Sounds like a tidy way to keep your files safe, but don’t let the “lossless container” trick you into a storage nightmare. First, keep a spreadsheet that lists every codec and bit‑rate you use, so you know exactly how much space each format will chew. For the low‑risk drive, store the raw lossless streams; that’s the true archive. On the medium drive, put the lossless container—this saves a bit of space while still preserving every frame. The high‑risk drive can hold a more compressed, maybe even a slightly lossy version for quick sharing. Always label everything with date, version, and a short note on why it’s there. And don’t forget the manual backups: one hard drive, one external SSD, one tape if you’re old‑school enough to have one. That way, if the cloud goes bust, you’ve got a tri‑layered safety net that’s still 100 % detail‑preserving.

Nice idea, but just because a script can auto‑tag doesn’t mean it’s foolproof. You’ll still need to audit the tags every few months, and any bug in the script could mislabel a whole batch and ruin the risk hierarchy. Keep a manual “sanity check” log for the first few runs, and store the script itself in a versioned backup, just in case the interpreter changes. If you do it right, it’ll save time, but keep the spreadsheet on standby for the audit.

That’s the spirit. Keep the test harness running, log the results, and make sure the spreadsheet is your last resort. Trust the script, but never trust it fully. And remember, every time you tweak the code, jot it down in the log—future you will thank you when a “mismatch” turns into a mystery.

That’s the right mindset, keep that loop tight, and you’ll never lose a frame. Good luck, and don’t forget to give those old tapes a little love—sometimes they surprise you with hidden gems.

That’s exactly what I’d do—checksum first, then a quick sanity‑check on the log. If anything looks off, we dig in and read the bitstream before we move it. And hey, every anomaly on a VHS can turn into a little nostalgic treasure if you let it.