Hello all,
Before starting I feel inclined to say that I did in-fact use the search function, but did not find what I was looking for. What I humbly request is some general advice on the archiving methods I am thinking for my small editing business. Here goes.
My first scenario is to use a plain external RAID-hard drive that mirrors all the data I copy on it and has hot-swappable hard drives. I am left wondering if I only need one unit of these devices, for example the LaCie 2big Quadra, and as it fulls up, can I take out both hard drives, label and number them, insert a new pair and store away the first pair so I can insert them at a later date into the same device to access them? My worry is this does not work and the device has to format both hard drives, so it will not recognize them when inserted as they originally were. Thus I am left with two hard drives full of data which I can't access.
My second scenario is to use the Drobo, insert 4 big hard drives, fill it up to its fullest and then store the unit away and buy a new one. OR if I can again take out the hard drives, number them and later insert them in the same manner as I originally had them. My worry again is that the device won't recognize the hard drives and will want to format them to gain access.
I am slightly titled towards buying a Drobo, as it is not restricted on what kind of hard drives you feed it. The LaCie for example has its own hot-swappable drives with special railings, so it is not as flexible but slightly cheaper option.
My projects are usually under 100GB (only one is currently over 500GB), I use Final Cut Studio for pretty much everything and I really have to include the whole capture scratch folder to go with the archiving as I currently have no fast access to a deck to batch capture the footage again.
Thanks in advance for the feedback, and I am more than happy to take suggestions or hear what others use as their archiving method.
Before starting I feel inclined to say that I did in-fact use the search function, but did not find what I was looking for. What I humbly request is some general advice on the archiving methods I am thinking for my small editing business. Here goes.
My first scenario is to use a plain external RAID-hard drive that mirrors all the data I copy on it and has hot-swappable hard drives. I am left wondering if I only need one unit of these devices, for example the LaCie 2big Quadra, and as it fulls up, can I take out both hard drives, label and number them, insert a new pair and store away the first pair so I can insert them at a later date into the same device to access them? My worry is this does not work and the device has to format both hard drives, so it will not recognize them when inserted as they originally were. Thus I am left with two hard drives full of data which I can't access.
My second scenario is to use the Drobo, insert 4 big hard drives, fill it up to its fullest and then store the unit away and buy a new one. OR if I can again take out the hard drives, number them and later insert them in the same manner as I originally had them. My worry again is that the device won't recognize the hard drives and will want to format them to gain access.
I am slightly titled towards buying a Drobo, as it is not restricted on what kind of hard drives you feed it. The LaCie for example has its own hot-swappable drives with special railings, so it is not as flexible but slightly cheaper option.
My projects are usually under 100GB (only one is currently over 500GB), I use Final Cut Studio for pretty much everything and I really have to include the whole capture scratch folder to go with the archiving as I currently have no fast access to a deck to batch capture the footage again.
Thanks in advance for the feedback, and I am more than happy to take suggestions or hear what others use as their archiving method.
