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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> How Do You Store Your Photos?
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 03/16/2009 05:42:00 PM · #1
I have been storing my digital photos on my laptop and backing them up to an external hard drive. The laptop ran low on memory so I deleted about a years worth of photos thinking that I was OK since they were stored on my 1 terrabyte Seagate backup hard drive (less than 1 year old). Turned out that although I could see the files on the back up, I couldn't restore them due to a malfunction of the back up drive which means I have lost a good many pictures unless I pay a yet undetermined amount to a computer company to recover the files from the hard drive. Seagate told me I shouldn't be using the external hard drive to store photos. It should only be used to back up files. Does this mean I have to buy a new computer with a huge hard drive to use as my primary storage? What do DPCer's do to store the 10's of thousands of photos you take to protect them?
 03/16/2009 05:45:34 PM · #2
CD's !!!!

They are pretty expensive, and they go pretty fast too. I like the Re-writable ones, and one CD can usually hold only 700MB of memory, but they are easy to label, and organize.
 03/16/2009 06:21:43 PM · #3
I back up each shooting session to DVD-R before I do anything other than rename the files. So I always have originals (the renaming is just to make them easy to find). I index the DVDs in "Whereisit".

Then they go in my folder hierarchy by date. For active backup, I bought a Black-X external USB dock, in which you can plug any SATA hard drive (bare). I back up my entire drives to a bare SATA hard drive, and use that as a live backup. I have several, so I rotate them.

Often, I create additional "masters" on DVD of the edited files, for long term storage.
 03/16/2009 06:32:08 PM · #4
Im terrible at it. hahaa. I put them all on my hard drive and have folders all over the place. Then I delete them from my camera. Its a mess of folders I really need to clean up. Then I put the ones I really want to keep on a flash drive but its such a pain that I am not doing it as often as I should. I am all out of CDs but have some on those.
 03/16/2009 06:34:45 PM · #5
You should never back anything up on 1 drive or disc. I just set up my Raid drives to mirror each other so every time I back up photos onto my TB drive it automatically backs up again on another TB drive. So no I have 2 backups plus I burn all my raws to a DL DVD.
 03/16/2009 06:35:33 PM · #6
I have a file in my hard drive by date and after the date some short description, then a subfile with the selected photographs and edits. I use an external HDD for backup
 03/16/2009 06:38:56 PM · #7
Local internal drive (NOT the windoze drive) for images off the cards... RAID5 NAS box for the local backup (I use software to copy to that NAS drive each night and it's at the other end of the house).

Starting to look at the off-site storage... I used Mozy for a while and meh... but started playing with some backup software to see if I can do zipped/encrypted incremental over an ftp pipe... and test my supposedly "unlimited" website storage :-)
 03/16/2009 07:02:12 PM · #8
Originally posted by robs:
Local internal drive (NOT the windoze drive) for images off the cards... RAID5 NAS box for the local backup (I use software to copy to that NAS drive each night and it's at the other end of the house).

Starting to look at the off-site storage... I used Mozy for a while and meh... but started playing with some backup software to see if I can do zipped/encrypted incremental over an ftp pipe... and test my supposedly "unlimited" website storage :-)


I have Carbonite in addition to my local backup described below. It's very good about daily backups.

The other nice thing about using a dock and bare drives for backup is they're relatively inexpensive, and easy to put in a box and give to a friend or neighbor to store for you offsite. I do that too. You can never have too many backups, unless it becomes a burden, but backing up in bulk to an external HD is simple, as is Carbonite, which works in the background.
 03/16/2009 09:10:23 PM · #9
Thanks everyone for your help.
 03/16/2009 10:11:13 PM · #10
I keep mine under the mattress. I'm an analog sort of guy :-)

R.
 03/16/2009 10:14:50 PM · #11
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
I keep mine under the mattress. I'm an analog sort of guy :-)

R.


