Backing Up Completed Movie

[Johnny]

I'm hoping that someone can help me with this and that it makes sense to you.

I create a Video_TS folder in order to burn my movies to DVD after completing the movie in PRE 10. If I move that folder to my external hard drive and delete all the space-consuming video clips (that were captured from my miniDV camcorder at the beginning) from my computer's hard drive, will I later on be able to burn another DVD if I need to do so, using just that Video_TS folder?

Thank you,

Johnny

[Bob]

Yes, you can.

It's best if you copy the entire folder that Premiere Elements creates and not just the VIDEO_TS folder. The software to burn a DVD from a folder will generally want to point to the folder containing the VIDEO_TS folder. When I was using Premiere Elements, that folder contained three folders -- OpenDVD, AUDIO_TS, and VIDEO_TS. OpenDVD is not needed for a standard DVD and can be deleted. AUDIO_TS will be an empty folder. Some early DVD players looked for the AUDIO_TS folder and complained if it wasn't there. Newer players generally don't care if it's there or not. It doesn't hurt to be there.

edit: You could also create an ISO file of the DVD and save that instead of the VIDEO_TS folder. If you are using ImgBurn to burn the DVD, it can create the ISO file from either the burned DVD or directly from the folder containing the VIDEO_TS folder. Once you have the ISO file, you can easily burn additional DVDs from it.

[Johnny]

Thanks for your reply, Bob.

Actually, it does also include Open DVD. I'm just trying to figure out whether I still need to save the other stuff (the video clips that were captured from the camcorder) that currently is taking up a lot of space on my computer, or if just having the folder is enough, should I need to burn another DVD down the road.

[Bob]

The original video clips you capture are only necessary if you want to use them again in another project to make a different DVD or if you anticipate wanting to re-edit the existing project. As far as burning additional copies of the exact same DVD, the VIDEO_TS (or an ISO file of the DVD) is sufficient.

Personally, I keep my original footage to allow me to reuse it for other projects later.

[Johnny]

Thank you for clearing that up, Bob.
It's okay for me not to keep the XMPSES file as well?

[Bob]

Yes. Premiere Elements creates a number of working files and folders. The default location for these is the folder where you created the project file. Create a separate folder for each new project. When the project is done, you can cleanup by simply deleting that project's folder. If you burn the DVD to a folder, use a different location so it won't be accidently deleted. Be sure to test the dvd first. Once you're satisfied the dvd you created is good, the menus are working, and everything plays properly, you can delete the project folder.

The folder containing the VIDEO_TS folder (or an ISO file for the DVD) is all you need to burn another DVD later.

[Johnny]

Thank you so much, Bob. Now I can finally sort through some of what I have saved and clean up the hard drive a bit.

I appreciate your help with this.