Safely Recording and Storing Video Footage (and stills): a Few Pointers
Video files can be large, particularly if usage extends into the 4K UltraHD realm with formats like 10-bit 4:2:2 (very high quality) or HD video at 60 fps or similar.
A few quick tips on storage particularly applicable for video shooters:
- Fault tolerant RAID is well advised for professional use, particularly on a deadline or working with a crew where the footage has to be accessible continually: a RAID-1 mirror or a RAID-5 or RAID-6 or RAID-1+0) lets you keep working even if a drive fails (keep a cold spare on hand in case of drive failure). SSDs for capture are all well and good but even SSDs can fail, and some capture devices support
- RAID fault tolerance is not a backup. RAID is not a backup. RAID is not a backup. RAID is not a backup!!!
- Don’t assume that SSDs are fail proof. Don’t assume that SSDs are free of performance drop-outs: choose gear carefully and pre-flight all, including pre-testing to full capacity and considering a data integrity validation process.
