Let's say for example that I have a very simple project: I only use one video clip that is 1 hour in duration and large in size. But in my sequence I use only 1 minute from that long clip. I was wondering if it is possible to backup my project without archiving the whole 1 hour clip, but just that 1 minute that I use in my sequence with just some overhead.

I know that in the audio world there is an option in Pro Tools that you can trim your files with some overhead so you don't have to backup everything.

Can we do something similar in Media Composer?

Right click on the timeline --> Consolidate/Transcode. A menu appears, select Consolidate. You can choose the handle length and the location of the footage.

You can consolidate or transcode the sequence, and use the options available to you in order to select the length of the handles you want to keep around the used clips.

Then, you do a backup of just the media used in the consolidated/transcoded sequence.

So it is possible! Thank you so much, I will look into it.

Is this common practise? Do most people do that for archiving when the project is finished?

I actually don't know! Different people have different archive needs.

Peronally, I like to keep original camera media, any graphics/audio files that were created in other tools so that I can re-import them (such as Photoshop, After Effects, and audio files), and any media captured within Media Composer so that I have those originals as well.

If you have those, and you also add all consolidated/transcoded media that you needed in order to create your sequence, you should be able to restore that archive on any system, as long as the formats of all of those files are supported on whatever system you use when you restore it, and you should be all set to go.

I use a somewhat different process. My editing system has 2 hot swap drive frames connected to the SATA ports. One is full sized for a spinning hard drive, and the other is for a SSD. Both are accessible from the front of the system. The full sized drive is what I use for archiving large projects (I can stick an 8Tb drive in and backup everything). The SSD is the project drive. That's where I do hold the working files (unless I'm doing multicam, in which case everything gets copied to the in-case RAID).

Just having the full-sized hot swappable drive makes it easy to save everything, not just a cut down version. And since spinning drives are cheap, it's an effective solution. If I have to switch prjects mid-stream, it's a fast solution.

When I am done with a project, I copy everything onto 100Gb M-Disc BluRays for permanent storage. Not the cheapest option as M-Disc BDXL is expensive, but it's better than leaving them on a hard drive that might someday fail.