jww_40 Posted July 3, 2013 Share #1 Posted July 3, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Good Morning! I split my time between Alaska and Colorado (work in Alaska and live in Colorado) and have a question about file saving and backup. As of last week, I had one portable hard drive that went with me and was used as THE photo repository at work and at home. I felt that this was pretty darned vulnerable so I purchased two new 2TB hard drives (one as prime and one as backup) and am planning to leave one at home and travel back and forth with the other. My questions are, what is the best backup strategy? Just copy new files to the backup drive when I get home? Are there any better solutions? Should I be doing something differently? Thanks, John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 3, 2013 Posted July 3, 2013 Hi jww_40, Take a look here Portable hard drive backup. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
honcho Posted July 3, 2013 Share #2 Posted July 3, 2013 Why not use cloud backup service instead of carting ehd's around? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jww_40 Posted July 3, 2013 Author Share #3 Posted July 3, 2013 Honcho, Thanks for the suggestion. I don't know much about "the cloud" but will look into it. Do you keep all of your picture files in the cloud? Thanks, John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
honcho Posted July 3, 2013 Share #4 Posted July 3, 2013 I have a large archive and work in progress, I use a combination of cloud storage and ehd's. Cloud is useful for me as I'm frequently working away. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalArts 99 Posted July 3, 2013 Share #5 Posted July 3, 2013 Why not use cloud backup service instead of carting ehd's around? +1 Use both physical drives and also a cloud service (they are many out there.) One can have several physical backups but then there's theft, fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanyasi Posted July 3, 2013 Share #6 Posted July 3, 2013 Why not use cloud backup service instead of carting ehd's around? Although cloud backup is great for many things, I still find it impractical for photographic files. The files are large, so it takes a long time to upload them and the effort becomes expensive if you upload everything rather than your best 1,000 photographs. Having said, you might want to upload your best 1,000 photos, but I find a physical drive to still be necessary. It has been discussed before, but the best way to maintain two hard drives is to purchase backup software. Doing it piecemeal (i.e., adding incrementally) becomes cumbersome and inefficient. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyoung Posted July 4, 2013 Share #7 Posted July 4, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) I just wrote a batch file using xcopy commands with switches, copies anything new or changed (using the archive bit) from the specified directories on the main pc harddrive to the external backup Gerry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob_w Posted July 4, 2013 Share #8 Posted July 4, 2013 I include photo backup in the overall Time Machine backups of my two Macs, switching disks, storing one offsite, etc. I keep a subset of photos on the laptop (partly for space reasons) all the time. Otherwise I use the laptop (a 13" Macbook Air) for upload and initial processing while on the road. Once home I export as a catalog and import to the "master" catalog on the desktop Mac. While travelling I also take a couple of USB backups regularly and try to keep them in different locations (e.g. one with me, one in the hotel safe). LR 5 has a new facility to work with high-res Previews while travelling or using a different machine and then to apply the results to the "negatives" once back at the main machine. I want to explore this when I get the time because its space-saving and means I could have viewing, processing and consistency of all my photos on both machines. Maybe it would help with your trips to Alaska? (I also travel internationally for work). Thinking about adding the Cloud to this but not sure for reasons others have said here: upload / download times, reliability of provider, etc. That said EHDs are not wonderfully reliable either. PS love Colorado and saddened to see newsreel of the fires there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkP Posted July 4, 2013 Share #9 Posted July 4, 2013 Although cloud backup is great for many things, I still find it impractical for photographic files. The files are large, so it takes a long time to upload them and the effort becomes expensive if you upload everything rather than your best 1,000 photographs. Having said, you might want to upload your best 1,000 photos, but I find a physical drive to still be necessary. Agreed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jww_40 Posted July 4, 2013 Author Share #10 Posted July 4, 2013 Y'all! Thanks for the replies! I agree that the cloud is interesting but impractical for large amounts of big files. Previously, I "invested" in a file server service that promised "forever" and closed up shop after a few years. I didn't lose any files, just money... I'm thinking that there's no permanent solution as of today. So, I think I'll buy yet another hard drive and keep it somewhere safe and update it maybe every 6 months while keeping the other two up to the minute. Again, thanks for the help! John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted July 5, 2013 Share #11 Posted July 5, 2013 Why not use cloud backup service instead of carting ehd's around? Why do you think the cloud is either secure or ultimately reliable? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
