How do YOU backup?

[EOS_JD]

I see what your saying, but I also see that you need an intense amount of storage, DVD's are just not feasible when there is that much data. When I say DVD, I dont mean a DVD thats flipped around, used, subjected to direct light etc. I mean put your info on it, put it in a secure case, and put it away. I've never lost 1KB of data on a back up disc. Of course, if I needed 2TB's of storage, I wouldn't even think of going single disc back ups.

But... keep in mind that eventually, price will plummet on Blue ray, and thats 50GB's dual layer... and when they become just a few bucks a piece, that's pretty cheap. At the same time though, of course, TB drives will be available too, for cheap. Thats technology I guess.

Yes as I say at the end if you only have a small amount of data it's ok but remember that DVD is not wholly secure. I can assure you no matter the backup solution you use it has a shelf life. DVD/CD/Hard Drive/Tape - Eventually it WILL fail - could be sooner, might be later but be sure to protect your files the best way you see fit.

It's an individual choice and you each have to assess the risk and cost.

 

[Alex_B]

I use externals too, but I would be afraid to not put on DVD. Hard drives crash, discs stay nice and safe in their case and put on a shelf where they belong. I leave my stuff on the external for random access, and put the discs away for safety.

well, just replace your harddrives every couple of years ... and use not the same type of drive for your data and your backup, then the probability of TWO drives failing at the same time is VERY low.

I even store some HDDs away from home.

 

[Alex_B]

And I have to agree with what some said ... DVDs and CDs are not very safe.

I had several cases where I could not read soem files on a CD or a DVD anymore .. if that had been my backup, I would be afraid never happened to me with harddrives ..

 

[Mike Jordan]

In 50 to 100 years, people are going to find out that a whole generation or more of photographic history has been lost because it was stored on CD's, DVD's, hard drives and tapes. Either the media itself will be un-readable or the the technology will no longer be available to read them... at least not easily or cheaply.

Today's photo history comes from pictures and negatives that were thrown into shoe boxes and kept in closets or the attic until it's found 50, 75 or even 100 years later by grand kids and great grand kids or even strangers that are going through boxes of junk. Images are still viewable on pictures and many negatives are still printable. Now flash forward 50 to 75 years. How many tapes, CD's DVD's and hard drives are going to be tossed into closets and attics? And if they are, when people go through those boxes and don't have a way to tell that they are pictures of their grandparents or great-grandparents and probably don't even have a CD drive or tape drive to look anyway... what do you think they are going to do with them? Yep, leave them in the trash pile to be thrown out. History lost.

So I don't worry to much about it. I save my stuff to hard drives. CD's don't store that much and DVD's take to long to write and don't last that long anyway. So the only time I use CD's is when I sent images into the Copyright Office to register and when I'm sending files to people. We can take all kinds of precautions, but there are still to many ways to lose it.

Mike

 

[TCimages]

In 50 to 100 years, people are going to find out that a whole generation or more of photographic history has been lost because it was stored on CD's, DVD's, hard drives and tapes. Either the media itself will be un-readable or the the technology will no longer be available to read them... at least not easily or cheaply.

Today's photo history comes from pictures and negatives that were thrown into shoe boxes and kept in closets or the attic until it's found 50, 75 or even 100 years later by grand kids and great grand kids or even strangers that are going through boxes of junk. Images are still viewable on pictures and many negatives are still printable. Now flash forward 50 to 75 years. How many tapes, CD's DVD's and hard drives are going to be tossed into closets and attics? And if they are, when people go through those boxes and don't have a way to tell that they are pictures of their grandparents or great-grandparents and probably don't even have a CD drive or tape drive to look anyway... what do you think they are going to do with them? Yep, leave them in the trash pile to be thrown out. History lost.

So I don't worry to much about it. I save my stuff to hard drives. CD's don't store that much and DVD's take to long to write and don't last that long anyway. So the only time I use CD's is when I sent images into the Copyright Office to register and when I'm sending files to people. We can take all kinds of precautions, but there are still to many ways to lose it.

Mike

Something tells me that as technology advances, most will advance with it...Putting our back-up on the latest devices to ensure we can take adavantage of it if we need it.

With the digital world, folks will probably (i will) try to keep ALL their images at there fingertips, even those that are many years old. This in itself raises awareness and importance of back-ups. Terabytes and Petabytes is slowly becoming the norm for home storage and back-up.

 

[Mike Jordan]

TC, in theory, you would be right. Probably businesses will try to keep things up to date, but the majority of the rest of the US won't. I have a garage full of 5 1/2" floppies, but none of my active computers have a 5 1/2" drive in them. I have a ton of 3.25" floppies but only one of my active computers has a drive for them. What happens is technology slides past us slow enough that we have outpaced the old stuff before we know it.

There will be plenty of people making money converting for businesses and professionals, but for the large bulk of the consummer and hobbiests, they'll have stacks of floppies, CD's and DVD's stashed away in shoeboxes. Some of us will have stacks of IDE drives.

Check back in 50 years and we'll see how it went.

Mike

 

[John D]

I back up my files to external drives using incremental backup (to copy new and changed files). Also I use backup to cd/dvd:​

http://www.office-backup.com/backup-to-dvd.html

Office Backup includes all these and other features, you can try it fo free and decide if you need it. You can download it here: http://www.office-backup.com