Storage question

[Tom]

I have about 80-odd gig of footage I shot for a job that I'd like to keep on a physical thing, in the house, "just in case". I have the footage backed up onto Google Drive but I think it would be prudent to have another backup.

Can anyone recommend a safe way of storing it, something that'll last for a good ten years or so?

 

[soze]

Loads of serious places will still only use Tape Media for long time archiving. It is one of the only tried and tested methods. You could get yourself a 2 bay NAS and shut it down when you are not using it but if it is truly a backup and not something you need regular access too then a Tape Drive might be worth considering.

I went on the Paramount Studio Tour and they said they still backup everything to tapes because they have already lost copies on Hard Drive and they never lost media from a Tape stored in the same way. So even though it is distributed on a hard drive it is backed up to Tape.

I think even Google ect still use Tape Backups.

 

[caLLous]

I'd get a couple (just in case) of WD Passports and mirror it between them. Maybe store them in a tupperware box or a zip lock bag or something.

 

[Raven]

Yup sounds silly but tape is still the best long term back up solution.

 

[caLLous]

For multiple terabytes it is but for <100 GB it's a lot of financial outlay to set a system up.

 

[soze]

But it is what everyone uses for long term storage. Even two Hard Drives not powered up for 10 years could fail. The only tried and tested method for long term storage is a Tape.

I personally would rather store it on a NAS that is turned on and can report disk faults than risk my data on a passport drive that I only turned on when I needed it in case it is too late.

 

[caLLous]

It depends on how much @Tom values the data I guess. You're looking at a good grand for a decent tape drive plus media costs for something you're going to use once. Put the stuff on a couple of drives, keep them in separate places, check them periodically. You could also do what you said and have a copy held in a powered-on array of some sort (preferably with ZFS because I love it). Hell, if the data isn't going to change you could RAR it up in 4.3 GB parts (with plenty of recovery volumes in case a disc becomes unreadable) and burn them all to DVDs. A lot of optical media is guaranteed for 25 years iirc.

 

[old.user4556]

It depends on how much @Tom values the data I guess

Classic IT issue of risk appetite - @Tom if you want to mitigate your data loss risk, then it'll cost you a lot, however two cloud backups and a "copy to new hard disk every couple of years" should be more than sufficient.

 

[soze]

The 3 2 1 backup plan says.

Have at least three copies of your data.
Store the copies on two different media.
Keep one backup copy offsite.

So Google Drive is one location and your offsite. Keep a copy on your data server that is on and monitoring the disks. Third copy on your USB drive maybe.

 

[Tom]

The footage is worth about 5 grand. It's unlikely I'll need it even in a year. I may ask the client to keep a few copies of it as well, after all, they paid for it. I can't really charge them for storage so I don't want to spend a great deal. What about a few SD cards; as well as online storage, on my HD and on some SD cards, that'd be ok wouldn't it?

 

[caLLous]

Sounds fine. You can consider yourself very unlucky if you do all of that and still lose the footage. As well as all the local stuff, it's rare for cloud hosters to lose data and not have redundancy to repair it or copy it back. (although it does happen, I think Amazon lost some clients' stuff a few months ago)

 

[Zarjazz]

Google Drive is fine depending on your quota, but Amazon Glacier is probably the most cost effective online storage if you want to backup a lot of data you don't need to access frequently or instantly. It's less than 1p per GB per month to store. Downside is that it's API based but here are some decent free GUI's out there like https://fastglacier.com/

 

[Tom]

Jeysus I just checked, the prices of SD cards have plummeted haven't they?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lexar-Profe...2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1444580366&sr=1-2

Last time I bought one, it was about 16GB for more than that I think.

 

[caLLous]

Yeah and you honestly don't need a UHS 3 one if it's just for archiving, not that there;s an awful lot of difference in the price.

 

[old.user4556]

Archiving. Memory cards.

Makes me think of Job.

 

[TdC]

tbh you can get LTO data-cartridge writers for not a lot on the 2ndhand markets. The -new- cartridges doen't even cost that much. Pro-tip, get cleaning tapes and use them. the thing with storage vs archiving is that you have to realize that your long term archive strategy must cover your data format and all required programs you need to manipulate it. in other words, you have to consider the soft- and hardware changes between the implementation of your strategy and your 5y point, 10y point, etc. cartridges are ace. some of them are certified up to 30 years or so when stored correctly. your problem is with basically everything but the cartridge

 

[soze]

I would never ever save anything long term to SD Cards. Just like I would never to a Pen Drive. I have never had one fail and there are no moving parts so it should be more reliable than a spinning disk but I just do not like the idea.

 

[Tom]

Archiving. Memory cards.

Makes me think of Job.

Yes but I'm not buying Sandrisk or Rexar memory cards.

 

[Moriath]

Yes but I'm not buying Sandrisk or Rexar memory cards.

Memory cards a memory cards a memory card. Same tech. All have a failure rate. Never had a sandisk card die on me

 

[old.user4556]

Yes but I'm not buying Sandrisk or Rexar memory cards.

No no, you're supposed to buy them on eBay from indochina like Job does. 1tb memory cards for 50p, highly recommended.

 

[soze]

For shits and giggles I just did a restore from a DAT named "DEC-04" I had to go out to our Storage container to find a DAT 72 and I connected to to our backup enclosure and just did a restore first time. It looks like it was written in Veritas There is absolutely noting on this tape I can see us ever needing

 

[TdC]

yeah, I feel your pain

tbh I did do a quick search to see if I could get some big LTO rig for le cheap. I could, and even with tapes it wouldn't break the bank heh. That said, it's way too much hassle to remember to change tapes daily, or even weekly. In my own house. Tapes...meh.

 

[soze]

yeah, I feel your pain

tbh I did do a quick search to see if I could get some big LTO rig for le cheap. I could, and even with tapes it wouldn't break the bank heh. That said, it's way too much hassle to remember to change tapes daily, or even weekly. In my own house. Tapes...meh.

Also Tapes do need to be kept in a fairly controlled environment, so a fire safe ect. It is all ball ache

 

[~Yuckfou~]

Just stick it on a usb stick in your safe if you have one.
So you'll have cloud storage, local storage and a copy in a safe. If you lose all of those it doesn't matter because Putin has probably just killed us all.