"Better Safe Than Sorry"

[Garbz]

Actually a surface scan of some brand name DVDs revealed that even manufacturer markings can be detrimental. Take those Verbatim discs which had the logo embossed on in silver layer. Looked awesome. Were the first to fail when put through artificial aging (heat, humidity and pressure), and only where the logo is.

By the way, trusting online sources assumes that they are competent. Some Flight Simulator fans were recently quite disappointed when a fan mod site that had been online for 15 years were hacked and completely wiped out. They had no backups. Well paid administrators of a website that has existed for 15 years had no backups. Media is cheap. There's no reason any capable person shouldn't be able to preserve their digital life with 100% redundancy without spending $1000s

 

[Moglex]

I keep my stuff on punch tape!

Absolutely.

With a punched card backup for double security.

Interesting to think that a circa 1970 mag tape would just about hold one EOS 1 MK III shot in RAW + JPG.

 

[blash]

I do not trust in online sources. We were paying once for a web server, and paid extra for daily backups. When the server failed, we discovered that we were paying for a service they were not delivering. I trust in myself... and I trust NO ONE else for making my backups. Online places and what not... how can you guarantee that they do what they say? Until it fails ad they cannot replace it... that is when. Personally, that is a little too late.

Rapidshare also deletes files regularly for various reasons (content, piracy, customer complaint, and even servers that get too full)... none of which involve being told you are about to have your files deleted.

The reason why you need an online backup is in case of a local disaster - i.e., if you live in California, an earthquake may wipe out your house AND the local bank. If only your house is destroyed, it is also more convenient to redownload files to a new computer than it is to go to the bank and have them open your safety deposit box.

In my experience, Rapidshare only deletes files from its servers when someone complains about the link (piracy, offensive material, whatever). If you don't give the link to anyone then no one can complain about it, right? But if you don't like Rapidshare, then use a service like Megaupload or Netshare. Competition is good

 

[Sardine]

am i the only one that takes advantage of my gmail account for saving photos?

How so? Email them to yourself?

 

[Moglex]

am i the only one that takes advantage of my gmail account for saving photos?

How so? Email them to yourself?

Exactly.

I have used free email accounts for backup for many years now (although only recently for photo's).

Not suitable for storing a shoot's worth of raw from an EOS 5D Mk II but certainly a safe haven for your best finshed shots.

 

[Sardine]

am i the only one that takes advantage of my gmail account for saving photos?

How so? Email them to yourself?

Exactly.

I have used free email accounts for backup for many years now (although only recently for photo's).

Not suitable for storing a shoot's worth of raw from an EOS 5D Mk II but certainly a safe haven for your best finshed shots.

Could work for keeping copies of the really special photos. And I guess as long as you don't go and open all the files, it shouldn't consume all the bandwith, right?

 

[musicaleCA]

Oh no no no. There are a few ways to make a Gmail account behave more like an actual hard drive that's just, online. Check out the Firefox extension called "Gmail Space".

Thanks for the heads-up about the ink Jerry.

Anyone here use Carbonite for online backups?

(Oh, and for redundant local storage, I use a Drobo. My gods is that puppy easy to use.)

 

[Moglex]

Oh no no no. There are a few ways to make a Gmail account behave more like an actual hard drive that's just, online. Check out the Firefox extension called "Gmail Space".

Yes but this is for backup, not a free working database. The chances of my actually ever needing to retrieve anything are pretty close to zero since the data is stored in at least three other places. Also, I save this vital stuff to two email accounts so anything GMail specific would not work.

So a simple script takes care of everything and there's no need to faff around with browsers at all, let alone extensions.

 

[Jeremy Z]

What's wrong with backing up on a regular old CDR, in addition to the hard drive?

From what I've ready, the CDR will last at least 10-20 years. I'll make another copy at that time.

I've always written on them with a sharpie, but I can see how that might be a problem over time. I'll write on the case from now on.

 

[Moglex]

What's wrong with backing up on a regular old CDR, in addition to the hard drive?

Well, for raw shots on today's highest resolution cameras you'd only get ~ 25 on a CDR.

DVD's are just too unreliable

Personally, hard drives (separate local and remote) are the only things I trust for backups apart from finished work that I also save in a couple of email accounts.

They are cheap as chips nowadays and every eighteen months you can get ones twice as large and copy the current ones to the new ones thus getting over the problem that old drives can suddenly fail (although this possibility is somewhat overstated in my experience).

 

[KevinDks]

Being that we are living profoundly in a digital age, it is imperative that I share with you my concerns about how to keep your images safe for future generations to have the opportunity of viewing your catalog of work. In the past there were negatives, positives (slides) and prints which, if taken care of and stored properly, could survive several decades without serious degradation.

Lots of good advice here. Just one thing to add - as well as making sure your images survive, take the time to catalogue them properly.

I collect old slides, mostly Kodachrome and mostly from the 1960s, so right now I am a kind of "future generations" of a number of amateur photographers from 40 and 50 years ago. I have boxes and boxes of slides with nothing but a country and a year written on the outside. Interesting though it is to play the detective and work out the who and where and what of the subject matter, the best kinds of collection are those which come with index cards.

Even if the index only has names and places, Kodachrome slides after about 1962 are almost always date stamped, so you have a lot more information to work with, and it really makes a big difference. In the digital age you are blessed with the ability to tag your photos and add descriptions (as far as I know), so there's no excuse.

Even if you think that no one outside your family will care about your stuff, when it's your grandchildren and great grandchildren they will thank you for adding as much background information you can.

Kevin

 

[Garbz]

What's wrong with backing up on a regular old CDR, in addition to the hard drive?

From what I've ready, the CDR will last at least 10-20 years. I'll make another copy at that time.

I've always written on them with a sharpie, but I can see how that might be a problem over time. I'll write on the case from now on.

From what I've read most CDRs will last for approximately 5. From what I've experienced, some 200 of mine lasted approximately 2 years. (Australian temperature and humidity does it no justice). Micro pitting and outright flaking on the reflective layer of CDRs and DVDs are a real problem.

None of the cheap consumer generic optical media achieves a lifetime worthy of being using for something as critical as my photos (in my opinion). There are archival grade media specifically for that reason. (often using a gold reflective surface that resist corrosion rather than ... was it Aluminium that is normally used?)

 

[manaheim]

I use those MITSU/A or whatever the heck they are archival gold CDs and now DVDs. I used to use the Kodak Gold Archivals before they stopped making them. I haven't had any problems... yet. (knock on wood) Some of mine are over 10 years old... but then, to be honest... I have cheap-o silver crappy CDRs with old files and such on them and those seem to survive just fine as well... I used to even stupidly store those in a boiling hot attic.

No idea.

I still don't trust any of 'em as far as I can throw them, but it is interesting.