Mike,

Sounds like a good plan, although it would mean spending $ not in the budget, at lease not at this time. And for someone not comfortable with cracking the case, it would have to be an external box capable of receiving drives.

If I was going to stick with discs for now, what type of file should I render to that can then be saved as a data file on a disc?

Any kind of file can be written to discs with equal ease. I'd use whatever is easiest to reimport into Vegas. Just remember that DVD blanks are very limited in space. The normal ISO format only allows files up to 2GB. You can write a single file that fills the whole disc if you use UDF format instead, but that still limits you to 4.3GB on a single layer disc or 8.5GB on a dual-layer disc.

Thanks for the reply!
What type of file(s) to render out to will maintain the HD + audio? I realize it will take a lot of discs . . .
Thanks!

To fit them on a DVD, you'd need to render it out in the original format, whatever that may be.
With SD footage, it was easy enough to split the original footage if it was over 20 min. (the limit for a DVD).
I stand to be corrected but HDV and AVCHD files appear to be the same size for the same length of file.
I know you said that an external hard drive isn't in your budget but, in the long run, you'll spend more money buying blank DVDs than you will an external drive and still have to worry about how long your DVDs are going to last.

Mike

I've been debating whether to buy a ton of hard drives or archive on DVD for a while now and I have a question about it.

I read an old audio article a few years ago somewhere written by some guy who did a lot of work for Steely Dan and he said he backed up on hard drives for some material, but they sat for long periods of time and something like the bearing or grease (? maybe?) hardened and the hard drive wouldn't spin up anymore.

...and the hard drive wouldn't spin up anymore.

This is why hard drives (just like videotape) need to be "exercised" at least once a year (preferably more often) to ensure that they're still working properly.

Mike

A suggestion .. can you backup to video tape?

Template for my project is HDV 160=60i. End result is to be blueray. Dont have the blueray burner yet. Looking for a way to store the segments on discs in case of a computer disaster and a way to keep the segments for the future, tho i realize no archive method is perfect, discs are at least something I can do with the equipment and budget I have.

Any advice to what type of file to render to to store on discs?

thanks!

What is HDV 160=60i ?

Rather than answer your question, those who have answered so far seem to be warning you away from using DVD media for archiving. Archiving tends to imply indefinite periods of time, so in that regard I tend to agree.

That said, I have some AVI files that I saved to DVD disks about six years ago and so far they are fine. I do plan to move them to hard disks in the near future, now that hard disk storage is so cheap. ( and keep the DVDs as well )

DVD's should be fine for relatively short terms of ten years or less and probably more - manufacturers claim 30 - 100 years, but you have to decide what you are willing to risk . The only way to minimize the risk, would be to make multiple copies on more than one brand or type of media..
If you have you have clips larger than 4.5g they would have to be split and rendered out to smaller files.
Based on what you are saying, you should render to HD matching your project settings..

If your clips ( or combination of 2 or more clips ) are less than 4.5gb, just save them as data, without rendering.

Stored as data on single layer DVD, the size of your files would be limited to about 4.5gb; about 23 minutes of HD ..