Re: Archive Strategy

My $.02

To me 200 GB is way too large for any archive. It would take too long to retreieve and restore. Time is money.

1) Consolidate
2) Unrender
3) Archive

Archive only the final spots, unless you have a good reason to save other elements as well.

Build as much into the timeline as possible. Without BatchFX you are limited in this regard, so yes, use History for everything. But then ditch the intermediates. You should use setups only when necessary (I never use them at all except for deliverables, which you don't have).

Save textless as a layer or a seperate timeline. The most requested element from a client will be a textless pass. Never fails.

Then it's a decision of linked or unlinked. Are you soft-importing your elements and plan on saving the sources seperately? Then do a linked archive. Did you capture everything from tape? Then unlink the VTR based media (use filters in the timeline and unlink them) since you can always recapture this media. If the media will be backup up somewhere else, there is no reason to back it up again.

If you try to archive entire projects you will soon discover you will be overwhelmed with data management tasks. Those don't earn you money and are incredibly boring.

Besides, how much is the client paying you to store thier crap? What are the expecations for how long you will keep thier crap? This needs to be spelled out in the contract between you and them. If this is a service you wish to offer, then charge the client for it.