Photo.net survey on how you store images (and another way to win free a subscription)

<p>I set up a small survey regarding how we all store and backup our digital images. I'm working on a basic tutorial/overview on the subject of data storage and I thought the survey results might be interesting to include. Plus, what the heck, right? Surveys are fun.</p>

<p><a href="../survsimp/one?survey_id=282">Click here for the survey.</a></p>

<p>Even if you don't find them fun, if you take the minute or two to fill it out (10 questions, multiple choice) I'll put your name in a hat (Seattle Mariners to be specific) and draw two names for free 1 year photo.net subscriptions. Yes, those subscriptions will include a Popular Photography subscription <a href="../casual-conversations-forum/00Zfwc">as outlined here.</a></p>

<p>Survey will be open until the middle of January or so.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.photo.net/survsimp/one?survey_id=282">http://www.photo.net/survsimp/one?survey_id=282</a></p>

<p>Any questions, please ask.</p>

<p>Survey forces you to answer even if no selections are appropriate.</p>

<p>I clicked <strong>Other</strong> on #7 since I have never lost any files. [don't jinx me now] :-)</p>

<p>This is just another lottery ain't it?</p>

<p>Microsoft provides weak tools for backup.<br>

originally for the ancient DOS systems they were aware that a backup plan was needed. But used a program that created unreadable didks that could not be used to replace missing files. and if one disk was bad, the whole set was useless.<br>

later various backup programs were provided and sold somethimes by third parties.<br>

with windows, explorer is crude and touchy.<br>

One thing to do is to clone an entire OS drive with a program such as the free CLONEZILLA<br>

or a program that does better on a single partition such as Norton Ghost- just do not make ghost images, they are unreliable.<br>

for individual files and dealing with directories, a solid program such as Ztree works estremely well.<br>

Ons small shortcoming is not being able to un-0nest directories.<br>

This can be accomplished with out a lot of typing by using explorer to drag the<br>

wanted dicrectore to the top ( root) of the drive, or copying all the desired files with ztree<br>

to another drive and then dragging the (sub) directory them to the root of that drive.<br>

These are useful and labpor saving tools. explorer is includedwith windows,<br>

and ztree si very inexpensive. an internal or extenal hard drive is useful to store files away from your pc.<br>

as long as you don't take it to your brother-in-law who has several teen agers.</p>

 

<p>Question #6 is invalid as presented, so I did not answer it.</p>

<p>The s/w would not accept my submission with that entry omitted.</p>

<p>The question should be split into two:<br>

Did you ever have a storage failure?<br>

Did you lose any data as a consequence thereof?</p>

<p>I would answer yes to the first, and no to the second, since my RAID system provides 100% redundancy.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

 

<p>I'll get questions 6/7 adjusted here shortly. Good catch.</p>

<p>#7 is now not required.</p>

<p>Done.<br>

Can you pick the winners directly from the survey? I was not asked to give my name or PN_id...</p>

<p>done.</p>

Josh--

 

Thanks for fixing 6/7, but as Leigh points out, the meaning of "storage failure" is unclear. I have had individual drives fail, but my total system, which consists of multiple drives, the cloud, and a backup plan, has never failed.

 

--Marc

<blockquote>

<p>Done.<br /> Can you pick the winners directly from the survey? I was not asked to give my name or PN_id...</p>

</blockquote>

<p>You have to be logged in to answer the survey, so the system has a list of everyone who has answered it.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Thanks for fixing 6/7, but as Leigh points out, the meaning of "storage failure" is unclear. I have had individual drives fail, but my total system, which consists of multiple drives, the cloud, and a backup plan, has never failed.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>If you have not had a failure that has caused you to lose data, then the answer to 6 would be "no". You could answer 7 regardless of what you answered on 6, because you would still be sharing the nature of whatever failure you have had, or you could leave it blank.</p>

<p>I'll look into splitting the question as Leigh suggests. But it really depends on how many people have answered the survey thus far. If it's been a significant number of people, I think we're just going to stick with my imperfect wording so as to not mess with the results too much.</p>

Ya, let's see, I lost data to cd and DVD discs physical damage but no choice made sense. I have raid back ups, but no

choices for that. Also, no mention of home file servers. Clouds would be nice, but no practical way of storing large photo

libraries on them. No mention of back up software.

<p>Go M's! Our day is coming!</p>

<p>Randy</p>

<p>done!</p>

<p>Merry Christmas Josh and p'netters.</p>

<p>cb</p>

<p>I checked the box for 'CD/DVD' even though I switched to BD since earlier this year.</p>

<p>You should add Blu Ray. That is my Archive solution.</p>

<p>It forced me to answer the last question, even though I an <strong><em>not</em></strong> planning to <em>increase</em> anything. However, what I do do is to burn important stuff to two CD's or DVD's, and periodically take one set of the two to my office, to guard against a house fire, hurricane, or the like. But I've been doing that for years.</p>

 

<p>Another option for backup not listed in this survey is to save the memory card. Rather than wiping and reusing my SD cards, when I fill one up I stow it away and get a new one. Admittedly, this is not the optimal form of backup, but until I set up a NAS and jump onto the cloud concept this is my solution.</p>

James, that sounds very expensive, thou the ultimate solution, and getting cheaper all the time. I buy a new multi-

terrabyte drive each year, and I copy the previous year's photos onto it. I realize that is not the best solution, since it

leaves my most rec ent few months worth of photos vulnerable, in case the new drive crashes, but at least I have

duplicates of my old photos, just in case an old drive fails, and I generally work on photos, duplicating my best onto my

internal drive and uploading full-size print versions, before formatting my memory cards. Photos from trips are duplicated

on portable drives, which I don't reuse. (They only cost about $50, and compared to the airline tickets or gas that is cheap

insurance!)

<blockquote>

<p>Another option for backup not listed in this survey is to save the memory card.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Careful here! Flash memory is not archival by any means. The charge placed on a cell used to store state leaks away (if not re-written) over time. The typical multi-level NAND devices used for bulk storage keeps state around 15 years.</p>

<p>As an aside, all those gadget that we're using now, well the firmware is all in flash for the most part. Never mind the battery, the software that makes these things run will have evaporated in a couple of decades. </p>

<p>Scott and Robert, you are both correct - which is why I noted that it's not an optimal method, and is only a temporary solution. But since the final survey question asked about future plans I took the survey as a question of "what is your <em>current</em> method of storage/backup", so I felt that it deserved mentioning.</p>

<p>Done...however I would have liked it to be a bit more extensive and go into more details...well, maybe next time, right?</p>

<p>One of the current options should have included multiple external HDs with offsite swapping or synching. I do this now, but simply selected "external HD".</p>