4 Tips for Archiving Your Home Movies

Home movies are great because they allow you to look back on some of the happiest years of your life. They also make it possible to record important events and look back on them in the future. In order to make this possible, it's not just recording the videos that is important. It's also beneficial if you can learn how to archive and store your home movies. It is important that they are stored somewhere that is easily accessible. This means that you will always be able to get your hands on them when you need them.

1. Consider Space Requirements

Depending on the format of the videos that you are storing, you will need more or less space. Videos stored on DVD take up considerably less space than those stored on VHS cassettes. You will need to calculate your space requirements in order to work out how big the unit will be that holds the videos.

2. Store Them on a Computer

If you have a digital video camera, then the videos will be downloaded to your computer in regular computer files. This makes it easy to archive them on your computer. Of course, there will be a limited amount of space available here. You can get around this by installing additional hard drives or even using external hard drives which can be plugged into the USB port or Firewire port of your computer.

3. Consider Safety Requirements

If you are storing cassettes or DVD's, then you will need to be aware that these are fairly delicate. If you're not careful, then these can become damaged and lose their data. You must ensure that the conditions are right. For example, the videos should be stored in a dry environment which isn't too hot. If the room is too hot, then this could cause the discs to warp, resulting in them being unplayable.

If you're storing any very important family movies, then consider making an extra copy of them and storing them somewhere else. This will ensure that all of the most special moments are retained no matter what happens.

4. Make the Videos Easily Accessible

For your home video archive to be a success, you must choose a location where it is very easy to access all of the videos. If it isn't possible to find the videos when you want them to watch, then you're going to have problems. Make sure that everything is arranged either alphabetically or in another order. This means that you can easily find the videos at any time.

If archiving on a computer, then you should save the files in organized folders with relevant file names. This will make it really easy to search for the videos on your computer or find them by browsing through the folders. When storing on any type of media, be aware that they can fail at any time. Make regular backups of your computer to ensure that should the worst happen, nothing is lost.

These videos are your families memories and are worth looking after. This will make it possible to enjoy watching these movies time and time again.

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