Shoeboxes in the garage....?
 03/16/2009 10:21:16 PM · #12
3 external hard drives and an off-site upload server. I now have freaking bazillions of stored images. I never throw anything away. :)
 03/16/2009 10:21:40 PM · #13
I have a 4 tiered approach:

1) Photos are first copied onto a READ ONLY on a RAID 1 drive. This way, if the drive fails, the backup is automatically there. An MD5 checksum is performed on each photo to make sure the transfer from card to drive went smoothly.

2) All photos are copied to another internal hard drive as a secondary live backup. Again, with MD5 checks.

3) All photos are copied onto DVD+R (I have read that +R is safer than -R and confirmed that with multiple IT people). Again, MD5 checks.

4) All photos are copied onto ANOTHER DVD+R of a DIFFERENT manufacturer and stored at a different location.

Never use CDs. The reflective layer is too close to the data layer. In a DVD, the data layer is protected better. But, which ever backup you use, don't expect it to last forever. Be ready to copy to the next best thing.
 03/16/2009 10:32:22 PM · #14
One note about external hard drives:

They generally come configured as RAID 0. This is done to minimize cost. Two 500GB drives in a RAID 0 configuration (500 + 500 = 1 TB) is cheaper than one TB drive. Although you get a mass of storage space cheaply, if a drive fails, you will pretty much lose everything.

If you do store with an external hard drive, you have the option to change the RAID configuration to 1, Mirror. This way, if one drive fails, you will be able to hot swap a replacement with no loss of data. Of course, you would only have half the total space available, but thats the cost.
 03/17/2009 12:06:11 AM · #15
Originally posted by nshapiro:

The other nice thing about using a dock and bare drives for backup is they're relatively inexpensive, and easy to put in a box and give to a friend or neighbor to store for you offsite. I do that too. You can never have too many backups, unless it becomes a burden, but backing up in bulk to an external HD is simple, as is Carbonite, which works in the background.


One thing to note about bare drives as backup is that they need to be spun-up every 3-6 months or they can become unreadable.

I use a Drobo for my backup and am looking into online storage. Problem has been that most online services don't allow backup for an external networked drive.
 03/17/2009 08:32:54 AM · #16
I would echo any advice about having multiple backups of your data. Last week when the Hidden Gem challenge was announced, my external hard drive died on me, and I have no access to 5 years worth of originals.... very frustrating. I took the drive into a tech recovery, they couldnt get anything, referred me to a second place, who said they dont have the proper equipment, who then referred me to a third place which would have charged me $3000 plus.

So, now I have three external hard drives, a dead drive with lots of pictures on them, and a lesson learned.
 03/17/2009 08:45:38 AM · #17
Currently I have a 500 GB in my computer. I have an external network attached storage device with 1 TB of space in RAID (1 I think....I'll have to check).

Here's a frightening thought though. If I get hit with a big power surge. BOTH the computer and the NAS will get fried if its bad enough. Sure I am plugged into a surge protector but its cheap.

So to be on the safe side I need to
a) add a GOOD surge protector (usually UPS systems work really well and allow you to shutdown cleanly the event of a power failure)
b) Get my data off site. I don't recommend DVDs because of a number of reasons. They are the "flavor of the month" so conceivably you can have a hundred DVDs but no way to get the data. They are prone to scratches. They are expensive (per unit of storage capacity). And the most important thing? It takes so friggin long to burn.
So what would (should?) I do?
One guy in my camera club has safety deposit box. He has two portable hard drives he backs up to. One is in the safety deposit box. The other he keeps at home. Every week he swaps.

Another thing to note. Backup software often stores the data in a compressed proprietary format. If that company doesn't provide an update for the latest version of your OS or something else equally stupid, you have your data locked away with no way to get it. Personally, I dump my data on to my backup with each import anyways so I don't need to schedule backups.

I guess the one thing to get out of this thread? A) Backup your data b) how you go about it as a lot about personal preference
 03/17/2009 09:26:21 AM · #18
I backup everything to a drobo and use Mozy for offline storage.

