External Drives for Back-Up

[john_n._wall]

OK, I need to back up my image and data files. OK, its WAY pat time to back up

my image and data files. I have been told to get an external hared drive or DVD

drive to store my image and data files. But which one? Any suggestions?

 

Also, does one need a separate program to manage back-up? Which one?

[will_hammond]

John,

 

I would go harddrive vs. DVD if for no other reason the actual time it takes to copy the files. We purchase an external drive for each of our clients to back up their data as drives are so cheap now, it rivals optical disc. Pair with that the fact that the drives gets almost no use (other than back-up) and you get a very stable solution. I suppose you could make CD and/or DVD back-ups as well but in 20 years I have never had a failure as I make sure my drive are stored properly, in a humidity controlled data safe (not that we have ever had a fire) and NOT is a fire-proof safe. Ours was about $1500 10 years ago. Data safes keep the data at a safe temp where a fire-proof safe only keeps the data below combustion temp (much higher). Pricey but what is your time and data worth?

 

I personally have had very good luck with Seagate drives but there is no "Best" drive out there. Check out http://www.dealnews.com for deals on hardware, they don't sell stuff, just track the prices.

 

Regards,

 

Will

 

Adobe CTI Photoshop

[david.wagle]

The problem with hard drive backup is that it fails for the exact same reasons that your original hard drive fails.

 

I dislike the hard-drive as back-up solution because the hard drive a) won't likely be stored away from the computer and b) is prone to physical damage above and beyond the medium.

 

Use DVD's and store them in your safe-deposit box. That way your backups are off-site so a fire in the room where you keep your computer is recoverable.

 

Backup is about DISASTER RECOVERY not just lost data. Think in terms of fires, floods, roof collapses, etc. In all of those cases, hard drives perform badly because it is highly unlikely that you'll move the backup hard-drive off-site.

[phoneguy]

Dave makes a good point, but I don't use this advice wisely. I have 3 external hard drives, and use them for back up. It's a calculated risk to me. I don't like spending the time it takes to burn 1000 raw files to DVD. There is also the option of using an online back up service.

[steven_clark]

Personally I'm planning on finding a way to stick an embedded computer and a hard disk in an old ammo box and burrying them underground to be accessed by network.

[richam]

Hard drives work for me mostly because I have both a winter and summer residence, both

with computers. They're about 400 km apart. A computer and external hard drive stay at

each location, and a third external is used to transport the updated files between the two

locations. I currently have about 75 gb of image files, and keep a copy of all files on every

computer and hard disk. That's 5 copies of everything. DVDs just don't have the capacity

and speed to do this efficiently. You might consider some scheme that keeps hard disk

copies of your files in geographically separated locations.

[jimlarson]

I have my stuff on two computers and two external hard drives, one of which is usually not plugged into the computer. When out in the field, I back up to another portable USB powered HD. It might be overkill, but I have had HD's go bad before and I would hate to lose all my files. What I should do is keep one of the HD's in a separate location as suggested. Of course, that would make too much sense!

[will_hammond]

Your original hard drive likely fails because of excessive use and more often heat rather than shock (unless we're talking about a laptop of which no mention was made). Which is why I don't leave my back up drives connected to the computer except when backing up. In 20 years with 80+ back hard drives, we have never had a single back up failure. Granted anything can fail but your analogy doesn't ring true with regards to a seldom used back up drive. I agree completely about keeping things off site, which is why we use a data safe in th office and not in the studio.

 

Regards,

 

Will

[david.wagle]

Another very reasonable option is digital tape.

 

Cost is around $1 to $1.50 per Gig per tape.

 

You can get a 90G firewire external drive for $325 or so.

[thomas_sullivan]

Both...

 

different things fail at different rates...and just to be realistic about this conversation, that is what we are talking about, EVERYTHING WILL FAIL eventually...so I personally think the best solution is to make it as hard as possible for everything to fail at the same time. Then you have time to back it up again before the other fails.

 

I back up to external hard drives...which by the way are only on when the drive is being written to or read from, any other time it is turned off...and DVD. But i actually take it one step further than that. My originals files (be they the down loaded from the camera digital file, or the scanned in from the film scanner file) get put on one ex hard drive and also one DVD......but when I go to edit a file, I first copy the original to that folder and save the subsequent resulting editted pic. This gets put on a totally different ex hard drive and DVD. Meaning, when all is said and done I have 4 copies of my original file.

