Naming and backup for multiple drives?

When you have a project from a client on two drives, a main and a backup.

How do you like to label the main drives? The name of the drive that
will appear on you desktop when you plug it in.

Drive 1: "Project Title"

Drive 2: "Project Title backup"


My question regarding the naming is because when one opens
the project file on the backup drive, it will result in media off line
because of the difference in the title of the main drive.

Obviously, with good organization you can link everything back up
quickly, but is this the usual protocol?

Because other than giving both drives the exact same name, I don't
see how the media offline can be avoided.

> My question regarding the naming is because when one opens
> the project file on the backup drive, it will result in media off line
> because of the difference in the title of the main drive.

If your media management is on point (ie. no duplicate file names), this should not be an issue. Files that can't be renamed to an editing-friendly management system (eg. camera masters where original file names and structures should be preserved) usually aren't actually in the project file.

The above system should be fine, except that I'd do it a little differently.

Titanic Drive 01
- Titanic Drive 01 Master Folder
Titanic Drive 02
- Titanic Drive 02 Master Folder
Titanic Drive 01 Backup
- Titanic Drive 01 Master Folder BACKUP 081814
Titanic Drive 02 Backup
- Titanic Drive 02 Master Folder BACKUP 081814

All sub-folders within those folders would have the same names and file structure.

Backups are not nearly as effective unless you know exactly when the backup was done. Having the backup drive with the same name and identical file system has one benefit, which is that if your main drive dies, you can plug the backup drive in and keep working without doing a re-copy. However, I really recommend against this practice myself because:

1. If you accidentally leave the backup drive plugged in while starting a session, you end up editing on a backup drive, and getting confused about whether a backup or a main drive is the latest version is one of the most dangerous things you can do in editing.

2. If you're editing on the backup drive before doing a backup, and your main drive is out of commission, then you are now mucking with the only copy of your files left. Very risky. If anything goes wrong, you could now end up with no intact files.

3. Completely identical folder structures and names makes it easier to drag files the wrong direction and replace your current version with a backup. (The backup date is a safeguard against this, aside from being crucial information)

But, if you really need to meet a deadline and have to work off the backup drive and don't want to deal with media reconnection, removing the suffix on the master folder's name is an easy way to do it.


www.derekmok.com

Thanks Derek, so yes, giving a suffix to the 2nd drive and having to reconnect is standard.

I name both drives exactly the same

I will label them (physical label on exterior of the drive) differently
Usually: (project) edit A and (project) edit B

To differentiate while they are mounted on the same computer I give them different icons.


Nick

Interesting, what kind of Icons do you give them?

I like the "Andy Warhol" icons
They are my absolute favourites for folders
Great clarity and colours, I use them all the time

For hard drives I use all sorts: Andy Warhol and whatever works really,
(Though I prefer bright colous!)


Nick

But even just using the built-in colour labels will work.

N