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Using a Digital Camcorder as a Tape Drive?

Posted by Cliff on from the weird-hacks-that-are-sure-to-void-that-warranty dept.

mookie_black asks this interesting question: "I have a Sony Digital Camcorder and an ADS firewire card. I am able to offload the tape information from my camcorder to my computer in the DV format and edit the video. My video editing software allows me to edit the DV format and then place it back on the tape in the camcorder. Since 40 minutes of tape takes up several gigs on my hard drive I thought it would be nice and cheap if I could back up my stuff to camcorder. I do not have a tape drive and was wondering if there is a way to backup my system into a DV format put the backup on the 8mm tape in my digital camcorder." What an interesting idea! Would such a hack work?!

2 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. There's such a thing by Frodo · · Score: 3

    In Russia, there's such a beast. It's called Arvid, IIRC, and it's exactly for this - for backing up data from the computer to video-tape. It works, though I don't know details - never used it.

    --
    -- Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes.
  2. It's as easy as 1,2,3... by Mignon · · Score: 3
    1. Point your camera on a tripod pointed at the monitor.
    2. Start taping.
    3. myhost:#cat /dev/hda1