Is there any reason to keep masters as WAV files?

[ycoop]

My understanding is that as a lossless compression format FLAC files allow for the complete recovery of the WAV file. Is there any reason to maintain the larger WAV files?

[vanark]

No

[heathen]

Is there any reason NOT to?  Storage space is dirt cheap.

[vanark]

FLAC files can be verified without a checksum.

[morst]

Great question.

I still keep original WAV files.

I tried using FLAC but it took extra time every time, and then extra time again to be sure that the FLAC was encoded perfectly. I should not do less before deleting original WAVs!?

But speaking of time, I have started to perform an MD5 checksum on the original file as it resides on the original storage medium, then I do a MD5 checksum on the file I have transferred to the hard drive. I compare these to make sure I have a good copy from the original to the drive which I'll be backing up.

Call me paranoid. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ycoop]

Saving ~30% of storage space seems like it could save some dough in the long run, but I'm more specifically asking as I'm awaiting delivery on 2 HDDs and want to free up some space on my laptop's SDD to do some post.

[rigpimp]

I don't keep them unless it is an accident.  I even break my master polywavs into pairs and FLAC those.

Once every several months I will go through my folder of masters and search for ".wav" just to go through and compress any stragglers

[nulldogmas]

This is actually an excellent reminder that I should go through my old WAV masters and FLAC them — thanks!

[rigpimp]

But speaking of time, I have started to perform an MD5 checksum on the original file as it resides on the original storage medium, then I do a MD5 checksum on the file I have transferred to the hard drive. I compare these to make sure I have a good copy from the original to the drive which I'll be backing up.

Call me paranoid. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Nah, I used to use DVDs to backup by hard drives.  I used an MD5 checksum GUI to create and verify a MD5 and then save it to each disc. When I copied all the files off I would create another MD5 with the copied files and verify they matched. 

[morst]

Saving ~30% of storage space seems like it could save some dough in the long run, but I'm more specifically asking as I'm awaiting delivery on 2 HDDs and want to free up some space on my laptop's SDD to do some post.

Are you kidding me? How much music have you got? External 4TB drives cost like $80 now if you shop it right.


I ripped 800 DAT's and it's 1.2TB I think?


It would take a few days to FLAC that, in order to save less than $10 worth of space per copy?


OK sure, if you have nothing but [processor] time, it IS a potential for small cost savings... depending on how much power your machine draws and what you pay per kWH, now that we're actually thinking about the cost!?


You could save up and buy a fancy windscreen!

[twatts]

Saving ~30% of storage space seems like it could save some dough in the long run, but I'm more specifically asking as I'm awaiting delivery on 2 HDDs and want to free up some space on my laptop's SDD to do some post.

Are you kidding me? How much music have you got? External 4TB drives cost like $80 now if you shop it right.

I ripped 800 DAT's and it's 1.2TB I think?

You have a very good point.  Storage is cheap now... 

I've Transferred a lot of DATs too.  All of my Transfers average 1gb per DAT, but I keep the untracked Master FLAC and the tracked out FLAC files both... 

I think the WAV>FLAC is a hold-over from days when storage space was much more expensive...  I still have plenty of time though, so I still FLAC all my Transfers...

Just my worthless bits...

Terry

[tim in jersey]

As storage is no longer a real economic concern (for now), I save the raw WAV masters and also post-processed, tracked and FLAC-ed files.

Every so often I have a breakthrough on my skills in post and how to improve the quality of a recording I made 10-15 years ago or even a year ago. Without the unaltered WAVs I'm screwed.

Example is when I ran 2 DAT decks back in the day, one AUD one SBD. Now that I know how to process time drift I'm kicking myself in the ass as to how many MTX recordings I could have made of some classic shows...

[nulldogmas]

Storage is cheap, but you also have to factor in your backup storage, plus the time and bandwidth needed to back up the additional storage.

I agree that it's a marginal savings, but as it's easy enough to select a bunch of files and set them running to convert, I'll probably do it at some point.

[capnhook]

As storage is no longer a real economic concern (for now), I save the raw WAV masters and also post-processed, tracked and FLAC-ed files.

Every so often I have a breakthrough on my skills in post and how to improve the quality of a recording I made 10-15 years ago or even a year ago. Without the unaltered WAVs I'm screwed.

Example is when I ran 2 DAT decks back in the day, one AUD one SBD. Now that I know how to process time drift I'm kicking myself in the ass as to how many MTX recordings I could have made of some classic shows...

That's why I keep raw .wav masters, too.

And 4 oak DAT racks..

[Sloan Simpson]

Raw master FLACs can be tagged with venue, source info, etc.