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The Little iDVD Book Authors: LeVitus B. Published year: 2003 Pages: 48-50/62 |
Chapter 8. How to Back Up or Archive iDVD ProjectsYou 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. 
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Backup ConsiderationsBefore we consider the types of hardware and software you might use to back up your projects, let's step back for a second and look at the big picture. Let's start with a list of some things to think about before you decide what (if any) hardware or software you might need.
Once you've given some thought to these questions you can start answering more specific ones, like which files need to be backed up, what hardware is most appropriate and cost-effective for your needs, and what software, if any, you should use to back up your project files.
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What to Back UpFirst of all, whenever you think about backing up, start by considering what impact losing everything on your hard drive would have on your life. If that wouldn't bother you, don't bother backing up anything.
Mark my words
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Only you can decide if the source files associated with your project are important enough to back up. Imagine for a moment that your hard drive has vaporized and is gone forever.
Did your iMovies take a long time to edit and render? If so, back them up. Or, if you still have the original footage on DV tape, consider whether it would it be easier (or cheaper) to re-import and re-edit the movie or movies. Which brings us to our first specific consideration: Do you need to back up all or some of your source material? And, if so, how often should you do it?
In addition to backing up the source files, you need to consider how much time you've invested in the iDVD project itself. If you had to, could you re-create the entire DVD from scratch? And, more importantly, would you want to?
If you have a lot of time invested and don't want to redo all that work, back up the iDVD project file as well as the source material files.
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The Little iDVD Book Authors: LeVitus B. Published year: 2003 Pages: 48-50/62 |