#PAR backup!
Don:
>> I only save my archived project files. If I have a need for restoring the
animation two years from now I'll just have to suffer through another
rendering.<<
Of course, we all have different needs. We need reliable backups for several
reasons:
1) We do strictly forensic work. We feel that we must be able to produce the
actual .ANI file used in an animation, if so ordered.
2) Some of our animations require hundreds of hours of rendering time. In
some cases (using ray-traced shadows) individual frames can take up to an hour
to compute on a Pentium. I get pretty nervous as I approach that time when the
available machine hours exceed the time required to re-render a project —
lawyers don't tend to be very understanding when it comes to hardware-related
excuses.
3) Its not uncommon in our business to do an animation for a client, not hear
a thing from them for six months, then have them call with some minor change
that they want just before trial.
4) Any time I can keep from re-rendering a project I save money, particularly
if I have to re-render for free. Machine time is a billable commodity in my
biz.
Actually, backup is not the problem. The problems are 1) verifying that the
backup is error free; and, 2) restoring the backup to the PAR drive. Both
require copying files to the DOS drive. It ain't pretty, but it allows me to
sleep at night.
What I really want to understand is the frame >896 problem. We don't have it,
but knowing that its out there bugs me!
Cal