Storage/Backup Workflow on the Road

[Alexis Hanawalt]

I plan on shooting a documentary this spring on the Red - and I'll be traveling around the country visiting many different cities. Because of the nature of hte project, I will need a system that is mobile and has a very large storage/backup capacity.

I keep coming back to LTO or similar tape backup solutions, but can't find a decent way to make that work with a Macbook Pro - they're almost all SCSI interface. I know there's an expresscard34 to PCI converter that could fit a SCSI card - but that all seems error-prone.

The few firewire and gigabit ethernet solutions out there for tape drives are a bit more expensive than what I'd like to pay. Raid enclosures don't seem like a suitable backup if they're traveling around with me...

Anyone have a similar dilema or any solutions?

[Kevin Halverson]

The solution that I use is physically small,fairly inexpensive but does require mains power. I use a Shuttle XPC (a very small form factor PC) with a SCSI III interface and a DLT drive. While I don't shoot docs, I still want on set back up capability and DLTs have proven themselves over time to be highly reliable devices.

I agree about the express card to PCI slot to SCSI card... seems like a long path and one that might be problematic.

[John Moores]

Hey cinewalt.
Same boat here. We're leaning toward just having a pelican full of the largest firewire drives we can get at the time, backing up to them, but also having some tape based option as well. We haven't got to the specifics of hardware interfaces etc yet, but there's got to be a way to do it.

Also, keep in mind, you won't need a raid, unless you want a backup to your backup. We're thinking a drive, and a tape is good enough. I mean, prior to this all you ever had was your master anyway, so this way you're already 100% better than every other shoot you've ever done before in terms of safeties.

I'd love to hear other's thought's about this as well.
Jm

[Fergus Meiklejohn]

exactamundo dude

I think that unless you are super scared about a particular very expensive impossible to repeat setup then dumping the footage onto a properly looked after g-tech drive on the day then duplicating the footage on separate drives while editing (and keeping them in different locations), is as backed up as we've been ever been so far. Remember Kim Longinotto lost entire reels of documentary footage on 16mm because the airport guys screwed up the search and xray'd the lot. If you can afford Raid 5 for the edit and tape backup and blah then total respect, but it's not suddenly essential surely. Or at least we don't know that it is yet..
I think my workflow will be: dump to g-tech qdrive in the field (on a SATA link because the RED drive is firewire 800 and I've only got one firewire 800 port on my macbook pro), REDCINE and transcode to prores422 for editing, and keep the REDCODE files as backup, and to go back to if necessary for an "Online"

JOY

[Adrian Correia]

exactamundo dude

I think that unless you are super scared about a particular very expensive impossible to repeat setup then dumping the footage onto a properly looked after g-tech drive on the day then duplicating the footage on separate drives while editing (and keeping them in different locations), is as backed up as we've been ever been so far. Remember Kim Longinotto lost entire reels of documentary footage on 16mm because the airport guys screwed up the search and xray'd the lot. If you can afford Raid 5 for the edit and tape backup and blah then total respect, but it's not suddenly essential surely. Or at least we don't know that it is yet..
I think my workflow will be: dump to g-tech qdrive in the field (on a SATA link because the RED drive is firewire 800 and I've only got one firewire 800 port on my macbook pro), REDCINE and transcode to prores422 for editing, and keep the REDCODE files as backup, and to go back to if necessary for an "Online"

JOY

This is exactly what i will be doing. Best in terms of cost, ease and security for my situation.

[John Moores]

I should probably just do a search but I'm feeling kind of lazy at the moment due to the sweltering temp here...;
In the field>
Dump the data via FW800, or eSata to Macbook (is eSata an output option from the red drive? Input option on the Mac?)

For output to the portable BU drive again eSata or FW800. Are there eSata portable enclosures? How much?

How long is it going to take me to copy a full red drive to the laptop, and then a)copy to the portable drive, and b)copy to a tape back up.

Math has never been my strong suit.

Thanks
Jm

[David Cox]

Here are some ideas I've been researching:

2-Port SATA2 Express Card/34mm MAC and Windows eSATA-EC
http://fwdepot.com/thestore/product_...oducts_id/1753
They say that they are multiport able. That means that you can connect up to 10 drives from multiport external enclosures.

I've also found some really interesting products that I believe would be a nice fit for heavy achieving.

The new technology (quick swap) allows for popping in hard drives without having to mount the drive to a tray first. Remember the good ole days when we used floppy drives. Well this is the HDD version. Pop bare drives in, raid them if you please, or use single drive configuration, fill them up, pop them out.
See this link for specs:
http://www.cooldrives.com/sixhadresusb.html

What to do with all bare drives?:
Pelican cases sells this with up to 24 drive storage. They use a specific anti-static foam. Pop the drives in a case and ship to client or back to home base.
http://www.casesbypelican.com/hdrives.htm

I believe this process can be modified by mirroring the sata raid when initializing the drives. Just my two cents. I haven't ordered the equipment yet.I will do further research and report back.

_____________
Dave Cox
www.highwaydefinition.com

[Alexis Hanawalt]

By the end of the year it's reasonable to expect 500Gb drives to hit $100 a piece. That's only twice the expense of a similar data tape - Or, by my brilliant math, about 100 hours of 4K redcode raw before using drives surpasses the expense of a mobile data tape solution.

I'm starting to like this idea more - particularly from a workflow standpoint... As long as those drives are treated like gold it's actually pretty unlikely that there would be a failure - and if the material is truely precious, one could manually duplicate the drives.

I wonder if there's insurance that can pay for data rescue (usually $10K for a 500Gb drive) - that would be another way to put fears at ease.

---If some genious wants to get rich, invent a data tape module for the red - ironic, yes... but If one could record 4K to tape in the field, I think the "coolness" of tapeless workflow would subside.---

[Ken K]

I wonder if there's insurance that can pay for data rescue (usually $10K for a 500Gb drive) - that would be another way to put fears at ease.

Wow, that sounds a little steep. I've done data rescue on dead hard drives and have been quite successful. Same tools. So... if anyone needs my services, I'll just charge you an hourly rate for my time. You're looking at 3 figures instead of 5. But if insurance is paying for it, it might be 4 figures. ;)

[Alexis Hanawalt]

Wow, that sounds a little steep. I've done data rescue on dead hard drives and have been quite successful. Same tools. So... if anyone needs my services, I'll just charge you an hourly rate for my time. You're looking at 3 figures instead of 5. But if insurance is paying for it, it might be 4 figures. ;)

The quote I got was from Drive Savers - who every drive manufacturer refers you to when your drive has physical damage. They're a "class 100" facility, one of only a handful in the country, that will crack open the drive itself to attempt to rescue data. The problem with their steep quote is that they don't guarantee a result.