Long term backup/archiving of DAW sessions

gainreduction · 9th June 2007, 03:11 PM

What's the best, most reliable medium for long term archiving and backup of DAW sessions ?

HD, CD, DVD ? Anyone using online data storage services ?

What's the lifespan of a harddrive sitting on a shelf ?

Steffmo · 9th June 2007, 03:23 PM

We use DVD and AIT, although I'm hoping BluRay becomes a viable choice.

Beermaster · 9th June 2007, 03:36 PM

My oldest backups go back to 1995 and are all stored on DATs as Soundscape session dumps - Yes my Mk1 Soundscape still works perfectly after 12 years of use - NOT A SINGLE LOCK UP OR CRASH ! - it has two 1 gig drives and still works on a Pentium 1 PC using Windows 3.1 ! ! ! ! - ROCK STEADY. - Its still the fastest system I can render audio in. ( tho yes the converters aren't up to my other gears )

d_fu · 9th June 2007, 03:49 PM

I have a lot of stuff on old DDS tapes... Now I mostly use DVD-RAM and DLT.

vocomotion · 9th June 2007, 04:18 PM

I've got a pile of DDS-3 tapes, but I can't load them since my tape drive is SCSI (don't have SCSI on my system anymore). I've been copying everything to a 250gig firewire drive lately, but it's running out of space.

I've been investigating online backup, like Amazon's S3 service. They charge like $0.15/gb for storage, plus they do backups for you. Then you can use JungleDisk to copy all of your stuff up there. Not sure if that's the most cost effective method or not, but it might be more reliable than having media sitting on shelf (tapes, CDs, or drives).

Anyone else backing up online at all?
--> freddie

alessio · 9th June 2007, 06:53 PM

the best media seems to be DVD ram, it's cheap, it'reliable, and you can use it for 100.000 overwrite. It's not sensible as dat or tape in general, that after 10 years can be unusable.
Alessio

poncival · 9th June 2007, 07:39 PM

So nobody else out there is printing them out in binary anymore????

macrae11 · 9th June 2007, 07:52 PM

About a year ago we started backing up everything on external hard drives. Have about 750 gigs now, going to need to pick up another 500 gig here in a month or two. It doesn't cost a lot more that DVD's and you save boatloads of time organizing and burning your backups. And if you need to get at an old session, just mount the drive and start working. Beautiful.

As far as the longevity goes, i'm not sure how long hard drives are supposed to last. I know we have hard drives here from 10 years ago that are still working flawlessly.

GungaDin · 9th June 2007, 08:11 PM

The key with consumer external firewire/usb drives is redundancy. Esp. when 500GB is only $120. Drives just die sometimes but its not too likely that 2 will die at the same time.

Of course you can spend more on pro level hds that will be more secure.

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9th June 2007, 03:11 PM	#1
gainreduction Lives for gear Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 1,660	Long term backup/archiving of DAW sessions What's the best, most reliable medium for long term archiving and backup of DAW sessions ? HD, CD, DVD ? Anyone using online data storage services ? What's the lifespan of a harddrive sitting on a shelf ? __________________ "You always get more than you paid for at gearslutz" - Jules

9th June 2007, 04:18 PM	#5
vocomotion Gear maniac Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 183	I've got a pile of DDS-3 tapes, but I can't load them since my tape drive is SCSI (don't have SCSI on my system anymore). I've been copying everything to a 250gig firewire drive lately, but it's running out of space. I've been investigating online backup, like Amazon's S3 service. They charge like $0.15/gb for storage, plus they do backups for you. Then you can use JungleDisk to copy all of your stuff up there. Not sure if that's the most cost effective method or not, but it might be more reliable than having media sitting on shelf (tapes, CDs, or drives). Anyone else backing up online at all? --> freddie __________________ Freddie Feldman VOCOMOTION www.vocomotion.com - A Cappella Recording Studio www.acaTunes.com - Digital A Cappella Music Store www.DarkSideVoices.com - Dark Side of the Moon A Cappella www.TheThumper.com - The Thumper Throat Microphone

9th June 2007, 07:39 PM	#7
poncival Lives for gear Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 622	So nobody else out there is printing them out in binary anymore???? __________________ myspace.com/poncival www.thesaltmine.com

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9th June 2007, 03:23 PM	#2
Steffmo Lives for gear Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: West Haven, CT Posts: 1,162	We use DVD and AIT, although I'm hoping BluRay becomes a viable choice.

9th June 2007, 03:36 PM	#3
Beermaster Gear addict Join Date: May 2007 Location: London Posts: 467	My oldest backups go back to 1995 and are all stored on DATs as Soundscape session dumps - Yes my Mk1 Soundscape still works perfectly after 12 years of use - NOT A SINGLE LOCK UP OR CRASH ! - it has two 1 gig drives and still works on a Pentium 1 PC using Windows 3.1 ! ! ! ! - ROCK STEADY. - Its still the fastest system I can render audio in. ( tho yes the converters aren't up to my other gears )

9th June 2007, 03:49 PM	#4
d_fu Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Germany Posts: 1,451	I have a lot of stuff on old DDS tapes... Now I mostly use DVD-RAM and DLT.

9th June 2007, 06:53 PM	#6
alessio Gear maniac Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Livorno, Italy Posts: 163	the best media seems to be DVD ram, it's cheap, it'reliable, and you can use it for 100.000 overwrite. It's not sensible as dat or tape in general, that after 10 years can be unusable. Alessio

9th June 2007, 07:52 PM	#8
macrae11 Gear maniac Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Oromocto Posts: 212	About a year ago we started backing up everything on external hard drives. Have about 750 gigs now, going to need to pick up another 500 gig here in a month or two. It doesn't cost a lot more that DVD's and you save boatloads of time organizing and burning your backups. And if you need to get at an old session, just mount the drive and start working. Beautiful. As far as the longevity goes, i'm not sure how long hard drives are supposed to last. I know we have hard drives here from 10 years ago that are still working flawlessly.

9th June 2007, 08:11 PM	#9
GungaDin Gear nut Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Brookln, NY Posts: 120	The key with consumer external firewire/usb drives is redundancy. Esp. when 500GB is only $120. Drives just die sometimes but its not too likely that 2 will die at the same time. Of course you can spend more on pro level hds that will be more secure.