Stupid! Stupid! STUPID!

[SCraig]

Ghosting software is like magic lol.

You got that right! Every hour during the day the contents of each server is copied across to the other server.

 

[Bend The Light]

Thanks.

If it's an internal HDD there's hope. Take your HDD and place it into an external case and use it that way. It will set you back about 60-80 bucks. Good luck.

In 25+ years of IT management I've come to the conclusion that you can never have too many backups but you can most assuredly have too few. I have overkill backup procedures in place on our network at the office but so far in 6 years (including two drive failures and one motherboard failure) we have never lost a single file.

I can understand your pain, I've seen it happen. Back in the 80's an engineering company here had been using CADD for about 2 years when they had a hard drive failure. The tech replaced the head and disk assembly (hard drives were different then), told the system manager to get his backup tapes and they would reload everything and he'd be good to go. The system manager just looked at him and said, "What backup tapes?" Two years of projects completely and irretrieveably lost. It only takes one time to make one a believer.

The annoying thing is (well, ANOTHER annoying thing is!) I was always a believer...I just didn't do anything about it. Hence the title of this thread!
Ah, well...£200 of hard drive purchase this morning...now got back ups set up for every RAW file in the future. hopefully I can recover the old stuff...

The HDD was an external...I plan to try it in a desktop somewhere, and then I have some folks who do this sort of thing to have a look if that doesn't work.

Cheers

 

[SCraig]

If you have a spare drive and are running Unix or Windows you can use rsync (Unix) or DeltaCopy (rsync for Windows) to make background automated backups on a schedule that you define. The difference between it and other backup software is that it copies only files or PARTS of files that have changed. If only a few bytes of a large file have changed then it only copies those few bytes so throughput is extremely fast. Also, as opposed to mirroring or RAID, the drives don't have to be identical. You can even configure it to copy files to a destination across the internet as long as it's going to a site with a static IP address. It's also very low cost (as in free for non-commercial use). I've been running it for a year or so with no problems at all and it has come in handy a number of times.

 

[IByte]

The annoying thing is (well, ANOTHER annoying thing is!) I was always a believer...I just didn't do anything about it. Hence the title of this thread!
Ah, well...£200 of hard drive purchase this morning...now got back ups set up for every RAW file in the future. hopefully I can recover the old stuff...

The HDD was an external...I plan to try it in a desktop somewhere, and then I have some folks who do this sort of thing to have a look if that doesn't work.

Cheers

Just a few things:
1. Can you "hear" your HDD moving? If you hear funny "clinking" sounds definitely no bueno.

2. If you computer isn't recognizing your external, check all of your USB ports to make it's not your computer.

3. Your external may have a bad interface connection(SATA) if it's only 2 years old. And u can do either; place it your computer or as I described above in another external case. I always make internal into external so much easier and less expensive than pre-built external drives.

 

[slackercruster]

You don't just back it up...you back up your back up and back up that back up and keep backing up on cd, DVD, other computers, laptops, netbooks, pads or whatever until you have it backed up all over hell.

At least you learned now before you lost 10 years of work.

TBS, I have lost some of my negs from 40 years ago... so I screwed up as well.

 

[Bend The Light]

If you have a spare drive and are running Unix or Windows you can use rsync (Unix) or DeltaCopy (rsync for Windows) to make background automated backups on a schedule that you define. The difference between it and other backup software is that it copies only files or PARTS of files that have changed. If only a few bytes of a large file have changed then it only copies those few bytes so throughput is extremely fast. Also, as opposed to mirroring or RAID, the drives don't have to be identical. You can even configure it to copy files to a destination across the internet as long as it's going to a site with a static IP address. It's also very low cost (as in free for non-commercial use). I've been running it for a year or so with no problems at all and it has come in handy a number of times.

I'll look into that program. Everyone seems to have their favourite, though. My two drives I bought today are identical, but if I manage to recover the broken one (if it's not the drive but the power or something) then I will have 3 drives. I may use the old one again, with a new one as back up. The second new one can be backed up and kept out of the house for extra safety. Cheers

The annoying thing is (well, ANOTHER annoying thing is!) I was always a believer...I just didn't do anything about it. Hence the title of this thread!
Ah, well...£200 of hard drive purchase this morning...now got back ups set up for every RAW file in the future. hopefully I can recover the old stuff...

The HDD was an external...I plan to try it in a desktop somewhere, and then I have some folks who do this sort of thing to have a look if that doesn't work.

Cheers

Just a few things:
1. Can you "hear" your HDD moving? If you hear funny "clinking" sounds definitely no bueno.

2. If you computer isn't recognizing your external, check all of your USB ports to make it's not your computer.

3. Your external may have a bad interface connection(SATA) if it's only 2 years old. And u can do either; place it your computer or as I described above in another external case. I always make internal into external so much easier and less expensive than pre-built external drives.

