What are some of the best options for backup footage from the EX1 camera? I'm thinking solid state drive is the best way to go but it's pricey. If buying an old fashion hard drive, what brand has less problems or prone to defects? I'm also thinking about backing up into double layer DVD. The problem is all my MP4 files are in one folder. How do I split those files into multiples of 8.5GB folders? I know that I can't just copy and paste the files. Do I then use the Sony Clip Browser to split those files?

Clip Browser on Intel Mac or Windows will split BPAV. No way to split on PPC Mac. I'm using Intel Mac and splitting 16GB folders to 8GB for backup. I think DL-DVD is good (Verbatim 2.4x) but others will suggest hard drive.

I have this device and I love it - combined with $140 750GB drives it's an unbeatable way to archive (with the usual caveats of archiving to hard drives)

http://www.geekstuff4u.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=650

I have this device and I love it - combined with $140 750GB drives it's an unbeatable way to archive (with the usual caveats of archiving to hard drives)

http://www.geekstuff4u.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=650

That is really cool. I take it that it works well?

I archive to external drives (in matched pairs). Its cheap and fast. To start I bought 3x500 GB hitachi drives and 3x500 GB Seagate drives and 6 USB enclosures. (You can get a better price/performance/warranty building your own drives). I then have 3 x 500 GB Hitachi/Seagate pairs that hold the same data. One set in a shelf. The other in a safe.

I think DL DVDs are a great backup to hard drives too, but they take a while and I know I won't keep up with it for myself.

It works perfectly - as advertised.

I have not found any way to buy it other than direct from Japan (through the above link) and the shipping time/price is big. But well worth it.

I found some plastic boxes to hold the mechanisms and so far so good. It's great to take all of those huge files off the computer.

And this method is, of course, very fast.

Thanks for the response. Initially, I was thinking of hard drive, but then I noticed that hard drive do die often (at least those that I have used before). And for archived, I want something that is a little less expensive and prone to problems.

I have this device and I love it - combined with $140 750GB drives it's an unbeatable way to archive (with the usual caveats of archiving to hard drives)

http://www.geekstuff4u.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=650

That is quite a product! For sure I'm going to buy it. I think this will solve my problems as far as backup.

Many thanks for the suggestion and link.

Okay, I just finished purchasing that product for a total of $80.04. All I needed is USB 2.0 and eSATA port so I didn't go with the combo version.

this appears to be the same thing, available from a US supplier
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817707127

Allen, I wished you could have posted a bit earlier. That would have saved me 30 bucks. Any way, it appears that the one in newegg.com has a StarTech.com logo on the front while that one from Japan does not. I'm not sure if it is the same. I also found a Logic version too.

http://www.techfresh.net/gadgets/computers/storage/logitec-to-release-sata-hdd-stage-rack/

Not sure if it is the same either.

It looks the same to me - good find, Allen.

Chong, you may want to consider canceling your order, not so much for price, but for the time it will take to be delivered. It took almost two weeks to get mine.

Edit:

To clarify, the New Egg unit is the same as mine, but the Logic version is not. Though perhaps just as good while losing the stupidly elegant simplicity of mine.

the logo could just be a sticker, however, after I posted, I noticed the newegg one didnt seem to mention esata, only sata.

the logo could just be a sticker, however, after I posted, I noticed the newegg one didnt seem to mention esata, only sata.

Yep - it looks like it can take SATA drive, but its transfer speed of just 480Mbps suggest the interface is USB2.0 only.

There's one on the original Japanese website that takes Firewire as well - both 400 and 800.

Much more expensive, though:

http://www.geekstuff4u.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=691

Thanks for the reply. I'm not in a hurry to get mine unless there is one in the US with eSATA and USB 2.0.

What are some of the best options for backup footage from the EX1 camera? I'm thinking solid state drive is the best way to go but it's pricey. If buying an old fashion hard drive, what brand has less problems or prone to defects? I'm also thinking about backing up into double layer DVD. The problem is all my MP4 files are in one folder. How do I split those files into multiples of 8.5GB folders? I know that I can't just copy and paste the files. Do I then use the Sony Clip Browser to split those files?


Hard Drives:

Many of the USB or Firewire Hard Drives make a great backup solution. HOWEVER, hard drive do fail and if one does, there goes all your video.

The smart move is to have a second or even third copy of your videos on a second (or third) drive. That way if one drive fails, you have a second copy on another drive. The third drive provides that extra bit of protection, in the unlikely event that 2 drives fail.

This system does require that once or twice a year, you run a hard drive check to make sure the drive didn't freeze up or die. The expected life of hard drives is around 3 to 7 years. So, in time you will need to replace defective drives, but by then drives will be larger and cost less.

I would STRONGLY suggest that you have the drives be from different manufacturers. That way, if a manufacturing defect does occur, it only kills one of your drives.

As for which brands, every time I recommend a brand someone else always says, "It's junk.." However, I've had good luck with Maxtor, Seagate, and Western Digital. I've also heard good things about LaCie.

Figure that the EX-1 is generating ABOUT 16GB per hour. (This is a bit off, but close enough for estimates.) A 1TB drive should hold over 60 hours of video. Given that 1TB USB drives now sell for under $300, that comes to less than $5 per hour per drive.


Optical, DVD:

Both 4.7 GB (SL) and 8.5GB (DL) DVDs are possible, but that is going to take 2 (DL) to 4 (SL) DVDs per hour of material. Like the hard drives, ALWAYS HAVE A SECOND COPY!!!!! Now we are looking at 4 (DL) to 8 (SL) DVDs per hour.

Like the hard drives, I would always copy to different brands, to avoid the risk of a manufacturing defect that kills the disk later on.

For brands, see link below:
The link is a bit old, but is still useful...

http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm


Optical, Blu-ray:

It is possible today, BUT is a bit expensive for the burner and media. In a few years, I believe this will be the system of choice.


Flash Memory:

Possible, but still expensive. I did see 8 GB USB Flash sticks currently on sale at Circuit City $50. That's still expensive, but in 6 to 9 years, the size will be about 8 to 64 times larger for a lower price.




Bob Diaz

Thanks, Bob, for the break down. I would love to go solid state or blu-ray but at the current time, it is very expensive.

I've decided to go with the hard drive and double layer DVD. I figured that I would only backup the real important footage to a DL DVD media since it's going to take more time writing/reading and more medias.

Hard Drives:

The expected life of hard drives is around 3 to 7 years.



Bob,

I know it's untested, but I am willing to believe that the shelf life of non-operating drives is much longer than 3 to 7 years if stored properly.

Of course the protocols/interfaces themselves are ephemeral (SCSI, for example, and now IDE/ATA), so it's a good idea to transfer your data to the latest and greatest at certain intevals. In 7 years I will probably be able to fit all of my current archives on one drive, as you imply.

So it seems that DVD media, if store properly, will last longer than hard drive, I assumed? However, the only problem with DVD media is as mentioned above, read/write speed is still quite slow for video backup.