In video editing, the most valuable thing you have is time
And it can take a lot of time!
So the last thing that you want to experience is losing videos that you edited
That is what the 3-2-1 rule prevents
The 3-2-1 rule in video editing tells you to keep 3 copies of your videos, in 2 different storage places, and 1 of those places needs to be in a different location. This rule makes it so you don’t lose your content in case of online or physical accidents
If you are going to spend so much time creating beautiful videos for your social media or YouTube, take steps or organize and back it up so you don’t have to recreate any of your videos
What is the 3-2-1 rule in video editing?
The 3-2-1 rule in video editing helps you prevent content loss
We think about all the steps that we need to make our videos amazing, but we don’t usually think about what comes next
Organization and creating backups is what comes next
The 3-2-1 is a backup method
Every time you finish a video, save three copies of that video
Those three copies need to be in two separate places
Meaning you can have one on your computer and two in a storage
Make sure that one of those places can be reached from a different location
A couple of examples could be Google drive or an external memory
As long as you don’t store that memory in your computer
If there is a glitch or someone hacks your computer, you aren’t in danger of losing your content because there is at least one copy of every video that is not on or with your computer
Why is organization and creating backups so important?
Organization is important because forgetting where your content is can be a huge time waster
When I don’t put content in the correct folder with a clear name, I can spend a couple hours trying to find the video that I am looking for
When you name your content, get specific in the name
Pretend that you are searching for that video in a search bar
What would you type in to find that video?
Use those words in the file name
It may be a good idea to add a date too
I like to use dates at the beginning of my file name so that it automatically organizes in time order
But you can do that however makes sense for you
When you are organized and clear, you save time searching for the videos that you want to use
You can go straight to the correct folder and select the correct name without needing to open it
Backups are important because things happen!
You never know when there will be a fire that destroys your house (with your computer inside)
Or if a virus deletes everything you have
By creating backups that prepare you for both accidents, you prevent losing the content that you spent so much time on
Time is valuable
And you have to use a lot of it for every video you edit
Creating backups is like insurance on that time and content
Protect it so you don’t have to start from scratch in an accident
What is the most important resource you have as a video editor?
Tools and software are very helpful as a video editor
But the most important resource you have is time
You use a lot of time when learning video editing, and you use a lot of time even as an experienced editor
And time is the only resource that you cannot replace or get back
That is why I believe in spending a little money to get something that saves time
I bought my editing software because it took less time to learn and would take a long time to outgrow
You can always earn more money or learn a new software
But time is gone once it’s gone
One of the largest reasons for loss of time that editors face is losing the content that they edited
That could be because they lost it on their computer
Maybe they put it in the wrong folder or named it weird
Or it could be because they only made one copy
Both of those reasons are very preventable!
You just need to be aware and willing to spend the few extra moments that it takes to take care of your work
What are some of the ways you can save backups of your videos?
There are many places that you can choose from when creating copies of your videos
One of my favorites is using an external memory
I got 1TB of memory
I labeled it with the date of the first and last video on it so I know what memory I need
Google Drive is also a favorite
I like it because there is a good amount of storage and I can access my Google drive from anywhere
That means I can access that content if I lost my computer in an accident from any other computer
As long as I remembered my username and password
You can put a copy directly onto your computer, but keep in mind that using too much memory on your computer can slow it down
The more videos that you edit, the more memory that your work will take up
You can email the videos to yourself to save a backup
This is convenient because you can download it from any computer that you log into your email from
But it does lower the video quality
So doing it that way is not recommended
It doesn’t matter what you choose to use as storage
There are pros and cons to every option
So look at what you can use and decide what is most important to you
Just make sure that you try to follow the 3-2-1 rule so you never have to experience losing all your hard work