OT: How to backup AVI's in multiple folders to mini-DV tape?

NickHope wrote on 1/25/2005, 5:32 AM

Hi all,

I used to use Sclive to backup my DV-AVI files from hard drive to tape, and it made a very good job of it.

Unfortunately now my AVI archive is categorised into hundreds of different folders so I can't write them to tape with Sclive unless I copy them all into a single folder on another hard drive first.

Does anyone know a way to backup AVI files in multiple folders onto mini-DV tape?

thanks!

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 1/25/2005, 5:42 AM

Well, you could use VidCap's print to tape feature and string together files from any directories in any order and print them all in one batch. They'll all become one single video stream though so that if you capture them back you'll have one long AVI file with no breaks in it.

NickHope wrote on 1/25/2005, 6:05 AM

Thanks Kelly. So you mean the clip's timecode is destroyed during this process? I could always try optical scene analysis if I needed to recapture but I've no idea how effective it is. What happens when i get to the end of a tape using VidCap print-to-tape? I have more than 10 hours to backup. Does it give me a running total of minutes as I add files to the batch so I can stop adding files at something like 63 minutes?

John_Cline wrote on 1/25/2005, 8:11 AM

I realize that what follows doesn't at all answer your question, but... I have pretty much quit using DV tape altogether. The only time I still use it is in hand-held situations. Otherwise, I capture and store all my footage on hard drives and use removable drive trays installed in a Firewire case. Since some great deals can be had on hard drives these days, it is just slightly more expensive than cheap DV tape and a LOT more convenient. I can keep several entire projects on the drives, no recapture of footage is ever necessary and I can revisit a project almost instantly and pick up where I left off.

This week, CompUSA has 250gig Hitachi drives (my favorites) for $99 after rebate. That's about 20 hours of DV storage and is equal to paying about $5/tape for DV tape. High-quality DV tape is more expensive than this anyway. Even the Costco TDK DV tape deal is around $3.40/tape.

John

Former user wrote on 1/25/2005, 8:38 AM

The timecode will be lost, but the DATE/TIME stamp should stay intact.

Dave T2

NickHope wrote on 1/25/2005, 9:57 AM

Thanks Dave, I think I mean Date/Time stamp, which is what Sclive uses to chop up the clips. I always get that confused with timecode.

John, I'm with you completely about hard drives. Basically I've been relying on hard drives for backup for the last year but had a horrible scare recently when 2 failed in one week and I thought I'd lost my last year's work. Thankfully I got the data back from one drive. So I thought to myself maybe I should keep a set of tapes again just in case. I hate to spend a whole day just backing up though, because that's how long it will take.

The other problem with the hard drive route is the cost of drives here in Thailand. About 10 days ago I paid $204 dollars for a Hitachi 250Gb drive. If I import one from the U.S. then the corrupt customs department here have a field day and charge a crazy amount of import duty.