I've been thinking about workflow and trying to keep the highest quality possible. Assuming you have an immaculate source (so not HDV on miniDV tape, well you could but this idea becomes way more useless) and you need to archive the footage their doesn't seem to be many available methods of backup that are easy or quick.

I worked with beta SP and the place had a huge collection of everything from B roll to final cuts.

I read the P2 workflow stuff and was thinking of their workflow.

What about using an external removable drive to archive your footage to. For HD with the DNxHD codec or uncompressed the price is close to on par with HDCAM tapes for uncompressed and much better using a compressed codec. This could be high cost for people used to minidv but for people used to higher end tape formats it would be on par.

What are peoples opinions and problems with this setup. Is anyone out their doing this. Are your using the drive for editing off of or copying it to media drives and putting it away and using it more as a tape. Comments? suggestions? Ideas?