Just a quick question about what you people out there do with all the raw unedited footage you shoot with your drones. I bought a 4TB external hard drive with the purpose of storing video files on it, but while I am transferring all the gigs I've already shot, I wondered if I should really keep all the footage. Ofcourse it's a matter of personal preference and having the possibility to store everything, but what do you do?
For now I think I'll stick to moving all the files to the external HDD and removing them from my MBP and SD-card, whilst keeping the edited clips on my MBP and transfering them to my HDD. But as said, I wonder how you  adress your storage needs, both from starting users as the more experienced who may have already shot terabytes of footage.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge and experience!

What's MBP?
For now, I'm storing on my external HDD. Will have to triage someday soon.

marc70 Posted at 3-6 05:03
What's MBP?
For now, I'm storing on my external HDD. Will have to triage someday soon.

Sorry, MBP = MacBook Pro

I'm afraid I will have to triage too in the future, but ideally I would want to avoid that ;)

I use an 8TB HDD to store all the raw footage.  You never know when you want to go back into the "archives" to pull out some of that old footage.  Eventually I suppose I'll have to do some housekeeping but with 8TB I still have a very long way to go.

Mine is stored on an second internal PC hard drive. I also send a copy to OneDrive which I access with my iPad Pro or MBP.
I like to edit the videos on different devices.
Videos I edit on MBP or iPad I send to Photos so I can watch on my Apple TV.

I have had too many hard drives fail. For me they typically last about 4-8 years if used regularly (to backup files) before catastrophic failure. I now, in addition to a hard drive, also store my files on a set of USB 2TB "thumb" drives.

I bought a 4TB external drive in the summer and have already filled it up half way.

DowntownRDB Posted at 3-6 05:54
I use an 8TB HDD to store all the raw footage.  You never know when you want to go back into the "archives" to pull out some of that old footage.  Eventually I suppose I'll have to do some housekeeping but with 8TB I still have a very long way to go.

Do you use some sort of software to categorize your footage? That if for instance you're looking for footage containing planes that software pulls it out immediately?

Tentoes Posted at 3-6 08:44
I bought a 4TB external drive in the summer and have already filled it up half way.

That's my fear too, that within a couple of months the 4TB is already clogged up.

Storage quickly becomes an issue.  I generally try to keep the footage to edit on my computer then transfer the edited files to my server at home.  But I have started to keep some unedited raw footage on my server.  

But I am thinking of upgrading my main computer and adding a ton of storage for keeping footage.  

Also, I have found the M.2 M key based drives are relatively inexpensive, fast and compact for external storage.

Ultimately, I started deleting footage which I will not edit.

JohnLietzke Posted at 3-6 09:11
Storage quickly becomes an issue.  I generally try to keep the footage to edit on my computer then transfer the edited files to my server at home.  But I have started to keep some unedited raw footage on my server.  

But I am thinking of upgrading my main computer and adding a ton of storage for keeping footage.  

Never heard of that sort of storage, but what I found online, M2 seems to be used as internal storage? Or am I looking in the wrong place?

Armando80 Posted at 3-6 10:20
Never heard of that sort of storage, but what I found online, M2 seems to be used as internal storage? Or am I looking in the wrong place?

You can get an external enclosure to USB/C.  It is very compact and fits in the Fly More Combo bag.

Here is something similar to what I use.  https://www.amazon.com/M-Key-External-Conveter-Adapter-Flash/dp/B07JCM7FZG

I use a 8TB HDD for storage

JohnLietzke Posted at 3-6 11:53
You can get an external enclosure to USB/C.  It is very compact and fits in the Fly More Combo bag.

Here is something similar to what I use.  https://www.amazon.com/M-Key-External-Conveter-Adapter-Flash/dp/B07JCM7FZG

Thanks for sharing!
Never seen that. Will think about it once my 4TB run out

2TB max and you don’t need ultra fast.

i hate you tell you this but i do exactly the same with 4 drones (all in 4k) and one recording in 6k and i fly several times a week and store everything religiously.  i have an 8TB and a 10TB and after going on 2 years, i'm getting close to full.  if you do this, whatever you use is going to fill up to full sooner than you think.   because of the sizes of the files, there is nowhere online to store these in the cloud.  afaik, hdd is the only (reliable) method.

