storing large amount of video

[mavathlete]

Need help from some of you gurus -

I'm using Creator 9 to capture dv of HS athletes which I edit into 3-5 minute DVDs to send to college coaches. Up to now I've just worked on one project at a time so when the project was over I transfered excess raw video to CDs and only kept a copy of final DVD production on my hard drive. Things are picking up and I have a number of projects to execute simultaneously. I'm afraid of overloading my hard drive. Is the answer as simple as getting an external hard drive to save raw footage to, and then pulling only the files I need onto the hard drive for editing?

To give a sense of the file sizes, I typically shoot about 10-15 minutes of video which as I stated produces a final DVD of 3-5 minute maximum length.

From an equipment standpoint I have access to two laptops - primary (used for a while and purchased specifically for this work) Jetbook 9500S, pentium M 496 mb ram currently 26.8 GB free space left on hard drive. The 2nd laptop a fairly new Toshiba with Celeron M 192MB ram and 45.3 GB free space on drive.

Any thoughts/advice/similar experience on this would be greatly appreciated.

[james_hardin]

Both!

 

You neglected to mention File Sizes, but if you need to keep the raw video you should burn it to disc (CD/DVD) and keep a copy on an external HD.

 

The external should only be powered up and connected when needed. Otherwise it should be sleeping in a safe place.

 

As a backup to the backup, I would burn at least one copy of the raw footage to a CD/DVD.

 

All burning to be done in Classic. If you don't set the disc to Read Only when you burn, you can add more to it later after you import the previous data. (Classic – Help – Adding More to a CD/DVD)

 

Not to knock your equipment, but a Celeron is a small boy masquerading as a man. It just doesn't have the horsepower to do video work and may even overheat and shutdown.

[sknis]

James,

Thanks once again. I went to F&M many years ago, then stayed around for a while; total of 14 years in the area.

Thanks again for technical help.

As I build a body of this work I'll post samples on my web site. Check it out in the coming weeks

www.motionanalysisvideo.com

Regards,

 

If you are making and storing a lot of those DVD AND you haveEMC V9 Deluxe, take a look at disc gallery that helps you keep track of what is on a DVD.

[mavathlete]

James,

thanks for input. I'm an old PA resident as well; Lancaster area.

No offense re: the Celeron, it's a laptop I was recently given free use of. It was never intended for this use. Even though I'm not too technically saavy I've discovered empiracally what you forcast would be the result of this device.

If your" both" comment regarded continued use of saved /archived video for later use, I'd be interested if you cared to elaborate on how you organized your files. I've had one instance of a client wanting an update of their production and suspect I'll get more similar requests as the business grows.

Thanks again!

[james_hardin]

In Lancaster, you live???

 

I am just outside of Mountville on the west side, near Chapman Ford.

 

Another regular here is in Bainbridge…

 

If you are going to be revisiting Projects on a regular basis you want to set up a system that will allow for this.

 

I suggest a Folder on your C:\ drive. Into this folder place everything connected with the project, the source files as well as your Project files and do all work within this folder.

 

The Project files for VideoWave (dmsm) and MyDVD (dmsd) are path specific! If you have everything in a folder like, C:\Hot Amish Disco. When you save a project it is hard coded to look in that specific path. (you will have to do a Save As to save the Project file into that directory too instead of the default My Documents)

 

When you complete a project, save the entire directory to a DVD, room permitting, and your external drive.

 

When you need to revisit the Project, just load the Directory back to your C:\ drive and everything will be in place like nothing ever happened…

[mavathlete]

James,

Thanks once again. I went to F&M many years ago, then stayed around for a while; total of 14 years in the area.

Thanks again for technical help.

As I build a body of this work I'll post samples on my web site. Check it out in the coming weeks

www.motionanalysisvideo.com

Regards,