Storage of video files

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New P4P owner with a question. How are you guys storing all your video files. Those things are huge. I just bought a 2 TB external thunderbolt hard drive. I'm not sure that will be enough.

The video on this thing is awesome.
 
New P4P owner with a question. How are you guys storing all your video files. Those things are huge. I just bought a 2 TB external thunderbolt hard drive. I'm not sure that will be enough.

The video on this thing is awesome.

them add a second HD

good luck and have fun flying!

btw
I keep all my raw files , often shoot in 1080p though
so far space is not an issue
 
If I get too many files I was thinking about getting a bluray burner and backing them up with that. Has anyone tried that and had luck, preferably on Mac?
 
If you are taking heavy video mostly (I do) then edit down and create video from the original video. Most people will tell you in 20 minutes of raw footage, be happy to get 3 minutes of saved footage. Then delete the raw. Good luck.
 
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Reactions: M1shootr
Burned Blu-ray media isn't reliable for long-term storage. And I would never delete my original footage.

External hard drives are dirt cheap these days. That's the way to go for archival purposes. And maybe be a bit more selective about what and how much you shoot.
 
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Reactions: DronePilotOne
Go for 3 to 4 TB HD. Save only the final processed files, temp files can always remain on micro SD cards. Thats what I do. You got to be organized else it wont take time to mess it up wasting storage.
 
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As mentioned above, I'd question if you really need to store that much video.

When I create a video (from clips) I know that I'll need to review all of the footage I have. As such, I create a plan on what I'm looking for. This allows me to limit the amount of video I obtain. I'd guess that per battery I get about 10 minutes of video. This is usually all that I need from a certain location. So, 1GB per battery? That's 1000 locations/shoots per TB.

I use two storage devices but the main one is 5TB. I don't save any of my edited/produced videos as they are uploaded to YouTube.

I'm not one to comment about content but if you are storing that much video I'd be asking myself, why. Are you going to use it for something later on? If yes, did you need to take that much video. If you were getting the video for a certain reason then I'd think you'd be able to limit what you obtained. If you think someone, someday will want to watch just plain, long, unedited video... you'd be incorrect. Upload it to YT if you think they would.
 
Burned Blu-ray media isn't reliable for long-term storage. And I would never delete my original footage.

External hard drives are dirt cheap these days. That's the way to go for archival purposes. And maybe be a bit more selective about what and how much you shoot.

It's still being tested but BR is certainly a much better storage format then a hard drive. The longevity of a mechanical HD is _far_ less then a BR disc. A SSD is a different animal and it's still being tested as well.

BR is expected to store date for 200 years. A HD life span is 3-5 years. Of course, this is considering that they are stored correctly. A HD is simply not a reliable long term storage solution.
 
I think you guys are right. The 2 GB drive should be plenty if I edit it down. I'm curious why bluray isn't considered a safe storage. I thought that was supposed to last hundreds of years?

Thanks!
 
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Depends on your long term storage, performance needs and budgetary constraints. You can go from a large capacity external drive (USB 3.x) ($), an OTS NAS ($$-$$$) solution all the way up to something designed for full scale 4K video production workflows like a Quantum StorNext solution. ($$$$). If you want to go the Blu-ray archival burner route, these are on the market for < $200 with blank discs running about $1 each.
 
I'm just using the drone for hobby/fun so no need to for me to go too crazy. I'd be nice to have a relatively safe separate back up. For now I think I'll use the TB drive and later, if I start collecting a bunch of files maybe go for a bluray burner.
 
I buy 2 new 4tb drives for every trip i do. Duplicates. One goes in the safe at home and the other in my office. Im up to about 24 drives but this way if i ever get a stock request I can fulfill it.
 
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I have saved and saved until I never wanted to look back and review/edit. I'm sticking to my process, review edit reasonably soon after shooting, delete raw unless you plan to revisit and edit again for another purpose or whatever. Snufflebunny's redundancy method is the other extreme. If you are professional and/or have significant value associated to the video might be what you need to do, otherwise it might be overkill. Everyone's situation is different. I've lived with video clutter from years of filming hours and hours of water sports with multiple cameras. Had to buy external drives to store it all. Just sat there.

Good luck, if it is a hobby, remember that.
 
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I have saved and saved until I never wanted to look back and review/edit. I'm sticking to my process, review edit reasonably soon after shooting, delete raw unless you plan to revisit and edit again for another purpose or whatever. Snufflebunny's redundancy method is the other extreme. If you are professional and/or have significant value associated to the video might be what you need to do, otherwise it might be overkill. Everyone's situation is different. I've lived with video clutter from years of filming hours and hours of water sports with multiple cameras. Had to buy external drives to store it all. Just sat there.

Good luck, if it is a hobby, remember that.

You and me the same. I totally agree.
 
Reminds me of the saying "You can only film half your life and still have time to watch it"
 
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I have two 6TB HD's in my desktop PC for working storage and I have about 8 external HD's of 2TB to 4TB for redundant storage. I maintain at least a couple copies of all my RAW files. At present my total storage requirements for video are: 635GB (raw drone videos) and 1.9TB for all my other videos going back 20+ years.

The two 6TB HD's I have in my desktop are organized with all the drone video from both the Inspire 1 Pro and the P4P being on one 6TB drive and all my image a non-drone video on the other 6TB drive. Again, I have many external HD's for redundant storage of all my raw image and video files. So, when I edit in PP the files are pulled from the 6TB drives and the rendered file is stored on my 512GB Samsung 950 Pro PCIe SSD that is my boot/OS, program and cache drive.


Brian
 
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I hope you have RAID arrays and UPS/battery backups on all those HDD's. I got burned one time when I was younger and for years I have the UPS battery backups on every HDTV, router, modem, computer, surveillance system and every other sensitive electronics device in my household.
Brian sounds to me like you have one heck of a setup!
Great info!
 
Having a video production company, I certainly understand that my long term storage needs are very different from yours. That being said... We use LTO tapes as long term storage. It's around $3-4K for the drive and then just over $30 per tape. They hold terabytes of uncompressed data each and last for generations.

I can tell you from practical experience that Blu-ray disks are expensive and don't always read a year later. And hard drives (especially spinning drives) will fail. It's not an "if" it's a "when". 3 years lifespan is a very optimistic goal and only if you spin them up regularly to keep the lubrication from sticking. SSDs are better but their reliability is still a relative unknown. Maybe a cloud storage situation would be best for you? Slow uploads but inexpensive and very secure.

I know it's tough to decide what to use when it's just a hobby. Best of luck!
 
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When I was building PC's years ago when the Western Digital 10K RPM Raptor SATA drives came out and they had a 5yr warranty and even with cooling fans blowing on the HDD's and a well ventilated case it was rare to see one last 5yrs.
JarrodF you are 100% correct on the when, not the if a mechanical HDD will fail that is for sure!
 
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