You might expect this topic to be in the last chapter. However, properly backing up your work is something you need to consider from the very beginning and something you need to do throughout every stage of your project. One of the great advantages of computer-based nonlinear editing systems is the ability to return to a project at any point with the computer remembering everything for you. Whether it's two days or two months, all your settings are there where you last left off. This is very useful, because many times you need to make changes to a project or make an altered version of a previous version several months later. The problem occurs if you need the hard drive space to work on other projects or if your computer crashes and deletes the necessary files. What's an editor to do? To prevent this situation, every night or at the end of a project, back up all your files related to a project, including the media files. Restoring a project from a single archived tape is much better than trying to re-create the project from scratch (I've learned the hard way). The following are the items you might need to back up your projects:
author's note Any time you connect SCSI devices, be sure that the SCSI ID Numbers are unique. Duplicate SCSI ID Numbers would cause one or more of those devices not to function properly. See the specific instructions on how to back up and restore a project. I would practice with a test project to make sure you have performed the correct procedures. The last thing you want to do is try it for the first time with a critical project, only to learn that you missed a step or two. (Believe me, I've done that too.) |