 

Overkill? i worked in the electronic industry for 30 years, witnessed the computer come into a major asset in office and electronic design and testing use.......and have witnessed more than one hard drive failure, corrupted CD, system crash.......resulting in a mess. On more than one occasion, if the tech or design engineer hadn't had their own personal copy, apart from the companies mandated backup and redundant backup, all would have been lost. Things will fail.....I guarantee it. Nothing is overkill in this department.

[mendel_leisk]

I use multiple double *internal* drives, and double dvd copies when they get too full. To keep the double internal drives sync'd, I use XXCopy. I also keep log files of the dvd burns: the dates, file name range, settings, etc.

 

Putting the second DVD in a safe off-site location is a very good idea. If you work in an office, consider just storing it there.

[J.W. Wall]

Also, there are web sites where you can purchase storage. There's a digital asset management book that is often recommended here, The DAM Book, I believe.

 

FWIW, I've had very good luck with Western Digital hard drives, and had a LaCie fail once. WD was recommended to me by two different, highly experienced computer engineers. But, the above is right -- everything will fail eventually. I also back up to DVDs and store in a safe deposit box.

[steven_clark]

Actually from what I've read until you get to some unpleasant temperature HD's are actually MORE reliable at higher temperatures.

[rob_sronce]

Beware of relying on internal drives for backup. If your disk controller goes down, at best you will lose access, worst it will damage your files and/or disk structure. With an external drive you can just hook it up to another PC and off you go.

 

You might also consider keeping your external drive FAT32 formatted rather than NTFS. Its more compatible if you happen to take your backup to a PC that is still running an older version of Windows ... but this is less of an issue as most have moved to XP by now.

[sune_holt]

Seagate is now out with affordable external drives in both 500Gb and 750Gb sizes. I consider the internal harddisk on my computer as a storage only for the working process and keep my RAW-file back-ups on external Seagate and Maxtor drives. So far I have not lost a single photo. Since my field is nature photography very much oriented on species in the field I recently took another step bying a "Archos 500" (now Archos 504) external drive that serves for storage and viewing. It is great for field work and allow you to carry up to 160Gb with you in the field, view what you already have and upload from your camera in the field. A bit expensive, but it's worth it.

[Mike D]

I use Iomega external hard drives. You can get a 250 GB for $129. I personally use the 500 GB units and rotate them every few months. They include software that can be set up to make automatic incremental backups.

 

There have been some complaints that the software may cause conflicts but I have been able do avoid this. I use the software but you don't have to in order to use the hard drive.

 

http://www.iomega.com/direct/products/family.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=41385863&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=63191&bmUID=1176050249913

[kelly_flanigan1]

Seagate announced to buy Maxtor back in December 2005 for about 1.9 gigadollars. Stockholders approved it in May 2006. In small dinky print you new Maxtor HDA's label of 2007 has usually a added token made by Seagate line. There is no Maxtor stock traded anymore; Maxtor got absorbed by Seagate. Maxtor stock has not been listed since about may 2006; folks got some Seagate stock shares in the merger; gobbling up. MAXTOR is thus just like a product like Compaq. HP owns Compaq; Seagate owns Maxtor. Maxtor had some supply issues with the plated discs prior to the gobbling up; and lost some market share and money too. Gobbling up the opponent allows prices to be firmed a tad; the same read/write discs/media to be phased in across both Maxtor and Seagate; folks/fat fired off. <BR><BR>Maxtor goes back to 1982; Seagate was founded about 1979. In 2001 Maxtor acquired Quantum. Al Shugart a founder of Seagate died last December.

[sam_erdman]

I would NOT recommend simply using an external HD. I bought a FireLite about 1.5 -2 years ago, at that point I stopped backing up to DVD. Well, last week my external HD failed and I lost all pictures of my wife during her pregnancy and the first 6months of my sons life. Needless to say we are very sad! I kept all our data on it so we lost all the pictures, financial information, etc. I wish I had backed that all up, at least monthly, to DVD or another source.

 

Please learn from my mistake.