Camera Archive vs. copying SD card contents

Is there an advantage to creating a camera archive over simply copying the entire contents of a camera SD card to an external drive for archiving purposes? I understand that the folder structure of the card must remain intact.

There is nothing wrong just to copy the card.
Especially if you use DiskCopy - you can keep the original file system.
Another (probably best) option is to use Terminal and the rsync command. That's the safest (verified) and fastest way to create a copy of a card.
example: sudo rsync -vaE /Volumes/NO\ NAME /Volumes/MacBook
This will require your admin password. Change "NO NAME" to YYMMDD-HH.MM.SS (date-time) after you copied the file.

Thanks for your reply Andreas.

When you say use Disk Copy or Terminal rsync, is that because simply dragging the top tier folder of the SD card somehow changes the contents/metadata?

Suzero wrote: Thanks for your reply Andreas.

When you say use Disk Copy or Terminal rsync, is that because simply dragging the top tier folder of the SD card somehow changes the contents/metadata?

Kind of "depends".
Date/time normally will be changed.

Most important with Terminal is the verification, DiskCopy does it optional.
So bad cables or similar will be detected immediately and not as often too late. Latter might happen with Camera Archives.

Suzero wrote: Is there an advantage to creating a camera archive...

The archive function has the advantage of ensuring all card metadata is captured. If copying using Finder or some other tool, it's possible through human error that some root-level file on the card might not get selected and copied. It is also a simple single-step procedure.

Suzero wrote: ...When you say use Disk Copy or Terminal rsync, is that because simply dragging the top tier folder of the SD card somehow changes the contents/metadata?

No, that will generally work. However for critically important data, we often want a verification of the copy. That can be done with a variety of tools. For some purposes it might be sufficient to just select all the highest-level folders after the copy and do OPT+CMD+I to summarize the total space and items in the selection, then you can repeat that on the card itself.

However for critical data and when moving lots of material I copy manually and use a separate file verification utility. If copying via command line, I think rsync verifies this via checksum. I often use the commercial utility Beyond Compare, which is available for Mac. It can even compare files within two folder trees with differing structure: www.scootersoftware.com/

Shotput Pro 6 is often used by professional productions to offload and verify camera data: www.imagineproducts.com/index.php?main_p...6c8fd5a3cabf1059bc37

DiglloydTools has an integrity checker that can be used to verify copies: diglloydtools.com/integritychecker.html

There is nothing wrong with using the built-in FCPX archive tool. However I don't use it for the following reasons:

- In the field when downloading many camera cards I don't want to boot FCPX just to copy data
- I'm not sure how much copy verification FCPX archive does
- Archive is "all or nothing". We often have a mix of still photos and video from hybrid cameras and I may not want 800 raw stills copied to the same archive as video data.
- I want the option to later verify or inspect the copied folder tree. The FCPX archive is an opaque package. Of course you can open the package with Finder but it's an additional step.
- I need the option of simultaneously copying multiple camera cards. I think FCPX supports that, but I'm not sure what kind of verification and error detection it has for concurrent multi-card copying. In testing with other utilities it seems copy errors are more likely when moving data from multiple cards.
- Shooters don't always reformat the cards and I need the option of selectively copying the latest files, not the entire card. This is not a good procedure as it adds chance of error but in the real world that's how it often is.

This software is also very good and there is a free version for most basic needs.

hedgeformac.com

To complete the list my free copyCards: www.spherico.com/filmtools/copyCards/copyCards.dmg

The advantage to the camera archive would be that it is faster and easier than the other methods described here. Its a 2 click operation. And you can rest assured that the result will be an exact copy.....bit for bit.

The biggest pushback I hear from people as to why they don't wish to use the camera archive format, is that they don't like how it becomes a container file.....and you have to "show package contents" to search it.

Well, there's an easy solution there too. If you want to change the camera archive back to a simple folder with the card's folder structure......you just delete the .fcarch file extension and it becomes a regular, every day folder.

And if you want to change it back to an archive......you just add the extension back on.

The huge benefit is that you can import just portions of clips to your final cut library, and final cut will remember those selections in the future. So you can always go to the import window and see just the portions that you previously imported, and if you ever somehow delete your media......then the re-import from camera archive will use the metadata to re-import all the selections in the archive as you did the first time. None of that is possible if you do not use the archive format.

I hope that helps.

spurratic wrote: The advantage to the camera archive would be that it is faster and easier than the other methods described here. Its a 2 click operation. And you can rest assured that the result will be an exact copy.....bit for bit.

Hmm, I'm not sure whether it's a verified copy. It's not faster than using another method of cloning a card. And probably not easier.
And as Joe mentioned you need FCPX to create the card clones.
There are other points I will talk about at the end.

spurratic wrote: The biggest pushback I hear from people as to why they don't wish to use the camera archive format, is that they don't like how it becomes a container file.....and you have to "show package contents" to search it.

Well, there's an easy solution there too. If you want to change the camera archive back to a simple folder with the card's folder structure......you just delete the .fcarch file extension and it becomes a regular, every day folder.

And if you want to change it back to an archive......you just add the extension back on.

I don't care about that format. But be careful - never change or delete the FCArchMetadata.plist file. Sometimes for any reason it becomes damaged and FCPX won't see it as camera archive any more or can't work with it.

spurratic wrote: The huge benefit is that you can import just portions of clips to your final cut library, and final cut will remember those selections in the future. So you can always go to the import window and see just the portions that you previously imported, and if you ever somehow delete your media......then the re-import from camera archive will use the metadata to re-import all the selections in the archive as you did the first time. None of that is possible if you do not use the archive format.

I hope that helps.

You can import portions of any file, if you do it right - but make sure you copy it into the Library (normally FCPX does it anyway).
Use my VCC to do that.
Relinking media isn't better than with any other solution.

The biggest issue I see with FCPX and cam archives is the wrong usage of it. In EVERY case you SHOULD create a backup copy of a card - or two backups. NEVER import from the mounted card. Make the copy write protected if the method of cloning does it not automatically - that's valid for cam archives as well.
Do the import from from the transferred card.

A fun story here: a while back the author of one of the FCPX books contacted me - his cam archives were corrupted and didn't work anymore (to be delivered with the book). The original cards were deleted.
This can be fixed, but it' wasted time.

If the camera archive ever corrupted, you just delete the extension and it is a plain folder with the original clips from your camera card on it. The camera archive doesn't change anything about the camera card......it just preserves the card, puts it in a folder and calls it a .fcarch

I just wanted to clarify that so that people don't get the idea that somehow a camera archive can corrupt and you can lose your footage. its just a folder Andreas.......just a folder.

The rest of your points are well taken. If people don't want to use FCPX to archive cards or are comfortable using terminal or other programs, then there are advantages to other methods.

Ben,

I didn't mean that data are lost. Sorry if I used the wrong words - or better I should have used the "quotes" in a more detailed way.
And as I said it can be fixed.

I my first reply I just wanted to clarify that are easy, free and secure ways to create card copies.

And using Terminal in this case is easy (you can create a Automator action for this as well)
In Terminal type (or paste) "sudo rsync -vaE " drag the card to the Terminal window, drag the destination folder to the Terminal window, hit return.

Best
Andreas