Ontrack Reclaims Animation Tape from Orly Productions

The Situation

Orly Productions is one of New Zealand's most experienced film and television production companies. From its studio in Christchurch, Orly's tight-knit creative team oversees the production of television commercials, technically advanced interactive media for sales and marketing, and business communications. Its clients are a "who's who" of leading local and global organizations.Around midday on 22nd February, 2011 an Orly animator got up from his desk to return the company's animation LTO to its secure data storage safe. The tape held all of the company's animation output for the past twelve months.

Ross Beck, Managing Director of Orly Productions explains, "The material on the LTO is essentially the blueprint for a year's worth of projects. We store it on the LTO for future reference by our clients and ourselves so if they need to be used again we can draw the material from that back-up file. It's a pretty important part of our business."

As the animator approached the data safe he realized that other staff and a client were working nearby. Rather than intrude he placed the tape on top of the safe and decided to lock it away later. It was an unfortunate decision because, as Beck notes, "Within the hour the earth moved." At 1pm a massive 6.3 magnitude earthquake rocked Christchurch causing immense loss of life and extensive damage throughout the city.

At Orly's studios the building was extensively damaged and liquefaction quickly set in. It's a relatively common process arising during earthquakes whereby the ground vibrations turn solids such as soil into a liquid mass. "It's a bit like taking flour and compacting it by shaking it in a bowl," Beck says. "All the water particles come free and a fine silt-like mix of sand and water forces its way through minute holes in ground surfaces, even concrete slab floors."

And the animation LTO? The earthquake had knocked the tape off the data safe and onto the floor where it was soon covered in the liquefaction mud.

The aftermath

Given the extensive damage to Orly's studio, fixing a mud-soaked tape wasn't high on the company's immediate priorities. Setting up a temporary studio and keeping the business running seemed a more sensible focus. Besides, Beck points out, the tape was a back up.

However as life began to get back to normal the Orly team pondered the animation tape. Orly had two LTO machines but one had been damaged and they were reluctant to try the tape in the other. No one wanted to take the risk of causing any further damage to the tape or the machine.

The Solution

Unsure where to start with the tape, Beck searched online and spoke to contacts. "We had a local guy that had worked with us when we had a hard drive failure some time back. He pointed us in Ontrack's direction. Because the LTO wasn't physically damaged we hoped there could be a chance to get the data off. We had doubts but we didn't really know enough."

The LTO was sent to Kroll Ontrack's, facilities in the US. Adrian Briscoe, General Manager APAC, Ontrack explains, "The contamination was so severe we decided to ship the tape to our specialized tape facility in the U.S. to increase the chances of a successful recovery."