Comments on: Backing up your photos http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/ The Photocritic DIY photography projects blog Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:17:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Brian Harte http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/#comment-315507 Brian Harte Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:08:11 +0000 http://photocritic.org/?p=2764#comment-315507 I read today that Apple have admitted that some of their Time Capsules have been faulty. What it reminds me is that for the most important data you need to backup the backup also as nothing is immune to failure/theft/flood/fire. I read today that Apple have admitted that some of their Time Capsules have been faulty. What it reminds me is that for the most important data you need to backup the backup also as nothing is immune to failure/theft/flood/fire.

]]> By: Shannan http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/#comment-315156 Shannan Fri, 02 Apr 2010 23:17:30 +0000 http://photocritic.org/?p=2764#comment-315156 I kept thinking that I'd back up someday... I have the same exact story as the previous writer. All of my photos were on an external drive. Worked fine last Saturday, Sunday morning it was as if nothing had ever been on the drive. I lost everything. So, now I use Carbonite and CD's. Lesson learned, the (very) hard way. I kept thinking that I’d back up someday… I have the same exact story as the previous writer. All of my photos were on an external drive. Worked fine last Saturday, Sunday morning it was as if nothing had ever been on the drive. I lost everything. So, now I use Carbonite and CD’s. Lesson learned, the (very) hard way.

]]> By: David http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/#comment-315150 David Thu, 01 Apr 2010 09:15:27 +0000 http://photocritic.org/?p=2764#comment-315150 Yep! Share a little story with you about a couple of years ago I lost an external disk with a fair few images on but because they were from my early days as a photographer. Nothing I couldn't afford losing so after being quoted £800 to have the data restored I gave it a miss. Then the other day I powered up a small external that I use for a lot of the work I do out in the field. It had been working perfectly fine the night before however when I powered it up it failed, I tried every bit of data recovery software on the market to no avail... So lost some important images but not worth the £800 I was quoted again... anyhow! lesson learnt well and truly now I back up. Just because it has never happened doesn't mean that it won't. BACK Your Data up. Yep! Share a little story with you about a couple of years ago I lost an external disk with a fair few images on but because they were from my early days as a photographer. Nothing I couldn’t afford losing so after being quoted £800 to have the data restored I gave it a miss. Then the other day I powered up a small external that I use for a lot of the work I do out in the field. It had been working perfectly fine the night before however when I powered it up it failed, I tried every bit of data recovery software on the market to no avail… So lost some important images but not worth the £800 I was quoted again… anyhow! lesson learnt well and truly now I back up. Just because it has never happened doesn’t mean that it won’t. BACK Your Data up.

]]> By: John http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/#comment-315132 John Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:15:13 +0000 http://photocritic.org/?p=2764#comment-315132 Being a computer professional I know how serious having good backups are. My backups are simple, ye easy to recover in the event I should need to. This is my solution, which was cost effective, but almost impossible to lose information. When I do a shoot, here's what I do immediately when I'm done: 1. Get the pictures off the camera and onto my computer. 2. Burn the pictures I have just taken to DVD, making sure I fill the DVD completely with older images -- redundancy counts! 3. Copy all my pictures to my external drive, which is only used for backups and only plugged in when I am backing things up. 4. Bring the burned DVD(s) to Grandma's house when I visit her each week, and store them in a CD binder. With those steps I have 3 copies of every picture: one on my computer, one on my backup drive, and multiples on DVD at Grandma's. DVDs also only hold data for so long (about 5 years), so every year on New Year's I re-burn ALL of my pictures to DVD, and also keep the old backups. If something happens to my house/computer, no problem. Just means I'll be visiting Grandma :) Being a computer professional I know how serious having good backups are. My backups are simple, ye easy to recover in the event I should need to. This is my solution, which was cost effective, but almost impossible to lose information.

When I do a shoot, here’s what I do immediately when I’m done:
1. Get the pictures off the camera and onto my computer.
2. Burn the pictures I have just taken to DVD, making sure I fill the DVD completely with older images — redundancy counts!
3. Copy all my pictures to my external drive, which is only used for backups and only plugged in when I am backing things up.
4. Bring the burned DVD(s) to Grandma’s house when I visit her each week, and store them in a CD binder.

With those steps I have 3 copies of every picture: one on my computer, one on my backup drive, and multiples on DVD at Grandma’s.

DVDs also only hold data for so long (about 5 years), so every year on New Year’s I re-burn ALL of my pictures to DVD, and also keep the old backups.

If something happens to my house/computer, no problem. Just means I’ll be visiting Grandma :)

]]> By: mannedspace http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/#comment-315094 mannedspace Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:06:24 +0000 http://photocritic.org/?p=2764#comment-315094 Very simple. 1. Prime photo images location(RAW, JPEG, PS, HDR, et all): external hard-drive. 2. Backup #1 of all of the above (and then some): external hard-drive disconnected from USB AND power strip (Mother Natures' power surges can be rough). 3. Backup #2 all of the above: external hard-drive (backed up 2-3x per year) 1000 miles away. Very simple.

1. Prime photo images location(RAW, JPEG, PS, HDR, et all): external hard-drive.
2. Backup #1 of all of the above (and then some): external hard-drive disconnected from USB AND power strip (Mother Natures’ power surges can be rough).
3. Backup #2 all of the above: external hard-drive (backed up 2-3x per year) 1000 miles away.

