How to do offload & backup jobs in Edge versions before Edge 6


Backup allows you to securely offload camera card media onto external drives. Once the offload process is complete and the media are verified on the external drives, the camera cards can be reused by the production crew. The backup drives can be used directly for the post production or for ingesting the media into Limecraft Flow. As part of the offload process, users can assign information to each camera card. This easily allows locating the media throughout the production process.


Before you begin

Before a backup job can be started you need to configure your volumes. In other words, you need to indicate which drive contains the source material and which drive(s) you'll use to store the backup(s).

To do so, use the tool icon in the right upper corner and select the volume settings.



1. Choosing a source

As soon as a source is selected, Edge will analyse the contents of the drive and populate the Source Files window with metadata relating to available media files.



Edge will always backup the entire contents of a source volume, including all metadata and folder structures present. In case any media are missing in the list of source files, it may be due to unknown formats. Consult the Edge supported codecs to see if your media file type is shown.


2. Enter a destination path


Edge allows you to define metadata ahead of a backup in the form of the custom metadata. This can be properties like episode, shooting day, location, camera type, card name, … Metadata added here is used in 3 ways:

  1. To create a folder hierarchy on the backup drive. This allows for easy identification of backup drive contents when they return back to base.
  2. To add metadata tags to the transferred assets. This allows Flow users to search for clips using the destination path defined through Edge.
  3. To create a bin structure in Flow. This allows Flow users to easily navigate through the transferred clips.

Information can be manually typed in each field, or you can select from previously used metadata. The card name is filled in automatically based on the formatted name of the card. This can be overwritten, if required.


3. Select a Destination Drive


At least 1 backup drive must be configured properly to allow a user to select the destination drive. If Edge has more than 1 drive connected and configured as a backup volume, you can define multiple destinations for the backup job. Do this by clicking on “add destination”.




Make sure there’s enough space on the backup drive before starting a backup job!


4. Starting the Backup


Start the Backup job by clicking "start backup".



If the "start backup" looks like below, make sure each of the above 3 steps (see "Enter a destination path") has been completed.



5. Effect of Backup


Edge writes the source contents to the destination drive, including all source folder structures and metadata. This creates a carbon copy of the source onto the destination, within a folder hierarchy as set using the ‘Destination Path’. The estimated time to completion of the backup job is shown as well as the progress for each clip. 


After the writing of each file, Edge performs a verification by reading the file off the destination volume and comparing it with the original source file. An ‘MD5’ checksum is used to verify the copy process is successful.


If a file fails the backup process, a red error box is displayed prompting the user to retry the failed backup job. Common causes of failed backup jobs are insufficient destination disk space, corrupt source files & intermittent disk disconnects.


6. The backup report


After a completed backup job, a pdf report can be generated by clicking the report icon on the Backup page or through the job overview. A browser window will open displaying the pdf. Right click and choose ‘Save as’ to save the pdf in a convenient location.