Backing up your photos

Sammie_Lou · Dec 5, 2011

I have a portable external hard drive that I bought to back my photos up. I was wondering - those of you who back up on external hard drives (which I'm guessing is quite a few), do you just copy/paste the files over, or do you do it as a total system backup? I have mine saved as a total system backup right now, but I'm thinking that life would be a lot easier if I just moved over individual files as I take them. Thanks in advance for any input!

Derrel · Dec 5, 2011

I use TWO external backup drives. Once the files have been burned to removable media (CD or DVD), I label the file folders "Blue", which means burned to another drive. I then burn a second copy onto CD or DVD, and the blue folders tell me, visually, as well as by search capability under Mac OS, that the "blue" folders are files that have ALREADY BEEN BURNED to removable media, so I can tell if a CD or DVD is the original disc, or a backup.

I am absolutely NOT a fan of backup software that continually overwrites over files that have been backed up. My experience is that when a drive goes bad, it will have corrupted files, and so I do NOT want to continually overwrite files, day after day after day. ONE-TIME backup to an external disk is safer, and makes more sense to me than overwriting all the time because one is too lazy to spend a few minutes organizing a backup.

I no longer do "system" backups of system software....I used to, back in the day, when an entire "system" was 400 megabytes or less...

480sparky · Dec 5, 2011

I back up to 5 different external drives. I have one on the desk, two in the fireproof safe, one at a trusted neighbors', and the fifth is 4 states away. The four nearby ones get rotated every two weeks, the out-of-state on twice a year.l

Sammie_Lou · Dec 5, 2011

I don't have many pics yet and most that I do have are snapshots. I'm okay with just having one right now. I was more curious about how people did their saving (copy and paste, full system backup, etc.). Doing a full backup of my system seems kind of silly since I don't have anything on my laptop that I'd be heartbroken to lose other than my photos (and maybe my iTunes playlist, but only because it'd take so long to put it all back together).

480sparky · Dec 5, 2011

I use Achronis. Complete back-up every two weeks, incremental back-ups in between.

The problem with having your back-up drive next to your computer is two-fold. First is: Someone breaks into your house and boosts your computer.......... your back-up goes with it. The other is a disaster... fire, flood, tornado, hurricane. Your computer dies in the process, your external drive will too.

True, the biggest cause of loss of data is your internal drive checking out on you without notice. But, for the cost of memory these days, why not make backing up bullet-proof?

Raian-san · Dec 5, 2011

3 external harddrive, 2 internal harddrive, and some on Blu-ray disc. When I finish shooting a wedding, I always transfer all the file to both external harddrive and internal. It's not very easy to say, Sorry but I lost all your wedding files......

photo guy · Dec 6, 2011

I back all of my photos up to cds or dvds every 3-4 months except for my fd photos. those get backed up to cd within 2 days as well as also downloaded to the fd computer. By doing this, I ensure that I will not loose the photos that I have worked hard to get as well as ensure they continue to work.

KenC · Dec 6, 2011

I don't trust software to do back-ups without potentially corrupting data, so I just sort both directories (internal/external drives) by date and copy everything after the most recent date on the external. I do this in a few batches so I can sort into folders on the external, and even with that it only takes a few minutes once every few days.

tirediron · Dec 6, 2011

Photo back-ups are totally seperate from any other backing up I may (or may not) do. I simply copy the files to my back-up external HDD and burn to disc. Client shots are backed up before anything else is done to them, personal, weekly-ish.

paigew · Dec 6, 2011

I used to back up my photos on an external drive. Then my harddrive crashed and I lost photos of my baby

I had them backed up on the drive and it turns out the drive was messed up. Luckily I was able to get some photos back. Now I back up thru carbonite online backup. But My computer is really really slow when I open up iphoto. I think it is because I have so many photos on it. So I am thinking about getting an external harddrive and storing my stuff on that and using online backup for the external drive...is that possible?

sanderso · Dec 6, 2011

It's a hobby...if photography were paying my rent I'd do it very differently.

