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best archieve format

drangelicus posted 2008 Aug 25 12:38

hello all, I have a Sony FX1E, and transferring all records to PC in .m2t format. I want to store all original .m2t files in DVDs without any loss. what is the best way & format of archieving the .m2t files?

jagabo posted 2008 Aug 25 13:09

Just burn them on ISO data DVDs. For extra security you can include PAR2 recovery data. If it's stuff you can't afford to lose burn to 2 or 3 DVDs and check them every six months. If there are any problems make new discs.

jman98 posted 2008 Aug 25 13:25

I strongly second jagabo's excellent suggestion. PAR2 recovery files could save your bacon if you have small errors. Use high quality discs like Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim and you might want to consider burning only to single layer DVDs. We just don't know about the long term storage abilities of consumer burnable DL discs. We're all sure that single layer discs, if good quality and properly cared for, should last for a very long time.

drangelicus posted 2008 Aug 25 13:54

thank you, I got the answer if I choice to burn datas on DVDs. well, I want to store DVDs for a long time, so do you still think DVDs are the best choice or tapes are more durable than DVDs? if tapes are more durable, another problem is appearing, I will need to re-transfer all records to PC if I need them again? that means long time... if I burn on DVDs two or three times, thats mean many DVDs, (think that I shooted 25 tapes for my first documentary film project; little calculation, every tape is about 10 GB m2t files, so at least 3 DVDs for one tape x 2 = 6 DVDs for one tape! so HELP ME PLEASE :) briefly, I want to store my records for a long time ( a little quality loss can be acceptable) then I will send copy of my first documentary film about Caucasians immigrated to Turkey 150 years ago. :)) thank you guys. looking forward to hearing from you.

jman98 posted 2008 Aug 25 14:16

Tapes are the worst archive format ever. Tapes don't last. They degrade over time, even if not used again. I could point you to stories on the internet about what people have to do when working with audio tapes from 40+ years ago. Many of them are already in a highly degraded condition. Given how much data you have, perhaps storing to BluRay as a data disc might make more sense. The capacity of single layer BluRay is 25 GB. The discs and burners are expensive, but the capacity is good. Again, always keep PAR2 files around to recover from errors. You could also store on multiple computer hard disks that are copies of each other. Maybe a combination of BluRay discs with PAR2 files and computer hard disks would be good as something should survive over time. The only problem with hard disks is that the interfaces to them change over time and what is "state of the art" today may not be supported at all tomorrow. I feel confident that you will still be able to play BluRay or DVD discs 20 years from now. You may not be able to access a hard drive you buy today in 20 years.

zoobie posted 2008 Aug 25 19:13

HDD, DVD data disc, Blu-ray disc, and tape...oh my You can't send back to tape with that cam however, you could just have your tapes copied by a pro lab as your backup

aedipuss posted 2008 Aug 25 21:15

jman98 : Tapes are the worst archive format ever. Tapes don't last. They degrade over time, even if not used again. I could point you to stories on the internet about what people have to do when working with audio tapes from 40+ years ago. Many of them are already in a highly degraded condition. Given how much data you have, perhaps storing to BluRay as a data disc might make more sense. The capacity of single layer BluRay is 25 GB. The discs and burners are expensive, but the capacity is good. Again, always keep PAR2 files around to recover from errors. You could also store on multiple computer hard disks that are copies of each other. Maybe a combination of BluRay discs with PAR2 files and computer hard disks would be good as something should survive over time. The only problem with hard disks is that the interfaces to them change over time and what is "state of the art" today may not be supported at all tomorrow. I feel confident that you will still be able to play BluRay or DVD discs 20 years from now. You may not be able to access a hard drive you buy today in 20 years. minDV tape is a decent storage medium, it is constructed with a metal recording medium between the plastic backing and a diamond hard coating of carbon. it has no relation to the old metal oxide cassette tape medium that lost their magnetic orientation over time. bluray discs may turn out to be as bad as cd-r media for long term storage. they are constructed the same way with the recording medium on the outside. it's an expensive disaster in waiting.

showtaper posted 2008 Aug 25 21:31

jman98 : Tapes are the worst archive format ever. Tapes don't last. They degrade over time, even if not used again. I could point you to stories on the internet about what people have to do when working with audio tapes from 40+ years ago. Many of them are already in a highly degraded condition. I have thousands of analog tapes (audio and video) that are pushing the 40 year mark. They have been stored properly (temperature and humidity) and play with no problems. I was careful to use top quality tape stock and have backed them up periodically. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for any optical media. I have many CDR and DVDR that have become problematic in less than 5 years, and I'm getting tired of the constant error checking and making safety copies. I've actually taken to backing up the most valuable recordings on analog media. Even the shows I recorded on DAT are beginning to show increasing dropouts and errors in a fairly short lifetime. I don't know what the answer is, I've begun stockpiling recordings on external hard drives as they've gotten cheaper, but those can fail as well. Ensuring I can archive reliably has become a full-time job.......

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