Digital image saving/backup suggestions?

T

Tony C.

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I'd like to hear suggestions on the best way to save and archive important (digital) images. I assume that burning them to DVD is good option, but would appreciate recommendations for both hardware, software, and burning while on the road (i.e. with a laptop at best, and perhaps even without).

All suggestions are welcome. Thank you in advance!

Regards,

Tony C.
 
On the road I use a card/reader HD (like a Jobo image tank). At home I have a hard drive case and run a 250 GB backup, which sits on a shelf between backups. I don't bother with CDs or DVDs anymore. Too much failure possibility . . .
 
How about a software catalogue that keeps track of RAW file downloads with a low rez icon presented in an orderly catalogue including a history of which hard drives contain which images. Perhaps a preference that allows you to double click on any icon and then automatically opens that image in the application of your choice. I'm thinking of something like an iTunes catalogue that will take a look at my laptop (much like synching an iPod with your computer) and synchronize my images to hard drive(s) or a stationary computer as my primary graphic engine.

Wooo I hope someone can follow all that and come up with an answer- I need and app like this and I'm certain many others here do too. I'm done wishing- does this exist?
 
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On the road:
Jobo HD & Hama CD burner , both can be used standalone (no need for laptop)
battery powered & build-in cardreaders. They may also be used as USB devices.
At home:
2 external USB HD's. One working drive, 2nd back-up (disconnected from PC after copy).
RAW files, after conversion to DNG copied on 2 DVD's.

Wim
 
I use an Apacer Share Steno to backup my memory cards at the end of the day (or when I've run out of cards). A simple usb cable can connect this portable hard disk to any modern computer. Since most cities nowadays sport internet cafés that offer dvd or cd burning, I can easily backup the Apacer to dvd if and when I want. That can wait a while, though. My Apacer has a 80GB hard disk in it but that can easily be replaced with a larger 2.5" hard disk (It's really a 1 minute job).
 
For Archiving I usually do it myself ... although Adobe Lightroom can do it for me

As far as back up, DVD Burner and External Harddrive ... both hold the same photos

in case any of those go down I still have a backup
 
DVD brand choice might be an important issue, too. You might want to find a source for MAM-A or Delkin gold archival DVDs.

On the hardware side, I have found that Plextor burners are the most reliable and have the best software (drivers, utilities). They do cost a bit more, however.

Software:

- On Windows, check out Archive creator. (http://www.rawworkflow.com/products/archive_creator/index.html)

- On Mac, take a look at Impression (http://ineedyoursoftware.com/) (I just started using this, but it sems like a decent package.)

Both of these software packages understand spanning backup sets across multiple DVDs without splitting files the way that software like Nero does (requiring a 'restore' program to recover the split files).

Regards --

--Steve
Pixmonix Negative Scanning and Slide Scanning Services
 
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I too have stopped using DVDs and CDs with external HD prices so low. Who wants to deal with all the cataloging of the DVDs in addition to all the files too? Let alone the failure or read abilities of the future. And dual back up of all those DVDs too? Forget it!

I have two 300GB external USB 2.0 Seagate HDs. I back up to one every night, which then dupes that entire drive to the other once a week. If I was a real weenie, I'd get another and do a triple back-up once a month (or week?)and take that one to the office every 1st of the month to have it off site all month. These drives are currently $189 at Frys.com
 
Sony makes and attachement that fits the HD (high density) Minidisc player/recorder, that will download photo files to HD minidiscs. Each one has a capacity of 1 gig.
 
Don't forget that magnetic media have one big vulnerability, they react with magnetic fields. Earth itself has a pretty big one and wherever theres electricity there are magnetic fields.
 
Socke said:
Don't forget that magnetic media have one big vulnerability, they react with magnetic fields. Earth itself has a pretty big one and wherever theres electricity there are magnetic fields.
Click to expand...

I don't worry too much about magnetic fields. HDDs have another vulnerability: they don't react too well on being dropped, bumped, shaken and rough-handled.
 
