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General discussion

best home video long term storage media ?

Mar 19, 2012 6:43AM PDT

I have tons home videos (on Super 8, 8 MM, Mini DV) that I want to save forever, if possible. With my Mini DV camera a 50 minute kids SOCA match is a 12 GB AVI file. What is the best media to store these files for long term? I've been storing them on 2.0 terabyte Seagate External Drives. I stopped using Western Digital when I lost 2 drives.

Thanks for your advice...

Discussion is locked

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If you go over prior discussions.
Mar 19, 2012 6:51AM PDT

There is no one solution but any solution where folk don't want to lose content means there is your storage copy and the copy on another drive that you use.

Bob

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storage drives
Mar 19, 2012 7:21AM PDT

I should expand. I started saving home videos on IDE Drives (120 GB, 200GB,,,etc) which I use with
Genica male/female removable trays. The other day I poped in a drive and found drive errors. I was
lucky to copy files off to external drive. Since then I switched to the Western then Seagate Externals.
I guess I'm looking for the best/trusted solution for long lasting storage.


Thanks again...

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None so far. Consider this study.
Mar 19, 2012 9:28AM PDT
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storage
Mar 19, 2012 12:26PM PDT

Thanks Bob. I think I get it now ... make/keep copies of my drives.

Is there good backup/copy software that only copies changed or new files to the 'copy' drive?

Thanks...Harry

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Why yes there is! Here's what I use.
Mar 20, 2012 6:04AM PDT

I'm currently using GoodSync and SyncBack (the free versions.)

Very nice stuff.
Bob

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Keep multiple copies
Mar 30, 2012 11:45AM PDT

I have transposed thousands of feet of 8MM and VHS-C home movies. Tape content transposes easily but 8MM and slides or negatives have so much real analog content but will stand repeated viewing. Age is the big killer. Once the information, in whatever format or compression scheme you use, is limited to the life of that media like a DVD/CD. Removable drives is a nice idea but other compression schemes will use far less space but at a sacrifice of some content. Backups or archive copies can survive decades but need alternate locations for storage.

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CD or DVD
Mar 30, 2012 3:27PM PDT

I recommend CDs or DVDs. Use name-brand. And before you start, research CD and DVD life-spans on Google.

Disk drives don't last more than 5 years or so (according to posts on this site), and magnetic tape will go bad sitting in the box.

If you insist on using hard drives, make multiple copies (as susggested elsewhere) and make dupes onto half-way new HDs every year or two.

BTW. When making backups, put a copy in a place outside the home, incase of fire or burglary.

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DVD
Mar 31, 2012 1:18AM PDT

'Nuff said.

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movie storage
Apr 2, 2012 11:24PM PDT

Thanks Guys for the input. I had hoped something I could afford would easily keep my home movies
indefinitely. Looks like not. There is a cost but always worth it to keep kids, grandkids hitting, kicking shooting balls.

Thanks again...Harry

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try this
Apr 11, 2012 6:14AM PDT

While the advice I'm about to give has been posted elsewhere, consider this feel-good way of making multiple backups. You mentioned kids' soccer matches, etc. Make multiple backup copies of everything, then give it to various family members (grandparents, kids' parents, older kids, etc.) as a gift. They may welcome the personal effort and also provide free off-site redundant backup storage!

There are also numerous cloud storage services, including free, unlimited size backup services (google is your friend here). As has been said, don't rely on any one backup scheme.

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home video storage
Apr 11, 2012 9:13AM PDT

I sometimes, at season's end, create DVDs (ROXIO software) of 2 or 3 SOCA matches. Whatever will fit. A raw 60 minute match is a 12 GB .avi file using my mini-dv tape camera. A 2+ hour Little League baseball 6 inning game is 15 GB .avi . I only film when my g-kids are on the field (which is most of the game). To large to put on even a dual sided DVD. I have Super 8, 8 MM, and Mini-DV tapes going back 30 years when my 3 sons were playing. In the beginning I would copy games to VHS or beta tapes and re-use the game tapes. Was a bad idea since VHS & beta quality is pretty poor when copying. Then I started buying more 8 MM then Mini-DV tapes. Costly but always had the original. I will look into cloud & google storage services.

Thanks to all for your help and suggestions.