Overview
Approximately a few weeks after a project is finished, it should be moved to the backup drive so that we can make room for new projects. There is a main projects backup drive: the X drive on SAM. This drive is sync'd with another backup drive on BOB to ensure that these projects are stored in duplicate, with each drive being on a different server.
The X drive on SAM is structured first with the year folder, and then with the project folder. For example, "10-11-12 Paul's Project" would get moved to "x:/2010/10-11-12 Paul's Project/*".
If the project is a regular video production folder, it should get chopped up, as described below, then the main project folder should get moved to this drive.
If the project is for a film transfer, then it gets stripped down the same as a video project does described below, but it gets put inside a project folder called "Film Transfer Projects".
If the project is audio, built with Logic (mostly Spencer), then it simply get's moved into a project folder called "Logic Projects".
Stripping Down Video Project Folders
When looking to backup a project, we are looking to delete large files that are "redundant" in nature. Be certain to keep folders and shadow files in order to maintain the structure in case we need to look back - then we know there were files there at one point.
For example, don't bother to look through and delete .bak files, .sfk or .sfl files, or even the full .veg files. Even on a massive project, these will only account to a couple of megabytes.
The "Files" folder, when used properly, should only contain things that you want local for the project. If there are files in there that aren't, they should be deleted anyways because they are irrelevant. The contents of this folder should entirely be backed up with the project, but in some rare cases with massive files you may look to either delete them or back them up on separate medium such as tape.
When working with a project that is using super 8 or regular 8 film, you may notice a folder titled "Film Pulldowns". The files inside this folder are generated from smaller original captured AVI's which are hosted and backed up on Bob's M drive. Since the files in this "film pulldowns" folder can be re-generated and are hundreds of megabytes (or sometimes several gigabytes), they should definately be deleted when backing up the project.
"Prepared" folder - There should always be a master disc burned to DVD or Blu-ray of the final product. In some cases, this may be several discs. Make absolutely certain that this master disc has been created before moving forward to delete the prepared copy on the hard drive. If we ever need to make a copy of the project, it will be made from the master disc, and we won't need to load up the backup project. In the case that the projects needs to have re-edits done, then keeping the most recent copy of the prepared folder isn't necessary because it will have to be re-generated anyways. Keep the structure folder of the date and disc title, and in this case you can delete the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders along with their contents.
Typically, the contents of the "Renders" folder are massive files and should be deleted. After making certain the master disc has been made, delete the video and audio files, but leave the shadow wave-form files (.sfl & .sfk). If there is any web-compressed video, there is no harm leaving it in the renders folder because it is probabaly of an insignificant size. As long as they are not massive web files, leave them there.
The "Labels" folder should be kept as is, like the Files folder, unless there are any massive files for some strange reason. Copy the final cover files to the labels folder at "E:\TMM\Labels\*Year*\(*Project Number*) *Project Name*\", so that the project doesn't have to be opened up again if we're making a copy from the master disc and need to print up some new covers.
The "Admin" folder should be kept as is also, unless there are any massive files for some strange reason. Copy the contents of the entire folder flat into Copy the final cover files to the labels folder at "E:\TMM\Project Admin\*Year*\(*Project Number*) *Project Name*\", so that the project doesn't have to be opened up again if we need to access the administrative documents and files.
That should about cover it for creating backups for projects, but if there is anything you are uncertain about, make sure to check with Paul first. Lastly, if you accidentally delete something that you shouldn't have, stop immediately and use Handy Recovery to restore the file(s).