The Saint Posted at 3-6 15:30
i hate you tell you this but i do exactly the same with 4 drones (all in 4k) and one recording in 6k and i fly several times a week and store everything religiously.  i have an 8TB and a 10TB and after going on 2 years, i'm getting close to full.  if you do this, whatever you use is going to fill up to full sooner than you think.   because of the sizes of the files, there is nowhere online to store these in the cloud.  afaik, hdd is the only (reliable) method.

Thanks for sharing your experience!
Do you use any sort of software for (automatically) categorizing your clips?

Only store the clips that I might use lateron (in a reel or for projects). Also don't record more then you need. I see people filming entire flights. Only film shots and takes you need and separate shots makes mediamanagement way easier. And I use vimeo as a sort of extra backup. Edit a clip with shots that have extra lenght (handles) and neutral color, that prores file goes on vimeo and I can download it lateron if I ever need it.

I tend to only record in 1080p so storage no real issue

Storage space is getting cheaper and cheaper ... I have 2 external HDDs (1x 4TB and 1x 6TB) and still a lot of space ...
So I'm not worried about that

Armando80 Posted at 3-6 08:48
Do you use some sort of software to categorize your footage? That if for instance you're looking for footage containing planes that software pulls it out immediately?

That's a great idea but I don't use any sorting software yet.  I need to look into that.  

Armando80 Posted at 3-6 08:48
Do you use some sort of software to categorize your footage? That if for instance you're looking for footage containing planes that software pulls it out immediately?

Have you considered Adobe Bridge? Available for both Mac and PC and most importantly the price tag is a winner. It's not an automatic process but something worth considering.

Personally, I'm mainly a photo person (having only recently bought a mini 2) and when I'm out, my photos tend to be of the same style/place, so I never categorise them as such. They're all stored on a NAS (Network Attached Storage) and what I do is have a folder for each year (2021 Photos), sub folders for each month (2021-03 - March), and sub folders within those for any days I've been taking photos (2021-03-08 - 'descriptive title'). RAW and JPG are then separated into folders.

steamship Posted at 3-8 04:42
Have you considered Adobe Bridge? Available for both Mac and PC and most importantly the price tag is a winner. It's not an automatic process but something worth considering.

Personally, I'm mainly a photo person (having only recently bought a mini 2) and when I'm out, my photos tend to be of the same style/place, so I never categorise them as such. They're all stored on a NAS (Network Attached Storage) and what I do is have a folder for each year (2021 Photos), sub folders for each month (2021-03 - March), and sub folders within those for any days I've been taking photos (2021-03-08 - 'descriptive title'). RAW and JPG are then separated into folders.

Thanks for your suggestion, will look into Bridge!

I've got used to briefly sifting through the clips and pictures after every flight and immediately deleting everything that I will certainly not use later. I think I delete about 80-90% E.g. I try to circle a church 5 times and only 1 clip is perfect. Why should I keep the other 4? Picking up everything just because there's space somewhere is nonsense. This is what we (in a household) call "Messi". In that case it would be a digital "Messi". The confusion gets worse over time and you don't use the clips and pictures anyway. The pics and clips I keep are put in directories with the name of the location where they were taken.

This is a living room of a messi ;-)

jonny007 Posted at 3-8 08:55
I've got used to briefly sifting through the clips and pictures after every flight and immediately deleting everything that I will certainly not use later. I think I delete about 80-90% E.g. I try to circle a church 5 times and only 1 clip is perfect. Why should I keep the other 4? Picking up everything just because there's space somewhere is nonsense. This is what we (in a household) call "Messi". In that case it would be a digital "Messi". The confusion gets worse over time and you don't use the clips and pictures anyway. The pics and clips I keep are put in directories with the name of the location where they were taken.

This is a living room of a messi ;-)

Thanks for sharing a picture of your interior

But I get your point, there may not be a need to save all files, thanks!

I have a Synology NAS which I backup all my footage to. I also upload all my videos, unlisted, to YouTube

Armando80 Posted at 3-6 23:29
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Do you use any sort of software for (automatically) categorizing your clips?

someone mentioned the system i used as well, 2021 there is a folder for each drone and then the month and day.  i just copy and paste everything manually and go back and view and necessary.  also as someone mentioned i have learned to not start the video until i really need to and to turn off the video during flight so i don't record a lot of unnecessary flight which means less files to copy over.