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When editing movies, there are three things that are important.

1. A computer that is fast enough, which means that you need quick storage
2. Enough disk space
3. Safe storage of all material, both raw data and finished files
   

Many people who work with movie editing work on external disks because the internal drives are rarely enough. Additionally, you get a sense of security when you can disconnect a disk and store it elsewhere. This solution, however, does not provide data loss security because disks can break at any time. Then you can think of copying data to several external storage devices, but then it starts to be messy and difficult to keep track of everything.

A NAS (a disk connected to the network) can be a good solution, but it is generally not useful when traveling. No matter how you do, there will be compromises between agility and security – which can be devastating, but also make the work difficult. Of course, I would not write this blog post if I did not have a working solution all of the above problems! Well, of course not all the issues. You need a fast enough computer, and there are no shortcuts. However, I have good tips for storing work material and finished movie files. The solution that works well for me is OneDrive for Business.

OneDrive for Business (ODfB) is a business solution for users to have somewhere to store their personal files. ODfB is often included in a license suite where other components are Exchange (e-mail), Office packages and other parts. With ODfB, you get 1-5 terabytes of storage (depending on license) where Microsoft guarantees everything boring, such as backup, restore and the like. More information here: https://products.office.com/en-us/onedrive-for-business/online-cloud-storage

Often you have an ODfB storage space today, and if the employer allows it, it is great for video editing. Below is a description of how I work with Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018.

When I set up a project, I start by creating a folder in my synced ODfB folder (sorry for all the Swedish language in the screenshots, but I think you’ll get it anyway).

Note the symbols in the status column. More about them later. The folder gets a name that identifies the project. In the next step, I create folders based on the different cameras I use.

I think it’s easy to divide the sources in that way, but that is really up to everyone to decide on how to arrange everything. In the next step, I will copy all raw materials from the different sources. Note that I’m still on the local disk on my Microsoft Surface Pro 4. The internal disk is 256GB, but wait to see it will keep up quite long.

In the next step, I open Adobe Premiere Pro to set up the project. Here I point out the new folder and put a name on the project.

I point all the “scratch disks” to the same folder. I prefer to have it all together. If you’re editing on a desktop computer, you can, of course, earn performance by adding Preview files to separate disks, but that’s not gonna fly on a laptop.

I’ve un-checked “Ingest” because I already have my source files in the right place and because I rarely work with 4K material, I do not run any proxy files either.

In the next step, I import my files into the project, edit and export the result. I will not get into that, in this post because there is already a ton of youtuber’s that describes how it works 🙂

When I’m finished editing I export the final result to the same folder i created earlier.

It is now the magic happens. Let’s look at the size of the folder. The whole project takes 4.16 Gb on disk, but stay a while longer to see what we can do now!

What has happened here is that the files have been uploaded to ODfB, which means we have a synced backup, but we also have some more tricks to add. Now we can right-click on the folder and choose “Free up space”. Let’s do it and we’ll see what’s happening!

What’s happening now is a check that all files are really synchronized, but after a minute, the icons change to small clouds.

…and, when we check the size, the size on disk is… 0 bytes!

We have thus released the files from the computer, which has given us the disk space back and we can start new projects without plugging in a lot of external disks and other hassles. The files are also protected on Microsoft’s computer halls, both physically and through their SLA (Service Level Agreement).

But what do we do if we want to access the files again? Yes, if it is one file we need, we can either double-click it and it’s downloaded or we can right-click the entire library and sync home the entire project. Make sure there is free disk space, however. Of course, we need at least as much bandwidth as the project is large, but it is rarely a problem nowadays.

Additionally, if you need to access one or more files quickly, so you can open ODfB via the browser and access them.

From the browser we can also access the automatically created version history of the file. Se below on the project file (Blogpost.prproj).

From here, we can go back to a previous version if the project file should be corrupt. There is also a trash bin where all files remain for at least 90 days in case of accidental deletion of a file. You are also protected from poor ransomware, such as crypto buffers, as all files are version-managed and the trash can be found.

Some tips and tricks on the way

1. Always make sure you have enough space for the files you need to work with. Especially out on the field where bandwidth can be limited. A little bit of planning is required.
2. Should you open an old project in Adobe Premiere, be sure to sync your entire project first, otherwise, Adobe Premiere Pro will break completely.
3. Use the sharing function in ODfB! It’s a superior way to share a file in a project with someone else. Much safer than copying to USB memories or similar. More information and instructions can be found here: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/video-share-files-and-folders-with-office-365-72f26d6c-bf9e-432c-8b96-e3c2437f5b65
4. I’m an amateur about using Adobe Premiere Pro and you do not get any assurances that this works for you, but I’ve been managing my projects this way since last summer and it worked well for me.
5. In order to offload files from the local disk, you must run the latest ODfB client and run Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The function is called “Files On-Demand” and here you will find more information: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/learn-about-onedrive-files-on-demand-0e6860d3-d9f3-4971-b321 -7092438fb38e
6. Here you will find material and inspiration (please subscribe!)
   1. My own YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaG4K-u_k1ij4NKqTxHzwhA?view_as=subscriber
   2. Altitude’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuLJpPKUkQMou2XUCzUY6FQ?view_as=subscriber
7. Do you want to know how to get OneDrive for Business for your business, please do not hesitate to contact Altitude 365!

Happy editing!!