msbarnes
Well-known
I'm looking for an easy-to-use and not incredibly expensive way to back up digital images.
Ideally, I would have two identical drives be replicas of one another so that if one fails the other one would take over. Is there an easy way of doing this without manually overriding one drive? I'm not familiar with raid and such but I think that is the concept of raid.
Any thoughts?
Ideally, I would have two identical drives be replicas of one another so that if one fails the other one would take over. Is there an easy way of doing this without manually overriding one drive? I'm not familiar with raid and such but I think that is the concept of raid.
Any thoughts?
GaryLH
Veteran
DtheG
Established
RAID is not a substitute for a proper backup. RAID couples together two or more disks in a single box, with the right configuration that will enable you to keep running if one of those disks fails. So it maintains uptime, but does not do much for disaster recovery. You need storage in more than one location.
msbarnes
Well-known
Yeah I realzied that 
What would you recommend?
I'm just a hobbyist and I'd be sad if I lost ALL of my work but it isn't crucial for me.
Currently I am 90 percent film and I post most my favorite images (jpegs) on flickr, keep all my negatives, and print the best. I would like to backup my digital negatives...but I haven't looked into the best way of doing so.
For now, I was thinking of starting with the hard drive and perhaps in the future buy another hard drive or store it in a different medium (blue ray / internet / and etc.). But that alternative medium/location is a different issue.
Any thoughts and ideas in doing so with a hard drive / raid? I don't want to spend a terrible amount of money. There are like 10 different ways to raid.
What would you recommend?
I'm just a hobbyist and I'd be sad if I lost ALL of my work but it isn't crucial for me.
Currently I am 90 percent film and I post most my favorite images (jpegs) on flickr, keep all my negatives, and print the best. I would like to backup my digital negatives...but I haven't looked into the best way of doing so.
For now, I was thinking of starting with the hard drive and perhaps in the future buy another hard drive or store it in a different medium (blue ray / internet / and etc.). But that alternative medium/location is a different issue.
Any thoughts and ideas in doing so with a hard drive / raid? I don't want to spend a terrible amount of money. There are like 10 different ways to raid.
Bille
Well-known
Yeah I realzied that
What would you recommend?
Just get another hard drive and copy your files from time to time.
Bill Clark
Veteran
Agree.
I use USB portable hard drives one as a "work drive" as well as others for backup. I don't have any photo files on the hd of my computer.
msbarnes
Well-known
a second stand alone hd seemed to be the most obvious answer. I just thought that copying the contents from one to another might be tedious. I'm not sure if it is better to over ride the entire drive for backups or just to add files. Overriding would make sense if I do a massive renaming/reorganization.
Since backuping up files is so common, I was wondering if people sell drives / devices that have them paired or something. Maybe something slicker.
Maybe there is no need to complicate things...and I should just get multiple drives.
Since backuping up files is so common, I was wondering if people sell drives / devices that have them paired or something. Maybe something slicker.
Maybe there is no need to complicate things...and I should just get multiple drives.
lynnb
Veteran
I just use an additional hard drive, and Lightroom. With Lightroom you can make a backup copy on the second drive at the same time as you download the image to your target drive, as long as you let Lightroom manage the import process. Dead easy. You can tell Lightroom which drives and folders you want the images to be copied to.
However you should keep a backup copy of your images off-site, in case of theft, fire, flood etc.
I've stopped copying backups to DVD as I've occasionally experienced some bacterial attack on the surface. However that may be related to local conditions. Also this technology is slowly disappearing, just like video tape.
Keeping a printed copy of all the most important images is probably a good idea.
Edit: copying a whole bunch of files from one HDD to another is tedious. There is a gotcha if you use Lightroom - if you rename or move original files that are also referenced in the Lightroom library (i.e. files that you have imported via Lightroom) using another file utility, the Lightroom library will not be able to find your files. If you rely on Lightroom for image management (and it's very good at that), remember to do any moves or renaming from within LR.
However you should keep a backup copy of your images off-site, in case of theft, fire, flood etc.
I've stopped copying backups to DVD as I've occasionally experienced some bacterial attack on the surface. However that may be related to local conditions. Also this technology is slowly disappearing, just like video tape.
Keeping a printed copy of all the most important images is probably a good idea.
Edit: copying a whole bunch of files from one HDD to another is tedious. There is a gotcha if you use Lightroom - if you rename or move original files that are also referenced in the Lightroom library (i.e. files that you have imported via Lightroom) using another file utility, the Lightroom library will not be able to find your files. If you rely on Lightroom for image management (and it's very good at that), remember to do any moves or renaming from within LR.
Bill Clark
Veteran
What I do is plug in my CF card.
Then, after it boots up, I open the folder and drag it to a folder on the external HD.
I set up my external HD as follows:
Folder for the year, 2013.
Open Up.
Set up a folder for labeled 01 January - June 2013.
Set up a folder for each month.
Within each month set up a folder for each even.
Repeat process for 02 July - December 2013.
Hope this helps.
Then, after it boots up, I open the folder and drag it to a folder on the external HD.
I set up my external HD as follows:
Folder for the year, 2013.
Open Up.
Set up a folder for labeled 01 January - June 2013.
Set up a folder for each month.
Within each month set up a folder for each even.
Repeat process for 02 July - December 2013.
Hope this helps.
MartinP
Veteran
Simplest way might be to buy two identical NAS boxes (from a large vendor, for easy replacement) and four drives, or however many fills the NAS's. Put one unit at a second location.