honcho Posted July 6, 2013 Share #12 Posted July 6, 2013 I didn't say any such thing. Don't put words into a post that aren't there. Especially mine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pop Posted July 6, 2013 Share #13 Posted July 6, 2013 Please explain. Do you think the cloud is secure and reliable or not? If not, why do you recommend the cloud for backing up the precious photographs the TO asked for? If so, what's your objection to pico's question? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankJ Posted July 7, 2013 Share #14 Posted July 7, 2013 Considering the size of typical photographic archives, I don't see good alternatives to (multiple) hard drives. It is true that you have your "1000 best shots" but many other pictures of lesser artistic value might be equally important for other reasons. Usually what I have in my archive, I don't want to lose. (...or in case of the TO, have access to them while traveling) My question to others here is, how do you verify that a copy of your archive on a particular hard drive is still intact? How do you make sure that non of your 100k images is corrupted? I use time machine with external hard drives. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
honcho Posted July 7, 2013 Share #15 Posted July 7, 2013 .... why do you recommend the cloud for backing up the precious photographs the TO asked for?..... Because I use it, it's convenient and it works for me. Likewise ehd's. Try to retain a perspective here, we're not discussing the advisability of storing a sensitive government or corporate database in a single location. I have suggested a useful alternative to carrying image data on drives from one location to another, which might be important to the OP. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jip Posted July 7, 2013 Share #16 Posted July 7, 2013 I'm a syntonization specialist by profession, if you would like to know some information please contact me on mail@jipvankuijk.nl Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
honcho Posted July 7, 2013 Share #17 Posted July 7, 2013 Honcho,Thanks for the suggestion. I don't know much about "the cloud" but will look into it..... You might find a dual option such as WD My Book Live worth investigating. You'll need time for back-up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pop Posted July 7, 2013 Share #18 Posted July 7, 2013 Because I use it, it's convenient and it works for me. Likewise ehd's. Try to retain a perspective here, we're not discussing the advisability of storing a sensitive government or corporate database in a single location. I have suggested a useful alternative to carrying image data on drives from one location to another, which might be important to the OP. It's perfectly possible that cloud storage does meet the needs of the TO. However, he specifically asked advice on backing up his files, not how to make a number of files conveniently available on the fly. You back up your files in order to prevent losing them. The reasons for losing files are very diverse indeed and include, of course, user errors.I'm an IT pro and I definitely do not recommend the generic cloud for backing up any kind of files which are dear to you. Things become different if you consider an outfit which you personally can entrust with your files, even after physical or political problems on their site.The cloud might be handy, of course, for temporarily storing your files till you manage to redundantly store a sufficient number of copies. But then, the feasibility depends on such mundane things as your off-site bandwidth, the time you can afford to spend on the task and perhaps even on the remaining battery charge.We do try to establish perspective here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-hawinkler Posted July 7, 2013 Share #19 Posted July 7, 2013 Considering the size of typical photographic archives, I don't see good alternatives to (multiple) hard drives. It is true that you have your "1000 best shots" but many other pictures of lesser artistic value might be equally important for other reasons. Usually what I have in my archive, I don't want to lose. (...or in case of the TO, have access to them while traveling) My question to others here is, how do you verify that a copy of your archive on a particular hard drive is still intact? How do you make sure that non of your 100k images is corrupted? I use time machine with external hard drives. On my Mac I am using SilverKeeper™ v2.0.2. SilverKeeper Although LACIE has not certified it for use on the latest Mac OS, I am using it without any problems. It also can do a bit for bit comparison for two directories. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted July 7, 2013 Share #20 Posted July 7, 2013 I have found the very best way to immortalize photos is to post them to a few sites with tags such as: "crappy photos, the worst photos in the world, and do not even look at these." Guaranteed they will live forever on the 'net while self-promoting tomes dissolve into the foam of Internet maelstroms. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.