How do you store / backup your photos (RAWS)?

Hi all,

 

I'm thinking about a good backup solution for my photos. It's only 80GB

currently, but will grow substrantially over time.

 

First I thought about using DVDs. But with them I fear that they might go bad

over time? I've had this happen with my CDs, which I'm currently migrating to an

external harddrive: 20-30% of them are no longer readable. Obviously I do not

want this to happen to my photos.

 

So, altnernatively I'm now thinking about a backup solution facilitating

external harddisks. Western, for example, offers such a solution which includes

two harddisks in a single box: Each file is copied automatically on both disks

and thus if one of them fails you will not use any of your data.

 

It's described here:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=267&language=en

 

This seems to be quite an additional security. Of course, if my house burns down

then both disks will be destroyed most probably...but this solution would be

secure enough for me.

 

So this brings us to my question:

What do you use to backup your precious photos?

 

Many thanks and all the best,

Michael

It sure isn't cheap, but if you want bulletproof, you might consider PhotoShelter. I've just

opened an account with them myself.

 

www.photoshelter.com

OK, so hardware storage solutions are OK but I use online storage with Photobucket. This is free of charge, totally reliable & your pictures are stored away from your computer which means if you have a hardware failure your pics are safe. Hardware or online, it's your choice, but having suffered an unrecoverable HD failure in the past & lost 100's of pics I always back up using Photobucket.

 

Cheers, Mike.

I wouldn't go for the external Raid. Get 2 separate external drives and copy to both. Then remove one away from the entire system and periodically back one to the removed drive. I had two drives on one box fail at the same time.

I use a combination of magnetic and optical. On the server I have a couple of 500G drives

mirrored, and I have a copy on DVD as a backup to the hard drives.

 

I also back up the server, so the files are actually in three places. Paranoia rules!

Hi all,

 

many thanks for your replies. I do realize that there are many solutions which are even more secure. However, I really want a "plug and play" solution, i.e., I want to maximize my time photographing (which can be limited due to my full time job, familiy, ...), which is why I liked that RAID system...

 

Many thanks and keep your suggestions coming.

Michael

External RAID is only OK on paper. Both drives can fail at the same time (e.g. power surge). Here's what I do:

 

1. All raw and original scans stored on DVDs. They need to be re-archived in a few years time to avoid any DVD aging problem. Archival gold DVD disc will probably last longer.

 

2. Use your internal disc for editing the photos. Once you finish the editing, move the files to two separate external hard drives.

 

Note that the external drives are kept off most of the time since you only use them for archiving purpose only. That will minimize unnecessary wear and tear. You can also build up to your two hard drives. Buy one first, when cheaper and bigger drive comes along, buy the second one. When your photo collection grows and require more drive space, buy one and sell the oldest one etc.

 

Note that this workflow also prevents you from accidentally deleting your file. For example, you want to save a file using the SAVE AS command but accidentally hit the SAVE option instead, eliminating the original master file.

I forgot to mention having two archive hard drives allow you to store one of them off site; this is important especially when you're gone on a long vacation or assignment.

I'd second Robert's suggestion of a pair of backup hard drives, one stored offsite (at a friend's house?)

MAM-A DVDrs and on my external hard drive.

Interesting, my CDs go back to when they were first being burned. NONE of them has gone bad. I consider the "going bad" bit an urban myth. If you have CDs going bad more than likely they were bad from the very start.

<<I consider the "going bad" bit an urban myth>>

 

Yes, let's just exchange science for mystic voodoo and believe anything we want.

Bob,

 

It is you who substitutes myth for science. Arrhenius life testing is a well established scientific method, and it is these results that predict the longevitity of DVDs and CDs.

 

I have made thousands of CDs and DVDs, beginning in 1994. In that time, the only failures were due to mechanical camage (e.g., scratches in the reflective layer) or bad recordings from the get-go. The latter can be eliminated if you verify the original files against the disk (usually an option in the burning program), and do periodic error checks on your discs and recorders.

 

Apart from accelerated testing, there is no credible evidence that data simply fades or disappears in less than several generations. On the other hand, there is ample evidence that magnetic data fades or is corrupted by the passage of time. Data on hard drives survive as long as it does because the data is continually refreshed when the drive is running.

I don't trust computers in general. I make copies on both CD/DVD (depending on size of folder) and on two external hard drives, one stored in a different location.

 

First I copy the files to the computer hard drive. Then I make a copy to one external drive. Then I make a rough edit and rename the files to meaningful ones. Those I then copy to CD/DVD and another external hard drive. Once in a while I then copy the same files again to the off site external hard drive and at that point I remove them from the computer hard drive.

I use 2 internal drives and synchronise them, I will switch to RAID 1 when I get a couple of extra drives to use for the OS and applications.

Everything is then backed up to an external HD, I will probably get a second external HD in the near future for a monthly backup to be stored away from my computer.

 

DVD's and online storgae are great in theory, however they quickly lose there appeal when you are dealing with shifting 100Gb of data as I have too!

I'm in the "two separate archive drives" camp as well. When full ones goes offsite. I also try

to have the drives be different brands, so if someone has a run of trash like the IBM

Deskstar "Deathstar" debacle of a few years ago (I think something similar happened to

WD too) I won't have both fail together.

 

I don't even bother getting externals per se, I just have a couple of external cases I slap

whatever's current in, but they get stored as bare drives. If SATAs are what's cheap this

week I use the external case for power but run an internal SATA cable out the back of the

computer. (My computer is out of internal space.)

<<Apart from accelerated testing, there is no credible evidence that data simply fades or disappears in less than several generations.>>

 

Library of Congress study on their CD ROM collection both accelerated and natural aging tests.

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20040104080954/http://www.loc.gov/preserv/study+of+CD+longevity.pdf