Use the local one for all your file storage with a planned schedule of regularly pulling one drive and taking it to rebuild your offsite NAS. You might also want a static archival 'snapshot' of projects and so on which could be done by using more hard drives and storing them.
USB hard drives will just make it hard work, and therefore one day most humans will let the routine slip at just the wrong moment . . .
Use the local one for all your file storage with a planned schedule of regularly pulling one drive and taking it to rebuild your offsite NAS. You might also want a static archival 'snapshot' of projects and so on which could be done by using more hard drives and storing them.
USB hard drives will just make it hard work, and therefore one day most humans will let the routine slip at just the wrong moment . . .
johannielscom
Snorting silver salts
The Lacie 2Big Network Accessible Storage (NAS) system has two hard drives in it that can be set to mirror another, using RAID.
Mine contains all my digital photographs and scanned images, from 2008 onwards. Even have older stuff on there, the oldest file being a ZIP-file with stuff I used in 1994 to create a birth card for my daughter with. RAID can keep things safe for decades.
The Lacie drives are hot-swappable, if you buy an extra bracket and a third drive, you can swap them out without even switching the NAS off. Then take drive no.3 with you off-location or put it in a safe, and you'll never lose an image or anything else again.
I wouldn't want to risk a crash where I had missed a simple copying action to the USB, and subsequently lose work or images...
Mine contains all my digital photographs and scanned images, from 2008 onwards. Even have older stuff on there, the oldest file being a ZIP-file with stuff I used in 1994 to create a birth card for my daughter with. RAID can keep things safe for decades.
The Lacie drives are hot-swappable, if you buy an extra bracket and a third drive, you can swap them out without even switching the NAS off. Then take drive no.3 with you off-location or put it in a safe, and you'll never lose an image or anything else again.
I wouldn't want to risk a crash where I had missed a simple copying action to the USB, and subsequently lose work or images...
Bill Clark
Veteran
It's very easy for me.
I'm a nerd!
And it's cheap.
I like seeing my money grow, work, rather than spending it all the time. When a person gets to my age they're happy they saved rather than spend, spend. Haven't received any dividends from cars I drive but I do get some from Ford as I've owned the stock for a while.
hipsterdufus
Photographer?
Crashplan: $6.00/month.
SteveM
Established
This is what I use too. File synchronization software looks for incremental changes and once you've done the initial backup, which could take some time, subsequent backups are very fast. In conjunction with this, I also have off-site storage of really critical files, copied again using software that looks only for changes so backups only take minutes. The NAS device is really convenient, but for that extra security, another copy somewhere else gives you peace of mind.
Steve
craygc
Well-known
People seem to run NAS boxes with the mind set that if one drive dies, I always have another copy. Something to keep in mind is, where is your backup strategy if the NAS itself dies? Most NAS operating systems are not your everyday systems, although many are Linux based. What that means is knowing ahead of time how you would access your data in the event of a NAS hardware failure.
For a Linux based system using a file system like EXT3, there are drivers available to allow your MAC or Windows machine to read them, so no real problem. However, be aware that if your are running a RAID configuration in the NAS it becomes more of an issue. RAID 1, assuming no proprietary encoding is used, can usually have one of the drives accessed via another PC. Be very cautious of anything outside of RAID 1 - here, all other configurations require multiple drives to get a single copy. In the vast majority of SOHO NAS devices available, you could have issues as the firmware that controls the RAID configuration is usually proprietary and, even with the bigger brands, they often don't allow RAID volumes to be transferred to a new NAS rendering all the data inaccessible.
Personally, I take multiple approaches to back up but a simple option, especially with a desk system is to attach a bare-drive enclosure via USB/FW/SATA (they look like this: http://aluratek.com/media/catalog/p...5d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/a/h/ahdds100f_image3.jpg) and use incremental backup software to ensure consistency and scheduled backups. That way you can rotate a couple of drives easily and know they're up to date.
For a Linux based system using a file system like EXT3, there are drivers available to allow your MAC or Windows machine to read them, so no real problem. However, be aware that if your are running a RAID configuration in the NAS it becomes more of an issue. RAID 1, assuming no proprietary encoding is used, can usually have one of the drives accessed via another PC. Be very cautious of anything outside of RAID 1 - here, all other configurations require multiple drives to get a single copy. In the vast majority of SOHO NAS devices available, you could have issues as the firmware that controls the RAID configuration is usually proprietary and, even with the bigger brands, they often don't allow RAID volumes to be transferred to a new NAS rendering all the data inaccessible.
Personally, I take multiple approaches to back up but a simple option, especially with a desk system is to attach a bare-drive enclosure via USB/FW/SATA (they look like this: http://aluratek.com/media/catalog/p...5d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/a/h/ahdds100f_image3.jpg) and use incremental backup software to ensure consistency and scheduled backups. That way you can rotate a couple of drives easily and know they're up to date.
kshapero
South Florida Man
I use Carbonite for backups off my PC. I can access any of my files, photos in real time on my iPhone or iPad. Perfect
CK Dexter Haven
Well-known
I have a DROBO. A simple way to set up a RAID, and you can continue to expand it. Redundancy is built-in.
craygc
Well-known
But outside of RAID 1 it still has potentially real issues of complete data loss with a controller failure
mrb
Established
USB drive(s) and/or NAS make sense, and that's what I use. Off-site storage is also a critical element. I keep my most recent backup USB drive in the car.
lynnb
Veteran
I looked into Drobo - from what I could tell, you need the Drobo hardware to read files that have been stored on a Drobo hard drive due to its proprietary file management system. If Drobo were to go out of business, how would you access your files?