Posted by Zombie Wolf on 09/03/05 20:27

>>
>> I have recently come to a decision about archiving - I find that the
>> business of burning stuff from HD to CDR (or even DVDR) is unnacceptably
>> fraught. Firstly, I don't really want to do it, and only do so when a
>> drive starts getting filled. It takes a long time to organise what to
>> put on which CDR. Then they have storage problems as discussed. Then I
>> can't find the file that I know I have because it is very hard to keep a
>> catalogue of 100's of CDs up to date - even using cataloging software,
>> can't take away the repetion of putting the next disc in the drive to be
>> read, reading it, and then replacing it with the next. Then there is the
>> difficulty of keeping them all numbered correctly.
>>
>> - And despite all this, I don't get a decent searchable database which
>> can just find a file and then run it or use it - if I want to burn
>> compilations I am rummaging about trying to sort out which disc for what.
>>
>> And finally, The price of CDs in terms of capacity is now higher than
>> HDs.
>>
>> Lately I have taken to keeping my OS on one drive, and having a
>> dedicated drive for collected files. When the dedicated drive fills up,
>> I just replace it.
>>
>> Of course, I now have the embryo of the same problems with CDs - five
>> full HDs are piled to my left right now.
>>
Well, its a process, you see. First, get the stuff organized on the hard
drives. Then, you won't have so much trouble burning it to DVD's in an
organized way (after all, for a lot of media types, like mp3, you will want
to re-do the backups periodically)... and any other media type that is
subject to changes.... organize the music files in directories and
sub-directories..... simple matter, really

Next, we decide what media to use, and this is inevitably DVD-RW, since we
want to be able to go back and re-burn these as addtions and deletions are
made... And this is the same reason whey we will leave some "slack" on each
backup, so that we could add files later....

As to finding a certain selection, if you have your music or whatever
arranged with the group as the top directory, and the albums as
sub-directories, then you should have no problem finding it on the hard
disk.

As to the backups, make a cover label for each one, listing the groups that
are on it (or in my case , the OTR series on it), and then you can just flip
thru them until you come to the appropriate label. and there you will have
found what you were looking for

Database ? Now there is a real pain in the drain. Such a database (trust me,
i maintain over 50 of them for the otr files) will need to be updated every
time you make a change to the files.... This can be tedious or enjoyable,
depending on your temprament, but i found it to be a complete waste of time
for backup media - especially media that changes. Good labels on the CD
case make for fast finding of things.... And I handle over 75 gigs worth of
these backups. I just give the disk a number, and the label on the CD case a
number - simple, and you always know what case what DVD belongs in. If I
have to change the labeling later, its just a piece of paper in the DVD
case, and it takes about 10 seconds to make a new one....


You have to get organized and make a plan, then stick to it, if you want to
manage a lot of files, be they multimedia, databases, spreadsheets, or even
word processing files..... And by the way, I also have over 15,000 music
files on the system and another 1200 video files - these all follow the same
plan ... I can remove any or all of these files from the hard drive with
confidence, knowing that they are backed up on the DVD's, and I can put them
back if neccesary, with equal speed.

As I said, I simply re-burn a few of these DVD-rw's periodically, to keep up
with the changes, and make sure they are labeled so that i can find
things..... Not too complicated.

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