Archiving Movies

[Mitcherooney]

Greetings

I am trying to find out the best way to archive movies for the long term.

Currently, I have quite a few movies which I have shot myself saved to mini dv tapes. Now in an attempt to move with the times and because tape driven videocams are becoming (have become?) a thing of the past, I wonder what to use instead - and how to do it. Most are large files, 30 GB ish.

Google didn't help me at all, so over to you guys.....

Any help appreciated

 

[MacInWin]

A good external drive should do you. You don't need an SSD, so a good spinner drive will do. Make backups, so when you get the drive, get two and keep two copies. What is more critical is the format of the movies. You want to keep them in a format that is current technology. (Think Sony Betamax tapes to see why.) So when you copy them to the drive, you should go ahead and put them in a format that modern tech can play.

 

[Mitcherooney]

A good external drive should do you. You don't need an SSD, so a good spinner drive will do. Make backups, so when you get the drive, get two and keep two copies. What is more critical is the format of the movies. You want to keep them in a format that is current technology. (Think Sony Betamax tapes to see why.) So when you copy them to the drive, you should go ahead and put them in a format that modern tech can play.

Thank you Jake for your suggestion, but these drives themselves are somewhat bulky - less so than my mini dv tapes, I accept.

I rather hoped that it was possible to record to an SD card - smaller of course.

Do you know if I can record to SD directly? I have a solid mid 2011 iMac which has an SD slot. Is it possible to record using this? What steps are needed - if it is at all possible?

Thanks again

Mitch

 

[chscag]

Do you know if I can record to SD directly? I have a solid mid 2011 iMac which has an SD slot. Is it possible to record using this? What steps are needed - if it is at all possible?

You should be able to use SD cards, however my experience with SD cards are that even the best of them are unreliable. Hard drives are better. Do like Jake suggested if you should decide to use hard drives.

Another option is you could invest in a Blu Ray drive and discs. That though, is more expensive.

 

[Slydude]

So when you copy them to the drive, you should go ahead and put them in a format that modern tech can play.

Excellent advice, as usual, Jake. I'd also add that whatever format is used, one needs to keep an eye on new formats as they arise. It's possible that the selected format will be replaced by something else. When the new format takes hold, you don't want to wait so long that a conversion path isn't available.

I haven't used SD cards a lot but, I'm not sure I would trust them as primary, long-term, storage.

 

[MacInWin]

I would not trust SD cards or USB thumb drives for long term storage, either. A good spinner, backed up , should last a long time. I would exercise it (them) periodically to make sure they both work, too. Backups and archives are not static.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Thank you Jake for your suggestion, but these drives themselves are somewhat bulky - less so than my mini dv tapes, I accept.

I rather hoped that it was possible to record to an SD card - smaller of course.

Besides their unreliability as already pointed out... being smaller, they are also much much MUCH easier to lose.

 

[MacInWin]

Thank you Jake for your suggestion, but these drives themselves are somewhat bulky - less so than my mini dv tapes, I accept.

I rather hoped that it was possible to record to an SD card - smaller of course.

Do you know if I can record to SD directly? I have a solid mid 2011 iMac which has an SD slot. Is it possible to record using this? What steps are needed - if it is at all possible?

Thanks again

Mitch

Really? Bulky? Have you looked at the small physical sizes of drives lately? Take a look at some of these:
Amazon.com. Spend less. Smile more.

They aren't much bigger than an iPhone.

 

[Mitcherooney]

Thank you everyone.

Two things:
I was getting my Gigabytes mixed up with my Terabytes.. Old age rearing its ugly head again - imagining that I would need a pallet-sizes crate to do the job...

I was thinking that ext HD's were overkill. but of course, portable drives make sense..brain in wrong gear again.

I take on board what you say about SD cards. OK for short term, but in the longer term, not to be relied upon.

Once again, thank you for steering me in a sensible direction. Much appreciated.

Mitch

 

[ferrarr]

You should get a 3.5" drive in an A/C powered enclosure. Also, once the data (movies) are copied to the drive, you can put it away or store it until it is needed.

 

[MacInWin]

Doesn't have to be 3.5", Bob, just any external drive will do.