I think that the other problem with HDD is that the files have to be periodically read from the media to refresh the data. So if you just leave the drive unused for a while some of the files can get corrupted. This doesn't make it archival any more than CDs and DVDs.
 
A read of data from a hard disk or CD/DVD does not refresh the data on the disk. Hence reading the drive does not in any way extend the life fo the data. To do so, you would need to read and rewrite the data on a hard drive. This doesn't work on a CD/DVD because you can't "refresh" the written data - you could only write new data and the capacity would be quickly exceeded.

This is different from dynamic random access memory - DRAM - which requires periodic reads to retain data. For DRAM, this refresh is managed in our PCs and Macs by the memory controller in the hardware without need for any software action.

I have not heard of a backup scheme that does this read+rewrite of backup data on hard drive or tape. I suspect (though I have not seen data to support this) that failures in the mechanicals of the drive are expected before "bit rot" proceeds to a point where there is actual data loss. Note that drives have built in redundancy at the bit level and employ complex error correction methods to acocunt for the tiny physical characteristics of the disk medium.

It is good practice to periodically read a backup to assure that it is still viable. This, in combination with having multiple backups, gives you better protection than a single backup alone. If one backup source "goes bad" you can create a new one from your original data or second backup source.

An alternative (or complimentary) scheme is to use a redundant storage medium that can continue to operate without data loss after a failure - such as a RAID drive system. The cost increases to use such a scheme, but it is easier to manage and it performs better. In a RAID setup (depending on the specific RAID level chosen) a single hard drive can fail. The failed drive can be replaced without loss of data. simultaneous failure of two drives can't be recovered. (Other schemes are possible where multiple drive failures can be manage at increased cost in terms of storage overhead.)

Regards -

--Steve
Pixmonix Negative Scanning and Slide Scanning Service
 
Steve, I haven't heard of a refresh on harddrives, too.
I know it from tapes, remember the 9-track reel to reel drives of old times?

We respooled all our archive tapes once a year and copied them every second year. Every tape was verified before use.

Tapes degraded pretty fast then.
 
HDDs

HDDs

Can I just clarify something then?

Is is true that if you don't refresh a file on a hard drive in some way that the data will eventually deteriorate (over a period of several years admittedly)?

What I am trying to get at is that if you just backed up all your files on a hard drive and stored it away in the attic this would be quite risky wouldn't it? In fact no better or worse than CDs or DVDs?

Cheers.
 
Mark, I tried reading an old Notebookdrive from 1997 recently, not much luck. It sounded good, no alarming noise, but I couldn't get at most of the files on it.

The drive was removed from the notbook early 1998 and replace against a bigger one, the file in question was my former girlfriends thesis. She lost the CD with the MS Office files, which would be useless anyways without Office 95 to read them.

I then got the old QUIC tapes and a Tandberg tapedrive out of the cellar, found the tape with the PDF, which was mostly unreadable, found the tape with the MS Office files, which was mostly unreadable, and found the notebook harddisk, which was mostly unreadable as you know by now :)

In an old filing cabinet in my office I found some old Kodak WriteableCD from late 97 which were readable without a problem. It was the complete backup of her Notebook including Win95, Office95 and her thesis :)
Make it 9 years proven reliability for CDs and less for HDs and tapes.
 
But those Kodak CDs were of much better quality than most CDs. Most CDs were cheap and probably didn't last beyond 2-3 years. I know as I had a ton of those with software backups and most were nigh impossible to read anymore after 2-3 years.
 
Funny isn't it? AZO dyes in film are considered longtime archival but CDs based on those dyes are considered a waste of time and money :)

But you're right, we used the golden Kodak CDs because they had a very good reputation then. We had mostly Yamaha and TEAC 2x writers then, with cadys so the risk to scratch the disks was minimized.

Today I don't care as much as I did then, don't even use jewel cases to protect my disks.

Edit, just found a picture from the Mitac notebook in Shanghai April 1997 :)
In the lower right is the camera bag I still use. Don't know about the whereabouts of the notebook.
 
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