid I have to report that even these can go bad. My last 25 spindle contained 4 discs that didn't even pass the validation test after burning, and I already had unrecoverable read errors on two old Verbatim discs (4x, DVD-R).

[corex]

Okay, now I come up with a very interesting comment from an article. It is in Danish, so I will try to translate it.

It is a guy called Kurt Gerecke and he is a Storageexpert from IBM. He states that a burnable cd has a lifetime of 2-5 year - no more. The material on which data is burned degrades over time. And even if you try to keep the DVD's cold and dry, it does not help.

He states that the best solution yet, is magnetic tapes.

So WHAT to choose? :) I have nothing agains DV-tapes, but then I need someone to tell where to buy a DV-drive to my computer. :)

[odrazil]

It is a guy called Kurt Gerecke and he is a Storageexpert from IBM. He states that a burnable cd has a lifetime of 2-5 year - no more.

For what it's worth, I have many name-brand (TDK) and generic (CMC Magnetics labeled "Hi-Val") CD-R's burned January 1999 which remain functional and error-free. All are cyanine/long strategy type discs. They have not been pampered, many of them spent a lot of time in my automobile. Perhaps the 2-5 year figure cited by IBM's expert is a "safe" duration?

Your best solution is both methods, as already suggested. Tape cassettes to protect against physical damage, optical media to protect against electromagnetic damage.

Something to investigate: do computer-specific "data backup" tapes offer any special advantages over media-specific "video/audio" tapes? I have no idea if this is the case. I doubt it, since the DAT & 8mm formats seem to be widely used for both applications.