My Backup Plan

Here’s my photo backup method:

1. It starts when I import photos into Lightroom. I’ve checked the option for Lightroom to make a backup on import. It is directed to OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage service. The files are physically copied to the OneDrive folder on my C: drive, and then uploaded to the cloud in the background. To prevent my C: drive from filling up I periodically instruct it to free up space on the OneDrive folder (a feature of the Windows OneDrive app). This does not affect files on OneDrive in the Cloud.
   
2. Additionally I have a backup application that runs in the background (EaseUS Todo Backup software). It is set to back up the Pictures folder which includes the Lightroom folders and anything else that lands in the Pictures folder from other Windows apps (iCloud, Google Photos, etc.).
   
3. In summary, my photos exist in triplicate - Lightroom files on a local, external drive, duplicate files in the cloud, and backup files on a separate external drive. Keep in mind I’m not a professional photographer, just a photo enthusiast.
   

How many TB?

I have about 3-TB. I use FastRawViewer to review the images on my SD card and only copy the images that I'll process. I put those images straight on a 16-TB WD HD, in a file named for the date taken, like 01-23-2019. I use DxO for Raw conversion and Export to LR to add watermark, then back to the original folder, in a sub-folder called LR. I pay BackBlaze $50 per year for unlimited cloud backup. I do a tertiary backup of the JPEGs to Flickr, which now costs around $40-something, up from $20-something. I keep Flickr for the social aspects, but it is handy for research. I put plenty of tags on my images, so it's easy to find something with Search function, after many years.

Go for anything that works.

 

For me personally, I just don't trust Microsoft or Apple to protect my backups from evil doers.

I have 15 or so Terabytes on various solid state drives, some of which are physically archived off-site instead. If my house burns down, I'll lose some data, but not all

, in a file named for the date taken, like 01-23-2019

Much easier to find the file if you put the year first, e.g. 2019-01-23. Then the files come up in chronological order

About once a quarter (or when I have an important gig), I backup to an external HD, which I then take to my safe deposit box.

This gets the backup OUT of the house, if there is theft or a fire.

I rotate through several drives, so I have several generations of backup to fall back to.

 

After hearing about the changes in policy for some of these online sites, (like Flikr), like JDMvW, I don't care to rely on them.

However, dedicated backup sites are different than Flikr and similar.

I will use online/cloud backup as secondary backup, to my external HD.

Actually, I do use one for daily backups of my more critical business and personal files.

 

Use whatever scheme works for you.

But make sure to test that you can recover files from your backup.

A backup is worthless if you cannot recover.

 

Old sad backup story about why you NEED to test your backup process.

- Company was running daily backups.

- But when they went to do a recovery, there was only ONE file in the backup.

- There was an error in the backup script.

- The script should have been: backup, append, backup, append, backup . . .

- Instead the script was: backup, backup, backup. The tape drive rewound between the backups, so each backup overwrote the prior backup, rather than append to it. :(