Mozy has free 2GB storage with automatic backups. Of course they do this to get you hooked, but it's free and can be used for those photos (or whatever) that you absolutely cannot lose.
 03/17/2009 09:29:29 AM · #19
Originally posted by Citadel:

I guess the one thing to get out of this thread? A) Backup your data b) how you go about it as a lot about personal preference


I would offsite backup also - if your house burns down or floods or whatever, that external drive that was sitting next to your pc won't do much good if it was damaged.
 03/17/2009 12:35:15 PM · #20
I'll second the Drobo - I use mine with 3xThese WD 500GB HDDs.

I also have two single external drives which I occasionally back the Drobo onto and store in various locations, one offsite.
 03/17/2009 01:30:14 PM · #21
Apparently very poorly. I use to use an online backup service that appeared to work well and prior to the last incident always had the files I needed. Then my laptop literally 'melted down' and all the originals and edits that were on it - about 40,000 RAW images and 5000 edited and challenge entries - were lost. At first I thought no big deal, I can get them from the online backup. Then I thought, well, you have most of them on DVDs so you can get some from there as well if needed. Well, the online backup, when I went to restore the files after buying a new computer, for some reason had disappeared and there was absolutely no help/assistance/ANYTHING from the service provider. Not even a 'Sorry we lost your backup can we make it up to you somehow?'

Then the new computer I got would not read the DVDs I have with my entire history of photos - Recordable DVD's that were not 'closed.' Subsequently for the 1000th challenge I literally had one CF card worth of images to choose from.

Oh, so the point of this post...I am very interested in these solutions as I will now go for something I have better control of besides the DVD angle. Well, as soon as I pay off the computer a bit. I like the Drobo idea...a little pricey at the moment.
 03/17/2009 03:28:35 PM · #22
Main library of folders on primary desktop.
Time Machine backs up hourly to Time Capsule.
One additional quarterly backup of Originals (RAW) and print-ready TIFFs to DVD.
 03/17/2009 03:42:31 PM · #23
I've spent the last several weeks consolidating files from a number of computers onto one single 1 TB drive. I backed that up to external drives. As soon as I have everything consolidated (I still have a couple of drives to transfer over) I am going to back it all up at //www.carbonite.com. I want to get rid of the hundreds (if not more than a thousand by now) CD's and DVD's that have accumulated over eight or so years of shooting digital.

I have four hard drives that won't show up when installed, and I have no idea what is on them. They may have been backed up to another drive, maybe not. I hate not knowing...

I use Carbonite to back up our financial records and Point of Sale computer in our coffee shop. It works great!

If you want to use Carbonite, let me know and I'll send you an invite. I think it gives you a discount (not sure about that, I'll have to check). I would just need your email via PM.

JD
 03/17/2009 04:05:18 PM · #24
I'll Third the Drobo - I have 2 Drobo's that house my data and that is subsequently backed up to a third Drobo that stays off site. and I have a couple externals that I occasionally back up to as well, just in case ;)

Yes I'm paranoid but anyone that knows me knows that I have GOOD reason to be lol and the fact over the years Ive lost hundreds of gigs of data and take little or no chances anymore...

-dave
 03/18/2009 08:46:09 AM · #25
Originally posted by PGerst:
One note about external hard drives:

They generally come configured as RAID 0. This is done to minimize cost. Two 500GB drives in a RAID 0 configuration (500 + 500 = 1 TB) is cheaper than one TB drive. Although you get a mass of storage space cheaply, if a drive fails, you will pretty much lose everything.

If you do store with an external hard drive, you have the option to change the RAID configuration to 1, Mirror. This way, if one drive fails, you will be able to hot swap a replacement with no loss of data. Of course, you would only have half the total space available, but thats the cost.


Just keep in mind that a mirrored setup is just that, mirrored and if you have any sort of data corruption that corruption willbe mirrored as well so an additional backup is still a good idea.
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