I use PC Backup Pro from DT Utilites on a desktop. It backs the desktop and an external HD (containing most pix) to a larger (1.5TB) external drive. The backup SW is set to do a system backup every month plus daily backups on a 7 day cycle running at 1:00AM. The daily backups record new & modified files since the last monthly backup. There are 7 auto daily backups, one for each DOW. The daily overwrites the daily backup from the same day on the prior week. Finally, most/all recent pix taken are on a 2nd external HD (my working HD). I periodically plug in the 2nd HD to the desktop and the evening backup will recognize the HD and backup the new/modified files on the 2nd HD. I also periodically manually copy new image folders from the 2nd HD to the 1st HD. I monitor the 1.5TB disk and replace when full.

I figure if a HD fails (the most likely of failures), I should have 2 copies of the image: one on the 1.5TB HD and one on the 1st or 2nd HD. The weakness of all this is that if I don't plug in the 2nd HD to the desktop, new images don't get backed up automatically. I use the 2nd HD as a "working" drive from a laptop.

If the daily backup file becomes corrupt, I have a daily from the prior day. If the backup 1.5TB HD becomes corrupt, I can rebuild from the 1st and 2nd drives. If either the 1st or 2nd drives are corrupt, I have the 1.5TB HD as backup. If multiple drives fail together...then, I'll take a new hobby.

The strategy still has many holes, but it provides peace of mind w very little interaction on my part. As I said, if a professional, I'd do it very differently....probably using RAID HDs.

pgriz · Dec 6, 2011

In another thread (http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/beyond-basics/263951-hard-drive-configuration-suggestions.html), we talked about backup solutions, and I mentioned using a software to keep all my various backup devices synchronized. The software is "Vice Versa Pro" found here: ViceVersa Software: File Synchronization, File Replication, Windows Backup Software, and it offers a number of very good tools to ensure you have the correct copies on each pair of devices. In addition, I have both DVD backups and off-site backups of all the data (personal and business) which gives me the security of knowing that even if something happens at either site, the other one has a complete set of both system setups and data backups. Of course, the volume of data you accumulate determines the most effective method(s) of backup. If your volume is low, then doing a monthly DVD copy may work. If high, you may need to do a DVD copy each day/week. Remember that no matter what medium you use, it will eventually fail.

Another issue to keep in mind is that media compatibility over time is not guaranteed, and it may be necessary to periodically "update" your stored digital media to newer formats that are supported by more recent programs. I have a bunch of family VHS tapes, mini-DV tapes, film slides, etc., that are waiting transformation to the newest storage format.

sanderso · Dec 6, 2011

pgriz said:
Another issue to keep in mind is that media compatibility over time is not guaranteed, and it may be necessary to periodically "update" your stored digital media to newer formats that are supported by more recent programs. I have a bunch of family VHS tapes, mini-DV tapes, film slides, etc., that are waiting transformation to the newest storage format.

Couldn't agree more. I try not to think about those backup tapes collecting dust on the shelf. :lol:

luvmyfamily · Feb 22, 2012

Sammie_Lou said:
I have a portable external hard drive that I bought to back my photos up. I was wondering - those of you who back up on external hard drives (which I'm guessing is quite a few), do you just copy/paste the files over, or do you do it as a total system backup? I have mine saved as a total system backup right now, but I'm thinking that life would be a lot easier if I just moved over individual files as I take them. Thanks in advance for any input!

The first thing I do after a photo session after uploading photos is label the folder, then plug in my external hard drive, and I just drag the whole folder over to the external hard drive. That way, I have all the originals. Then I unplug the EHD, and can edit with ease knowing that if something happened the originals are safe. This actually did happen to me a few months ago. My 10 year old is addicted to a game called Minecraft. He downloaded some mod for it and it ate my whole hard drive. I lost everything

We have since gotten another computer for him, he is not allowed on mine.