Chapter 37 — Quiz

Twenty-nine self-check questions on workflow, file management, backup, and archive. Mix of multiple choice, true/false (always justify), short answer, and "what's wrong with this workflow?" diagnosis. Answer from memory first; the key and a one-line explanation for each are at the end, with a topics-to-review map.

Multiple choice

1. The chief reason a professional's folder structure is powerful is that it is: - A) cleverly designed by an expert - B) identical on every single project - C) approved by the client - D) as deep as possible

2. In a filename, why write the date as 2026-04-12 rather than 4/12/26? - A) It looks more official - B) It sorts into true chronological order and is unambiguous across regions - C) It's shorter - D) Editing software requires it

3. State the 3-2-1 backup rule. It calls for: - A) 3 drives, 2 computers, 1 password - B) 3 copies, on 2 media types, with 1 off-site - C) 3 backups a day, 2 a week, 1 a month - D) 3 folders, 2 names, 1 export

4. Which of these is a genuine backup? - A) A second folder on the same drive as the original - B) A RAID array - C) A cloud-synced folder that mirrors deletions - D) A copy on a separate drive kept at another location

5. A clip stutters on playback during your edit. The drive-side fix (as opposed to the file-side proxy fix) is to: - A) lower the export bitrate - B) put the active project on a faster drive (internal or external SSD) - C) rename the clips - D) delete the originals

6. What belongs on your fastest drive? - A) your only copy of the footage - B) your backups - C) the OS and the scratch/cache - D) the archive

7. An archive differs from a backup in that an archive: - A) is updated live, several times a day - B) preserves finished work for the future, made once at wrap - C) is always in the cloud - D) contains only the delivered video file

8. Which item should be left out of an archive? - A) the camera originals - B) the final project file - C) the proxies - D) the master export

9. A project file, copied alone to a new machine, opens to "media offline" because a project file is fundamentally: - A) corrupted by copying - B) a set of pointers to media, not the media itself - C) too large to move - D) locked to one editor

10. Which dependency, if missing from a handoff, most directly makes your titles render wrong? - A) LUTs - B) fonts - C) proxies - D) room tone

11. The "two verified copies before you wipe a card" rule from Chapter 27 is best described as: - A) unrelated to backup - B) 3-2-1 in miniature — the minimum safety to start an edit - C) a replacement for 3-2-1 - D) only for double-system audio

12. Why zero-pad numbers in filenames (clip07, not clip7)? - A) to save space - B) so clip10 doesn't sort before clip2 - C) it's required by cloud storage - D) it prevents corruption

True / False — and say why

13. RAID protects you against accidentally deleting a project. T / F — justify.

14. Keeping your working drive and your only backup drive in the same bag satisfies the 3-2-1 rule. T / F — justify.

15. You should rename your clip files on disk after importing them, to tidy up the project. T / F — justify.

16. Proxies are safe to delete because they can be regenerated from the originals. T / F — justify.

17. An archive, once made, is safe forever and never needs to be touched again. T / F — justify.

18. The exact megabytes-per-second figures for drive tiers matter more than knowing their relative order. T / F — justify.

19. Keeping media inside the project folder and referencing it with relative paths makes a project portable. T / F — justify.

Short answer

20. In one sentence each, define file naming, 3-2-1 backup, archive, and project handoff.

21. Explain the threshold idea "storage is not backup" in two sentences.

22. Name the single test that decides what goes into an archive and what stays out, and give one example of a "keep" and one "drop."

What's wrong with this workflow?

23. A creator's system: "All my footage is on one big 8TB external drive. It's a really good drive — enterprise grade — so I'm covered." Name every problem and the fix.

24. An editor archives a finished documentary like this: they export the final 1080p YouTube file, save it to a folder, and delete the project file, the camera originals, and the audio to free up space. "The video's done, so I only need the video." What have they destroyed the ability to do, and what should the archive have contained?

25. A freelancer hands a project to a client's new editor by zipping just the .drp/.prproj project file and emailing it. The new editor reports: media offline everywhere, wrong fonts in the titles, and a flat-looking grade. Diagnose all three symptoms and describe the package that should have been sent instead.

More short answer

26. An archive is described as "a verb, not a shelf." What two clocks are ticking on a stored archive over the years, and what is the defense against each?

27. What's wrong with the filename Bakery Final Video 4-3-26.mov? List every rule it breaks and write a corrected version.

28. A person archives a finished project by keeping the delivered H.264 file and the proxies, and deleting the camera originals "to save space." What have they gotten exactly backwards, and why is it dangerous?

29. Which single thing belongs on your fastest drive, and which single thing must never share a drive with your only copy of the media — and are they the same thing or different?

