Chapter 8. How to Back Up or Archive iDVD Projects

You might have noticed that the contents of even the smallest DVD project consume a massive amount of hard drive space. For example, the smallest DVD project I've done so far contained just 9 or 10 minutes of video, yet it used just over half a gigabyte of disk space. And that was only the video that ended up being used in the final DVD. If you count all the raw footage I imported, all the interim versions of movies I saved, all the versions of all the still pictures and sounds (both used and rejected), and everything else used in the production, we're talking about closer to 2 GB.

As you might imagine, a DVD with more content say 60 or 90 minutes of video might well use more than 4 GB of disk space. With raw footage, interim versions, graphics, audio, and any other content, a single DVD project can easily require more than 20 GB of disk space before you're through.

I don't know about you, but I don't have room on my hard disk for more than one or two 20 GB iDVD project folders at a time. So when I complete a project, I usually back it up (twice or three times if it's particularly important to me), then delete the original from my hard disk. If I've put a lot of work into a movie or DVD project, I'll back it up regularly during the production process, too.

You don't have to back up your iDVD or iMovie projects, but you might want to. In this chapter I'll show you various ways to back up or archive mass quantities of data, along with tips, hints, and advice on hardware and software that makes the whole affair nearly painless.