Video Storage Solution?

[jagsr71]

Problem: Many of us want to back up our precious collections but have a limited amount of hard drive space and money to do so. Buying extra hard drives especially large external firewire or USB portables are very expensive.
The most obvious and the easiest way to make a "typical playable DVD is if you already have it on your hard drive as an iso.
But... to avoid the problem. My solution would be to further back up my "back ups" by placing the disc image iso on a dependable dvd disc for posterity.
My question is for those of you that already do this. Is this the best way and/or most efficient method other than having it on the hard drive already?
Do you still have to do a deep analysis of it or do you avoid this timely process by having a DVD iso? It seems to me that all you'd have to do is put it back on your hard drive and burn a copy of the movie from the iso and you'd be done! Then delete off the hard drive again. Is this too simple? What are some of the experiences that any of you have had in this area?

[megamachine]

Hard drives are coming down remarkably in cost, and you can get a 300GB for affordable prices these days. But anyway, it can be a never ending process, as that will fill quickly, and then you'll need another and another. So, you may want to have various storage strategies. Some stuff that needs to be on HDD, keep there. For archiving, you can use DVDs, either 5 or 9 (dual layer burners are now affordable, though the media are still pricey). For some low priority movies, you can even archive them as XviDivX and fit quite a few on a disc. In my case, I use a 300GB Maxtor for video editing projects and large MPEGs. On my laptop HDD, I keep what I immediately need to use for teaching and work. I store smaller video files on another 60GB drive, but for travelling with DivXviDs, I have a pocket size 40GB HDD, and then use either DVD5 or DVD9 for archiving videos in various formats. Top that off with a 2GB flash drive, and I got most needs covered. But in the end, I guess it depends your own needs and preferences, what you want to do with your vids and for what reason you keep them.

[setarip]

"It seems to me that all you'd have to do is put it back on your hard drive and burn a copy of the movie from the iso and you'd be done!"

It IS that simple...

[jagsr71]

Thanks setarip. It seems like a very, very cost efficient and qualitative way to do it as long as your media is top notch and you don't burn at faster than 4x. Do you have a suggestion as to a particular brand of blank DVD's or a lead as to the best place to purchase large quantities at a good price?

[setarip]

"Thanks setarip."

My pleasure ;>}

Which high quality media you should use depends upon two things - the burner you are using and the DVD player that will be used for playback.

To determine the capabilities/limitations of your DVD burner, as well as media compatibility, go to:

https://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdwriters

(If necessary, open the Device Manager in the Control Panel to determine the make and model number)


To determine the capabilities/limitations of your specific brand and model of standalone DVD player, as well as media compatibility, go to:

https://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers

[jagsr71]

Thank you again setarip. It's thanks to the folks like yourself who have such valuable experience and are willing "to give of themselves" to the novices like myself that really make the difference!!! Thank you!!

[setarip]

Aw shucks ;>}