Backing up media used in project

biggles wrote on 3/9/2006, 3:35 PM

I have a feeling that the answer to this will be transparently obvious once someone starts to explain it, but here goes anyway...

I have just finished a project and so have a directory on my internal HD full of captures, audio files, veg files and stills.

I want to archive off to an external HD ONLY what I actually used to build the project. My intention is to keep it there until the client 'signs-off' on the project.

I know I could open the 'Project Media' tab, write down by hand each item there and then manually drag those files across to my external HD but surely there must be an easier way to do this.

Wayne

Comments

Paul Mead wrote on 3/9/2006, 3:50 PM

When you do a "Save as..." there is a little checkbox at the bottom that lets you copy all the media used in the project to the same location as the new Vegas file. The new project file will point to the new location, too. Select your external HD as the destination for the Vegas file, click the magical checkbox, and take a break while all those files get copied to the HD.

biggles wrote on 3/9/2006, 4:02 PM

Thank you Paul - as I suspected soooo obvious!

Vegas continues to amaze me!

Thanks again Paul

vicmilt wrote on 3/9/2006, 8:20 PM

Yeah but...
while I love the archiving of films and spots via the "Save As" function as correctly described above - it tears your film into little tiny pieces, so that major revisions are difficult.

With hard drive space as inexpensive as it is... I suggest getting a firewire housing and an inexpensive HD and dragging your whole project - scripts, music, art, renders, VEG files, media and everything - EXACTLY AS IT EXISTS TODAY onto an outboard HD.
Label it , take it out of the housing, and put it up on a shelf - then if you ever need anything from the video or want to re-edit for ANY reason, VOILA - there it is, just as you remember it.
For instance, let's say you want to extend the music into a longer piece for a presentation. "Save As" will only have the music that you actually used. My way will have all the music you ever considered.
There are many other reasons to proceed in this manner.

Compiling video elements was an important part of video production when a 9 gig HD cost $2,500 bucks. Today it's not the best way to work - ( sort of like you don't have to chop down a tree to cook dinner, either - things change ).
best,
v

Paul Mead wrote on 3/9/2006, 8:28 PM

I haven't noticed it chopping up video sources unless you select the "trim" option. Is that what you are refering to?

johnmeyer wrote on 3/9/2006, 9:00 PM

I haven't noticed it chopping up video sources unless you select the "trim" option. Is that what you are referring to?

There are two gotchas. First, it will convert the audio to WAV files, at least it will if you trim. Thus you have an AVI file AND a WAV file.

Second -- and this is important to answer biggles' original question -- you also must remember to click on the "Remove All Unused Media From Project" icon in the Project Media area before you do the Save As procedure outlined in the earlier reply. Otherwise, you will copy ALL the media you ever imported into the project, whether or not it was actually used in the final project. I recommend saving the project (VEG) under a new name before clicking on this icon, just in case you want to go back to an earlier state and use some of this dormant media that is still in the Project Media area.

biggles wrote on 3/10/2006, 12:04 AM

Thanks for all the helpful input gentlemen - not only does Vegas continue to amaze me, but so does the helpful nature of this forum!

Wayne