Hi everyone,
until now I haven't really ever needed to back all my work up.
My computer has never crashed (touch wood) but now I am starting to save larger video files on my harddrive, and my created compositions are getting larger & more creative,
I'm starting to feel I beter start doing so.

So my question being,

What is the best way to back everything up (paticularly the AVI files)?

I cant just convert my AVI files to Mpeg burning them on to DVD as a back up,
because know matter which way i convert them back from Mpeg to AVI,
Premier Pro-After Effects won't let me import them in.
And if I try to put my AVI files onto disk and keep them in that format (if that can be done, I've really never tried) then obviously they would take up far to many DVD's in doing so.

Another thing is if you make a back up for all the AE& or PP2 using their saving formats,
if the computer does crash, isn't it correct that because i'd loose the exact locations of the AVI's that these programs will know longer be able to access them?

Another words, has anyone got some advice on what they do! etc etc!

PS Also is it true if you have a second harddrive and save everything to this, that if the computer crashes it's impossible for the second harddrive to actually wipe clean?

Try saving into AVI DivX files using DivX Pro Codec. In the DivX codec config window,choose the unconstrained profile, and set the encoding method into quality-based (only available with the Pro version and profile set to unconstrained). Set the quantizer into 4 (default). And voila, your file will be saved into an AVI file, much MUCH smaller file size, with quality almost lossless!

Set the quantizer larger makes the file size smaller, but lower the movie quality, and vice versa.

The size of the file actually depends on how complex the movie composition and flow. But usually, the file can be 1/10 the original file size!

As for the format to use when u want to re-edit. Try converting your files into AVI DV (AVI file with DV Codec. The codec used for DV Capture, the original format). This is important because first, you will experience slow response using other format than DV, second, your re-converted file will be assured to work flawlessly with PP2.

For all the encoding process, just use VirtualDub. It's free. (The DivX Pro codec is not though)

I hope this helps

As far as my dv-avi footage goes, I use a program called winrar. It will compress a dv-avi file down a lot depending on the content. 50% is not unusual. the beauty of this program is that is will also let you split up the files so it can be put on many dvds if it is really long footage. Then when you uncompress it you get the original back just like before.

As far as project files and such this is worthy a whole discussion in itself. I copy all the pieces off the hard drives they sit on and when using the project again put it bake in the same spot. The key is designning a system before hand and following it ever after.

For all the encoding process, just use VirtualDub. It's free. (The DivX Pro codec is not though)

I've tried using VirtualDub as well as WINsomething arather and also even tried converting files by changing their actual name on the file Mpeg to AVI as someone on this forum suggested.
That actually worked, or PP2 allowed me to at least pull the file in but it was having problems once their.

If I could work out why my Adobe software won't allow me to bring in the converted files,
then i wouldn't have an issue with saving all my work.
I'd just save it all on disk as Mpeg and then bring it back and convert it to AVI if my computer ever crashes.

You could just keep buying external hard drives. I started out with a 160GB, then a 300GB and now I'm on a 500GB. When I started working with video, I never thought I would own a 500GB harddrive... where's it going to stop.

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Better than a poke in the eye with a pointy stick any day...

There is a lot of compression going on with all this converting and these files cannot be uncompressed again, once the compression has removed data it cannot be recovered.

Nikosony has the best solution. Use the project manager in ppro to create a complete project copy that will include all the assets used in the project and give you a new .pproj file. Save this to an external HDD.

To maximise PC performance keep all the assets for your projects including the .pproj file in a folder on a second internal hdd. The added bonus to this is that you can reformat your windows drive for maintenance or if you have a crash and after reintalling ppro you can go to the second hdd and click on the .pproj file and it will open as if nothing had happened.

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Edius Pro 4 Broadcast, Edius DVX, ADVC300 -- PremPro 2.0, Matrox RT X100

For years, I have used a 2nd external HDD equal or larger than the internal. I back up the entire drive, and I mean everything. I only turn on that drive for back-ups and when disconnected from the internet. Yes, I am paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?

If the worst happens, fire, crash, destructive virus, I have a complete back up of everything. I always said that, in case of fire, I'd grab the external drive and run. While I have been fortunate in that respect it has saved my bacon on a couple of other occasions.

For relatively small projects, I back up to DVD R.

I firstly use the project manager in Premiere to create a second, trimmed version of the original project. I then burn this project to DVD R, excluding any preview files and conformed audio files if space is tight.

When I have verified that the DVD has burnt OK, I delete the original project from my hard drive. As a backup, I always retain the original miniDV footage, together with a tape backup of the completed film.

I have tried zipping the trimmed project files to save space further, but have found that not much space was saved, and the process took ages. I also got my fingers very badly burnt once when I discovered that one zip file was corrupt - after I had deleted the original project files :-\

Backing up small amounts of files to DVD-R or +R is fine but the length of time needed to do that would allow you to copy three or four times as many files to an external HDD. The external HDD is just so much faster whether it's on Firewire or USB2. And what about if you buy a set of DVD's an quality control wasn't 100% on them before they left the factory? If your movies are any longer than 20 minutes or you have a series of clips, that you want to keep together and not split over a couple of disks, I'm sure you've been in that scenario where you have ten files and you can only get nine of them onto a DVD.

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Better than a poke in the eye with a pointy stick any day...

Thanks guys, all info was helpful

I think I'll go for the external hard drive, sounds exactly what I'm after

Cheers