Answer Key

Show answers **1. B.** Any reasonable tree works; the power comes from reusing the *same* one every time, so finding things is muscle memory. (§37.1) **2. B.** ISO `YYYY-MM-DD` sorts chronologically as plain text and is regionally unambiguous. (§37.2) **3. B.** Three copies, two media types, one off-site. (§37.3) **4. D.** A separate copy in another location. A same-drive folder (A) shares one failure; RAID (B) is uptime, not a copy; a mirroring sync (C) propagates deletions. (§37.3) **5. B.** Put the active edit on a fast drive; the file-side answer is proxies (Ch.27), the drive-side answer is a faster working disk. (§37.4) **6. C.** OS + scratch/cache go on the fastest drive; it's hammered constantly and is disposable. (§37.4) **7. B.** An archive preserves finished work for the future, made once at wrap; a backup is a live net for active work. (§37.5) **8. C.** Proxies are regenerable — leave them out. Keep originals, project, and master. (§37.5) **9. B.** A project file is pointers to media; without the media (or with it relocated), the pointers dangle. (§37.6, Ch.27) **10. B.** Missing fonts make titles substitute, reflow, or vanish. (§37.6) **11. B.** It's the minimum safety to start an edit; the full 3-2-1 runs for the project's whole life. (§37.3, Ch.27) **12. B.** Text sorts character by character, so un-padded `10` sorts before `2`; zero-padding fixes it. (§37.2) **13. False.** RAID gives *uptime* against a disk dying, but a deletion, corruption, or ransomware hits the whole array at once — it is not a separate copy. (§37.3) **14. False.** That's two copies of the same *location*; a stolen bag, spill, or surge takes both. 3-2-1 requires one copy *off-site*. (§37.3) **15. False.** The project stores names/locations as pointers; renaming on disk after import breaks them ("media offline"). Rename *before* import or *inside* the project. (§37.2) **16. True.** Proxies are disposable stand-ins regenerable from the originals — which is exactly why you archive originals, never proxies. (§37.3, §37.5) **17. False.** Media dies (drives fail, bit rot) and formats/software age; archives must be verified and *migrated* to fresh media/formats every few years. (§37.5) **18. False.** The figures shift yearly; what matters is the *order* — SSD faster than HDD faster than tape — which tells you which drive fits which job. (§37.4) **19. True.** "The file right next to this project" stays true wherever the folder is copied, so relative references relink automatically; absolute paths exist on only one machine. (§37.6) **20.** *File naming* — a consistent scheme so each file's identity (date, project, source, content, version) is legible from its name and sorts correctly. *3-2-1 backup* — three copies, on two media types, one off-site. *Archive* — long-term preservation of a finished project's essential files, trimmed and organized to reopen years later. *Project handoff* — packaging a project so it opens and continues on another machine with all media and dependencies intact. (§§37.2–37.6) **21.** Storage is merely where a copy lives; a backup is the *existence of another copy* whose job is to be there when the first dies. A file on one drive — however good the drive — is stored, not backed up, and one failure away from gone. (§37.3) **22.** The test: "Could I reopen this in a year and have everything I need?" Keep the irreplaceable (e.g., camera originals); drop the regenerable (e.g., proxies or render cache). (§37.5) **23.** Problems: one copy = storage, not backup (a single drive *will* eventually fail, and "enterprise grade" doesn't change that); no second media type; no off-site copy, so a fire/theft/ransomware event takes everything. Fix: 3-2-1 — add at least a second copy on different media and one off-site (cloud or a drive elsewhere). Drive quality is irrelevant; *number of independent copies* is the point. (§37.3) **24.** They've destroyed the ability to *change* the project — no re-edit, no fix, no new cut for another platform, no pulling a clip for the reel — and even to re-deliver at higher quality. The archive should have kept the camera originals, the clean audio, the final project file, the *master* export (Ch.36), plus fonts/LUTs, music licenses, and releases — the export is the destination; the originals and project are the ability to return. (§37.5, Ch.36) **25.** *Media offline* — the project file is only pointers; the media wasn't sent. *Wrong fonts* — the title fonts weren't included, so the new machine substituted. *Flat grade* — the LUT the grade relies on is missing. Send a *consolidated, self-contained package* (editor's project-archive/consolidate function) containing the project file plus all media inside the folder (relative paths), the fonts and LUTs, any plugins noted, and a `00_README` with software+version, frame rate, resolution, and specs. (§37.6) **26.** The **media** ages (drives fail after a few years; even SSDs can lose data unpowered; tape ages) — defense: *migrate* onto fresh media and *verify* with checksums. The **formats/software** age (codecs, project formats, even drive connectors obsolesce) — defense: keep the master in a widely-supported high-quality format and migrate long-lived archives forward before the tools to read them disappear. An archive left untouched quietly dies; you check and re-copy it on a schedule. (§37.5) **27.** Breaks: spaces (×3), the word "Final," and an ambiguous non-ISO date (`4-3-26` — April 3 or March 4?). Corrected: `2026-03-04_BAKERY_web-1080p_v01.mov` (ISO date, no spaces, no "Final," a version number, a project code). (§37.2) **28.** Backwards: they kept the *regenerable and un-editable* (the compressed deliverable, which can't be re-edited well, and proxies, which regenerate from originals) and destroyed the *irreplaceable* (the camera originals). You can always remake proxies from originals — never originals from proxies — and the delivered file is a dead end you can't re-cut. They preserved the disposable and deleted the priceless. (§37.5) **29.** The **scratch/cache** (and OS/apps) belongs on the fastest drive; the **scratch/cache** must never share a drive with your only media copy. They are the *same* thing — the cache both wants speed *and* must be kept off your sole media copy (to spread load and avoid choking it), which is why a dedicated fast drive separate from the media is ideal. (§37.4)

Topics to review by question

  • Folder structure (§37.1): 1, 23
  • File naming (§37.2): 2, 12, 15, 20, 27
  • 3-2-1 backup / storage vs backup (§37.3): 3, 4, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19(partly), 20, 21, 23
  • Drives & speed (§37.4): 5, 6, 18, 29
  • Archive (§37.5): 7, 8, 16, 17, 22, 24, 26, 28
  • Handoff & portability (§37.6): 9, 10, 19, 25
  • Interleave with Ch.27 / Ch.36: 5, 9, 11, 24, 28