Up until recently, I had NO problems with asset management.
I simply got a new HD for every new project.
I'd then put EVERYTHING on that drive, from scripts to media to art to VEG files, music, even scans of talent releases, etc.
By doing that, I found that even years after I finished a project... if I had to revise it (with new product or pricing or whatever), I'd instantly remember most of what went where, and even better, more or less where I had stored it all. And of course, finding the SEARS 2004 job was as easy as reading the label on the box.
But I DID have over 80 drives - all neatly packed in little white boxes on the shelf. One of my major fears was the flooding that follows many hurricanes - and I live in Florida.
Lately thought, two major things have occurred in my life - both of which have thrown me for a loop.
First - no more videotape (or digital tape, if you please).
So that 'well, we've always got the tape' for archive feeling is gone, and it's damn frightening. I still get a clutch in my stomach every time I format a CF card.
Second - Hard drives became so darn cheap that I decided to stack everything on to some MUCH bigger storage. Where before I was using 80gig to 100gig drives for each job, the demands of the new Uber HiDef footage I'm currently producing require much more space. But no matter - after all, the drives are so CHEAP.
So I carefully began to compile all my smaller drives onto much larger ones. The (huge) advantage - everything searchable in one place. And WAY less to carry in the event of evacuation.
The problem? Now I can't find ANYTHING.
Once I realized that there would be no more "let's get back to the tape", I decided to backup every job I had TWICE. A "working drive" and an "Archive". But now i don't have any idea where ANYTHING except the last few jobs are located. Further, while I'm archiving onto single drives, I'm forced to EDIT off of striped arrays. So my workflow is :
Edit on arry
Archive to single drive
Archive THAT to second other Archive drive.
Changing or renewing projects has become a nightmare.
Does anyone have a media management solution to this conundrum?
BTW - I'm including thousands of still photos along with my thousands of hours of original footage.
What to do?
v
I simply got a new HD for every new project.
I'd then put EVERYTHING on that drive, from scripts to media to art to VEG files, music, even scans of talent releases, etc.
By doing that, I found that even years after I finished a project... if I had to revise it (with new product or pricing or whatever), I'd instantly remember most of what went where, and even better, more or less where I had stored it all. And of course, finding the SEARS 2004 job was as easy as reading the label on the box.
But I DID have over 80 drives - all neatly packed in little white boxes on the shelf. One of my major fears was the flooding that follows many hurricanes - and I live in Florida.
Lately thought, two major things have occurred in my life - both of which have thrown me for a loop.
First - no more videotape (or digital tape, if you please).
So that 'well, we've always got the tape' for archive feeling is gone, and it's damn frightening. I still get a clutch in my stomach every time I format a CF card.
Second - Hard drives became so darn cheap that I decided to stack everything on to some MUCH bigger storage. Where before I was using 80gig to 100gig drives for each job, the demands of the new Uber HiDef footage I'm currently producing require much more space. But no matter - after all, the drives are so CHEAP.
So I carefully began to compile all my smaller drives onto much larger ones. The (huge) advantage - everything searchable in one place. And WAY less to carry in the event of evacuation.
The problem? Now I can't find ANYTHING.
Once I realized that there would be no more "let's get back to the tape", I decided to backup every job I had TWICE. A "working drive" and an "Archive". But now i don't have any idea where ANYTHING except the last few jobs are located. Further, while I'm archiving onto single drives, I'm forced to EDIT off of striped arrays. So my workflow is :
Edit on arry
Archive to single drive
Archive THAT to second other Archive drive.
Changing or renewing projects has become a nightmare.
Does anyone have a media management solution to this conundrum?
BTW - I'm including thousands of still photos along with my thousands of hours of original footage.
What to do?
v