How long would you hold on to (raw) work file data?

[swbsam]

I work full time in video editing and web management and, since I'm part of an organization, archive all of my work files on our corporate servers.

I've been approached by an outside company to do some freelance corporate video editing for them for not a lot of money ($500), and have no problem doing a small-fries job, but wonder how long I would have to archive this raw, high-def footage.

Personally, my at home editing rig only has 750gb of storage and I don't have an external right now (since most of my work is done at work, not at home). I also don't have money to throw around so system upgrades seem silly for a $500 gig.

I only ask because I'm putting a contract/invoice together now and should include a clause about archival, but what's fair?

 

[Newbian]

So what porn video is it and if it's new make sure you share.

 

[Crusty]

Ask them to include an External drive that can use to archive their footage to, otherwise make sure they know you will be deleting it.

 

[Barfo]

511 days and 13 minutes.

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: Newbian
So what porn video is it and if it's new make sure you share.

Honestly, I'd edit porn in a heart beat - the money's decent and the work stable. Got any connections?

 

[ViviTheMage]

I would say 3~ months, give or take.

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
I would say 3~ months, give or take.

Sounds good to me, as well as the suggestion to archive to their storage device.

Thanks guys!

 

[ViviTheMage]

another option is to have them purchase a hard drive and you could put it on there and stash the drive away, or give it to them and not worry about it at all. then you could tell them you do NOT have a backup of it, so they need to have there own.

 

[JDMnAR1]

Assuming that the raw data isn't anything that you can make use of for another project, 0 days. Make the raw data a deliverable that you give them at the conclusion of the job so the onus is on them to archive it and ensure that it is retrievable if they need to reference it again.

 

[Goosemaster]

Put an archival option on the contract/invoice/proposal.

regardless of whether they go for it or not, keep a backup for a few months.

that way you are free to bill for complete work and not simply modifications

 

[DaveSimmons]

Having them provide external drive sounds good, and making it explicit in the contract that you will not be making any other backups.

 

[zerogear]

I've had my raws from 3-4 years ago, its just nice if you're putting together a portfolio in the future or such.

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
another option is to have them purchase a hard drive and you could put it on there and stash the drive away, or give it to them and not worry about it at all. then you could tell them you do NOT have a backup of it, so they need to have there own.

This seems a good option.

 

[rootaxs]

Here's how i do it:

Stored internally/RAID - 1 yr
Stored on an external - 2-3 yrs
Stored elsewhere - 5 yrs.
I then store only the final product for those older than 7 yrs. Which is fine, i don't even have apps that can open the sources even if i wanted to.

Depending on where you're taking your freelancing career, this may be overkill. I started with this a *long* time ago and glad i did. There have been lots of instances when a client would say, "Remember that project from so and so? I'd like to pick up on it".

With my full-time job, all files are stored indefinitely unless i choose to delete them.

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: rootaxs
Here's how i do it:

Stored internally/RAID - 1 yr
Stored on an external - 2-3 yrs
Stored elsewhere - 5 yrs.
I then store only the final product for those older than 7 yrs. Which is fine, i don't even have apps that can open the sources even if i wanted to.

Depending on where you're taking your freelancing career, this may be overkill. I started with this a *long* time ago and glad i did. There have been lots of instances when a client would say, "Remember that project from so and so? I'd like to pick up on it".

With my full-time job, all files are stored indefinitely unless i choose to delete them.

Sounds like excellent advice and something I'll consider if I decide to do more freelance work.

I know this is threadjacking my own thread, but I can't seem to have an external hard drive last more than a year or 2 on me. They often refuse to mount or require a reformat, making them kinda useless to me for archival. Maybe this is why I shouldn't get $89 frys specials and opt for a lacie instead, right?

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: swbsam

Originally posted by: rootaxs
Here's how i do it:

Stored internally/RAID - 1 yr
Stored on an external - 2-3 yrs
Stored elsewhere - 5 yrs.
I then store only the final product for those older than 7 yrs. Which is fine, i don't even have apps that can open the sources even if i wanted to.

Depending on where you're taking your freelancing career, this may be overkill. I started with this a *long* time ago and glad i did. There have been lots of instances when a client would say, "Remember that project from so and so? I'd like to pick up on it".

With my full-time job, all files are stored indefinitely unless i choose to delete them.

Sounds like excellent advice and something I'll consider if I decide to do more freelance work.

I know this is threadjacking my own thread, but I can't seem to have an external hard drive last more than a year or 2 on me. They often refuse to mount or require a reformat, making them kinda useless to me for archival. Maybe this is why I shouldn't get $89 frys specials and opt for a lacie instead, right?

either make your own enclosure our get a removable HDD bay and tray.

if you feel you need something more durable look at Blueray or tape.