XDCAM - organise files

[Rob Gregg]

Hi there. I am new to the forum and farely new to XDCAM and If this has been posted elsewere then if someone could point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it..

I hear the best set up is a mirrored RAID array, so that you instantly have a back up of your files should one hard drive fail, and also it speeds up the disc reading as it is pulling data from 2 hard drives instead of just one.

I also hear that you should have an archive copy of all of your footage just in case. This is where it starts to get complictaed for me.

I have been filming now for a few months and I now have a lot of video footage (probably not a lot compared to others!). I use Adobe premiere pro CS6, and I import the files from the built in XDCAM browser which is handy, but now I have a lot of footage it spends a while "reading" before displaying the clips. The clips I want to use are always at the bottom so I have to scroll all the way down, and then it continues to "read", sends me back to the top and I have to scroll down again until it has finished "reading". This is not a big issue but when I think of the bigger picture a few years on with many more video clips I can see this being a real nuisance.

I created a new folder to organise the footage in the XDCAM browser version 2.6, and it says "the clips will be copied" if I want to move them to a new folder. This would be ok if I had enough hard drive space, and again I try and think of the bigger picture with much more footage and I start to get confused as to the best way to organise and sort out all the footage.

Can anyone please help and point the newby in the right direction?

Thanks in advance

[Chris Medico]

That question may be best answered in an Adobe forum. Workflows are highly dependent on your editing software.

As an example of how I organize incoming footage - I create a project folder on my edit system then create a folder for RAW video. In the RAW folder I create folders for each shoot day and memory card. I then copy the BPAV folder from each XDCam card into its appropriate folder. All of the folders on the edit system are automatically copied over to a media server with redundant drives for backup.

Under the main project folder I'll create other folders for MUSIC, GRAPHICS, and/or EXPORTED MEDIA (etc) as needed.

From there I use the AMA workflow in Avid Media Composer to get the footage into the edit project.

[Rob Gregg]

Thank you for your input. I will also try the adobe forum, but even your info has helped.

[Doug Jensen]

Rob, you say you are using v2.6 of "XDCAM Browser", but the most recent release is v2.1. It sounds like you are confusing the old "XDCAM EX Clip Browser" with the newer "XDCAM Browser". Yeah, the names are too similar and it leads to a lot of confusion. I don't know what Sony was thinking.

Nevertheless, my point is that you should move over to using "XDCAM Browser" v2.1 and stop using "XDCAM EX Clip Browser".

My workflow is similar to Chris's, but slightly different at the end because I use FCP 7.

[Ron Evans]

I think you need to think of several points. First is copy off the camera onto the PC ( where are the files going), next what will get used for editing and lastly archiving so that you don't fill up your PC with more and more hard drives. I have a LTO3 tape unit for backup LTO Tape Drives Data Storage Product - LTO 3HH Overview. Tapes are cheap and hold 400G for about $25. I use Retrospect: for Windows which is fast and easy to use. Will copy to tape as fast as the hard drives will go both for backup and restore. Will of course also backup your whole PC !!!

Ron Evans

[Rob Gregg]

Thanks Doug. I will get that version and see if it helps!

[Rob Gregg]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

I think you need to think of several points. First is copy off the camera onto the PC ( where are the files going), next what will get used for editing and lastly archiving so that you don't fill up your PC with more and more hard drives. I have a LTO3 tape unit for backup LTO Tape Drives Data Storage Product - LTO 3HH Overview. Tapes are cheap and hold 400G for about $25. I use Retrospect: for Windows which is fast and easy to use. Will copy to tape as fast as the hard drives will go both for backup and restore. Will of course also backup your whole PC !!!

Ron Evans

Thanks for the info Ron. I am beginning to get insight into what serious video editing is like. I am used to just using hard drives, and I had a look at the LOT3 and it is over $1000. Is there a cheaper way to organise files and archive? This may sound like a beginner question but why spend $1000+ to archive when you can get a external or internal harddrive for much cheaper? Is the real benefit the speed of the back up?

I want to find a way so that I don't have any more copies of my footage than I need, so I can maximize space.

From what I am understanding now, when you are transferring your footage you should:

- make a project folder on your video hard drive G (for example)
- on Hardrive A, inside the project folder make a folder for RAW footage
- Then in the RAW footage folder make folders for each shoot day and each sxs card
- Copy the footage into the appropriate folder
- Then make a backup or archive on a separate Hard drive

Is there a video editing technical difference between making a backup and archiving?

[Ron Evans]

Speed isn't the advantage as internal to internal hard drive would be just as fast. For me its the ability to take a copy and place it somewhere else and the space is also small, about the size of 3 DV tapes. I looked at getting a Drobo before deciding on tape and that solution was just as expensive. If you are just starting then multiple hard drives would satisfy but it doesn't take long to have a lot of hard drives and a need to archive them !!! As an active business you would likely have a large RAID 5 for current work and tape backup just like the data centers. For me its a serious retirment hobby so my PC has 500G boot , 500G temp, 1T project RAW storage, 1T RAID 0 for active work and 3 x2T for family and finished projects. All is backed up to tape so I could just reproduce everything on a new PC if needed. When I have finished a project the RAW files are removed since they are already backed up to tape.

Ron Evans

[Rob Gregg]

Thanks for the input Ron

That is a lot of Hard drive space. I am what you would call starting out.

If I have this right…you:

- Unload the new footage on to the 1TB Project RAW storage
- Copy the files you want to use and work from the 1TB Raid 0 drive
- When finished you export it to the 3x2TB drives
- Back everything up to tape (which one do you use?)
- Delete the footage on the 1TB RAW storage drive

In the end does that mean you only have 1 version of the original unedited RAW footage stored on the tape backup? What happens if that fails?

Your info has really helped.

[Ron Evans]

As you say I upload to the RAW storage drive. First backup all these files to LTO3 tape. Then edit using Edius from this drive using the 1T RAID 0 for any intermediate working files that I create like audio mixes or video submixes, encoding files etc. The final edit also gets assembled on the 1T RAID 0 before being copied to one of the storage drives and I then back that up to tape. I usually leave a years worth of finished projects on these drives so that I can access them easily. Also keep all my family video on these drives. So they always have several backups !!! So I use 2 sets of tapes one for RAW files and the other for finished projects which includes all the support materials and NLE project files. I then have all the data to reload and start the project from the point it was left at before backup if I choose.

Yes you are correct that there is then only one copy of the RAW files finally but these are on a much more reliable data tape and I, as lots of others seemed happy with just keeping my video tapes which are not as redundant as the data on a data tape, I feel I am a lot better off than all the video tapes I have on the shelf from the past. I also have an SD DVD and a Bluray disc of the finished project. So lots of data is saved in different forms.

Ron Evans

[Rob Gregg]

Thanks Ron. Is the LOT3 a good investment nowadays?

[Ron Evans]

I would buy the LTO4 now a little more expensive but twice the capacity and faster too.

Ron Evans