]]> By: Gabe http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/#comment-315051 Gabe Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:54:49 +0000 http://photocritic.org/?p=2764#comment-315051 forgot to mention that these are encrypted using truecrypt. This ensures there's no problem if they get misplaced or stolen. forgot to mention that these are encrypted using truecrypt. This ensures there’s no problem if they get misplaced or stolen.

]]> By: Gabe http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/#comment-315050 Gabe Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:51:02 +0000 http://photocritic.org/?p=2764#comment-315050 I have two drives which happen to be the same size. I regularly backup to one of these drives via an external USB drive enclosure and when I make the occasional trip to my bank safety deposit box, I swap the other drive. This way, I have periodic off-site backups. I also have a cheap NAS (Dlink DNS-323) running in raid-0 that I use locally as a file server. I have two drives which happen to be the same size. I regularly backup to one of these drives via an external USB drive enclosure and when I make the occasional trip to my bank safety deposit box, I swap the other drive. This way, I have periodic off-site backups.
I also have a cheap NAS (Dlink DNS-323) running in raid-0 that I use locally as a file server.

]]> By: Mads http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/#comment-315048 Mads Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:14:28 +0000 http://photocritic.org/?p=2764#comment-315048 I like Backblaze myself and have backed something stupid like 300gb of data with them. Client for Windows and OSX. /Mads I like Backblaze myself and have backed something stupid like 300gb of data with them. Client for Windows and OSX.

/Mads

]]> By: DPStudent http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/#comment-315028 DPStudent Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:18:17 +0000 http://photocritic.org/?p=2764#comment-315028 I was just thinking about purchasing a NAS with 2 RAID mirrored hard drives. And as you mention it IS a security if the drive fails, however, is it possible that the NAS fails, thus wiping both drives ? Im all new in backup, so this RAID setups are a new for me. I was just thinking about purchasing a NAS with 2 RAID mirrored hard drives. And as you mention it IS a security if the drive fails, however, is it possible that the NAS fails, thus wiping both drives ? Im all new in backup, so this RAID setups are a new for me.

]]> By: Robert M http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/#comment-315027 Robert M Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:44:02 +0000 http://photocritic.org/?p=2764#comment-315027 This is a must for any profession that requires computer use. Hard drives are dirt cheap these days so no one has any excuse not to back up. Heck record on DVD blanks if you have to. This is a must for any profession that requires computer use. Hard drives are dirt cheap these days so no one has any excuse not to back up. Heck record on DVD blanks if you have to.

]]> By: Pierre De La Resistance http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/#comment-315018 Pierre De La Resistance Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:39:26 +0000 http://photocritic.org/?p=2764#comment-315018 Oh my golly! This was like a warning from the future. I was going to start some serious computer admin (defraggin & backing up etc) last night after work but I turned my computer on and just got a flashing cursor, nothing else! Immediately I just thought about all the photos that I would have lost - I think I last did a back up about 18 months ago - and I got the shivers. This morning I turned my computer back on, got the evil cursor again, did the old turn it off and on again routine and amazingly, it worked! I have spent the last few hours backing up like a beast! I have managed to save all my photos, next comes my videos, then music. I'm too scared to turn my computer off in case it doesn't turn back on. Anyone reading this article, heed the warnings! Oh my golly!

This was like a warning from the future. I was going to start some serious computer admin (defraggin & backing up etc) last night after work but I turned my computer on and just got a flashing cursor, nothing else! Immediately I just thought about all the photos that I would have lost – I think I last did a back up about 18 months ago – and I got the shivers.
This morning I turned my computer back on, got the evil cursor again, did the old turn it off and on again routine and amazingly, it worked! I have spent the last few hours backing up like a beast! I have managed to save all my photos, next comes my videos, then music. I’m too scared to turn my computer off in case it doesn’t turn back on.

Anyone reading this article, heed the warnings!

]]> By: Keri Beal http://photocritic.org/backing-up-your-photos/#comment-314994 Keri Beal Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:53:18 +0000 http://photocritic.org/?p=2764#comment-314994 Great article, my backup strategy is very similar to yours, although it does differ slightly. I do all my editing on my mac, which hold the latest 40Gb or so of my photos, this is backed up to my Time Capsule. I have a PC in my house which has several TBs of storage which is a direct mirror of the Time Capsule (this is done with free software called SyncBack from 2brightsparks.com), I also keep backups of my photo store to several USB external drives that are kept in different physical locations (work & parents house). For automated offiste backups i use Carbonite, they are very similar to Mozy, can't remember why i chose them over Mozy, but the reason at the time doesn't apply any more. Finally, for uber paranoia photos that are very special to me for one reason or another are stored in another online solution - Amazon's S3 cloud storage system. S3 is aimed at developers, although they are an increasing amount of tools that make uploading/downloading files easier. Great article, my backup strategy is very similar to yours, although it does differ slightly.

I do all my editing on my mac, which hold the latest 40Gb or so of my photos, this is backed up to my Time Capsule.
I have a PC in my house which has several TBs of storage which is a direct mirror of the Time Capsule (this is done with free software called SyncBack from 2brightsparks.com), I also keep backups of my photo store to several USB external drives that are kept in different physical locations (work & parents house). For automated offiste backups i use Carbonite, they are very similar to Mozy, can’t remember why i chose them over Mozy, but the reason at the time doesn’t apply any more.
Finally, for uber paranoia photos that are very special to me for one reason or another are stored in another online solution – Amazon’s S3 cloud storage system. S3 is aimed at developers, although they are an increasing amount of tools that make uploading/downloading files easier.

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