Backup solution

[freitz]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Background -

Up until today I was using a Synology NAS in Raid 0. After having to do an entire recopy of my photographs onto the system it was only transfering at a rate of >2MB's. This cannot happen. I can not wait 2-3 days for a complete transfer. I need a new solution.

 

What I need -

I would like a solution for backing up all of my photographs and computer files that I need. I would like to see what everyone uses for this solution. You help is greatly appreciated.

[Chuck68]

I assume you have Gigibit Ethernet, if not get that for the nas, I suspect you are copying multiple small files which is why it is so slow. On my mac I sometimes make disk image to hold my older files, transferring a single large file should be much faster. A zip archive also works for this

 

For raw speed an external usb3 disk offers best price/performance, you need a usb3 port on your pc/mac though

 

In my case I also have the lightroom folder inside my dropbox folder, which seems to work quite well, dropbox pricing has come down in the last month so it is cost effective to do this. Dropbox also offers a photo viewer for jogs

 

Couple of caveats, it can get slows syncing thousands of files the first time so add your files gradually, but once upto date it only copies any changes/additions. I would always keep a second backup and not Rey on dropbox exclusively

 

I also use crashplan successfully,

 

So to summarize

 

1) disk images to nas

2) file level backup to usb3

3) offsite backup to crashplan and or dropbox

 

Cheers

 

S

Edited September 14, 2014 by Chuck68

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Broadside]

usb 3 would speed things up.

[freitz]

I assume you have Gigibit Ethernet, if not get that for the nas, I suspect you are copying multiple small files which is why it is so slow. On my mac I sometimes make disk image to hold my older files, transferring a single large file should be much faster. A zip archive also works for this

 

For raw speed an external usb3 disk offers best price/performance, you need a usb3 port on your pc/mac though

 

In my case I also have the lightroom folder inside my dropbox folder, which seems to work quite well, dropbox pricing has come down in the last month so it is cost effective to do this. Dropbox also offers a photo viewer for jogs

 

Couple of caveats, it can get slows syncing thousands of files the first time so add your files gradually, but once upto date it only copies any changes/additions. I would always keep a second backup and not Rey on dropbox exclusively

 

I also use crashplan successfully,

 

So to summarize

 

1) disk images to nas

2) file level backup to usb3

3) offsite backup to crashplan and or dropbox

 

Cheers

 

S

 

File level backup like. Just libraries I.E. Pictures and documents?

[philipus]

I just clone using superduper from one internal disk to another. Takes very little time even when there are large amounts of data to copy. I would not run backups over a wireless network.

[esquire53]

Background -

Up until today I was using a Synology NAS in Raid 0. After having to do an entire recopy of my photographs onto the system it was only transfering at a rate of >2MB's. This cannot happen. I can not wait 2-3 days for a complete transfer. I need a new solution.

 

If you have to do a backup from the NAS you probably have to wait 2-3 days.

The RAID controller is most likely your computer, so very slow. Standard T100 should at least achieve around 10Mb/sec with RAID, if the controller is part of the HDD array, but backup from RAID doesn't need to use RAID features.

If you use raw format, the files are not small by computer standards, it should not cause a slow transfer as >2Mb

 

Is your computer and NAS meant for each other?

I use LINUX systems for work applications and one set of NAS is native WIN and that combination has a verry slow transfer as well

[freitz]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

If you have to do a backup from the NAS you probably have to wait 2-3 days.

The RAID controller is most likely your computer, so very slow. Standard T100 should at least achieve around 10Mb/sec with RAID, if the controller is part of the HDD array, but backup from RAID doesn't need to use RAID features.

If you use raw format, the files are not small by computer standards, it should not cause a slow transfer as >2Mb

 

Is your computer and NAS meant for each other?

I use LINUX systems for work applications and one set of NAS is native WIN and that combination has a verry slow transfer as well

 

I should have provided and update. Upgraded my NAS, and finished going through each port.Huge difference now it uploads at 110 MB/s which is great. I am happy with that.

 

Upgraded to DS713+ the synology.

[JediKubo]

Personally, I think it's safer to use more than one methods to do backup and needs to backup to more than one locations.  In case, there is any error from the particular method, you could always have the data back from another method.

 

Since taking picture as I traveled to different place, I did take a lot of pictures. So all these photos became previous to me that I did back them up in more than one location.

 

I use xcopy and cloudbacko to backup them in daily & weekly basis at night. The strategy between xcopy and cloudbacko is different. xcopy sync all files from my laptop to my portable drive once a week while cloudbacko does it in daily basis. In this case, I mostly just bring some sd cards with me while travel.  Once I am backup, I will plug them to laptop and backup directly.  This is ideal to me coz the weight of sd card is minor.

[Exodies]

To lose all your data and not have a backup is exhilarating.

To work constantly under the pressure of fear of loss and hence to follow a rigid backup protocol will probably give you boils inside your skull.

As a practicing (rather than professional or amateur) photographer, each picture I take is a preparation for the next one and its useful lifetime extends no longer than until I have developed and photoshopped it.

(Apologies for the rant; I'm nursing a poorly foot and can't get out to shoot. I'm also trying very hard to suppress my hoarding instincts.)

[Chuck Albertson]

Take a look at the WD My Passport Wireless external HD. The guy at The Strobist raves about it: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2015/06/on-road-backup-without-bulk-up.html

[menos I M6]

I use several Mac computers for work. Each has only one internal SSD for which I have several rotating backups (SuperDuper clones).

All my archives I do have on external USB3 drives (I have moved from Thunderbolt to USB3 about a year ago as of much better availability of good quality drives).

 

For archives and backups I do use 2TB external USB3 drives.

 

I have made stellar experiences longterm with WD passport 2TB drives - some of these I have carried daily in a messenger bag and used them daily and they where great (slow speed as of the very much filled, slow 5400rpm hdd, yet tough as nails).

 

I have had EXTREMELY bad experience with G-Drive (the fancy looking external drives they sell/sold in Apple stores around the world).

 

The funny thing about G-Drive products is (I had ~5 of their compact external drives and one of their large powered external drives).

ALL of them (yes, that is 100% of them) failed within 1 year of use as backup drives. This truly has surprised me.

 

I have made some good experience with a few external Lacie drives (the oldest of which is casual still in use as a data slave after ~5 years) but find them too expensive, compared to the really good WD Passport drives, which cost about half per GB here.

 

Just a few weeks ago I bought a batch of those super slim new Seagate 2TB USB3 externals to see how they compare to the WD Passport drives in daily use and backup (they are roughly half the size of the WD drives, hence more attractive to lug along).

 

My backup strategy: external 2TB USB3 drives, numbered in sequence and used via SuperDuper to create several on site clone backups of each original drive.

I have several sites with full sets of drives.

I rotate drives but try to spread the date from oldest to newest backup so spreading of corrupted data into backups is minimized.

 

I use two different hash sum checking tools to check my photo archives (diglloyd tools and a plugin within Lightroom).

[LocalHero1953]

In the last 6 months I have switched from backup on my own hard disks to the cloud, through a subscription to Crashplan. Changing from a system where I had to remember to make time for doing backups, and had the worry of backup drive failure, to one where the version-controlled backup happens automatically every four hours, has taken a load of my mind. And, yes, I have already painlessly recovered files I've messed up on my PC. There are downsides, but the peace of mind that allows me to think about photography rather than computer hardware is worth it.

[Manoleica]

Back-Up ~~ 2 Macs, internal HD's // 2each external HD's // TimeMachine // both on SuperDuper (independent accounts) // Large ExternalHD via Apple Router..