It doesn't seem to be moving...there are 5 "beeps"...probably not beeps, but short "start up" sounds, perhaps. Then it stops and the light is on, but dim. Not recognised by the computer at all.

You don't just back it up...you back up your back up and back up that back up and keep backing up on cd, DVD, other computers, laptops, netbooks, pads or whatever until you have it backed up all over hell.

At least you learned now before you lost 10 years of work.

TBS, I have lost some of my negs from 40 years ago... so I screwed up as well.

Yeah, I know. 2 years is a pain, but to be fair, I have only been shooting 2 years. a good 18 months of those photos were mediocre at best! My biggest loss were the photos of the kids, however, I sent a folder with all the large JPGs of those to the father in law...I can get those back (not RAW, but better than nothing).

I have learned, and I will sort SOME back up. I have had to get new drives today, a cost I cannot afford...Can't do it again!

Cheers

 

[480sparky40 40]

I make a motion this thread be made a sticky. Not to make fun of Bend The Light, but to act as a Public Service Announcement.

 

[Bend The Light]

I make a motion this thread be made a sticky. Not to make fun of Bend The Light, but to act as a Public Service Announcement.

I firmly believe that one learns by one's mistakes. But since I am a teacher, I am happy that everyone else can learn from MY mistakes! I don't mind...sticky it for me!

I am lucky that out of 2 years work, only bits of it were significant for me, of sufficient quality to be missed. I don't make money from it, so a business hasn't folded because of it. I have found a back up of the photos of my own kids on my father in law's machin which is very nearly up to date. I have some small (800px) copies of everything downloaded from flickr, so I can still see all my work from the last 2 years.

And I have learned a lesson!

Cheers

 

[Josh220]

I am sorry to hear that.

I have two external hard drives and for a completely isolated backup I use SmugMug to have everything completely separate from my other backups.

 

[IByte]

It doesn't seem to be moving...there are 5 "beeps"...probably not beeps, but short "start up" sounds, perhaps. Then it stops and the light is on, but dim. Not recognised by the computer at all.
Cheers

Yeah sounds like physical damage, sorry man truely am I don't think putting your drive in your computer will work. You can try but very slim. Only thing I can suggest is contiue to use but triple the back.and...ugh. use DVD media (8 track of media).

 

[Bend The Light]

I am sorry to hear that.

I have two external hard drives and for a completely isolated backup I use SmugMug to have everything completely separate from my other backups.

Yes, that sounds like a plan. I think I will be backing up full res images online from now on, as well as on the local hard drives. Cheers

It doesn't seem to be moving...there are 5 "beeps"...probably not beeps, but short "start up" sounds, perhaps. Then it stops and the light is on, but dim. Not recognised by the computer at all.
Cheers

Yeah sounds like physical damage, sorry man truely am I don't think putting your drive in your computer will work. You can try but very slim. Only thing I can suggest is contiue to use but triple the back.and...ugh. use DVD media (8 track of media).

It may be, although I cannot see how...no reason to suspect damage between "working" and "not working". maybe something sat there and suddenly hit, I dunno. Will get some folks looking at it...if it can be done, I may do it, but money wise, I won't be paying out silly money for it...I learned my lesson!

cheers

 

[ClickAddict]

Many people here talk about multiple backups and it reminds me of a friend of mine years ago running a business from his home. He was paranoid about loss of data as it would have killed his business. He purcased a redundant server and had backups running to tape each night and pointed to the stack of tapes proudly. I looked at them and his home office, smiled and asked him what about a fire? The look on his face was priceless. Same day he had a safety deposit box set up at his bank for his tapes which he brought in every second day. Now for us I'd say every second day might be a bit much, but storing your files in a seperate location every now and then to protect vs some household destruction would be a good idea. If you don't want to spend $$ on a safety box somewhere find a freined you trust and store each of your backups at each other's places. About 3 years ago I put some DVDs of family stuff at my bank. These days, there are plenty of online storage sites where you can back up to witout leaving your house. If the data is that important it should be off site.

 

[480sparky40 40]

I have one of my backup drives stored at a neighbors, and another 872 miles away.

 

[IByte]

Yes, that sounds like a plan. I think I will be backing up full res images online from now on, as well as on the local hard drives. Cheers

It may be, although I cannot see how...no reason to suspect damage between "working" and "not working". maybe something sat there and suddenly hit, I dunno. Will get some folks looking at it...if it can be done, I may do it, but money wise, I won't be paying out silly money for it...I learned my lesson!

cheers

Basically its only real moving parts other than the fans and heat sinks, just wear and tear.
I would and wouldn't recommended SSD(solid state drives). Very durable like having an internal flash drive in your system. Bad news someone in your professon it wouldn't be cost effective.

Why not look into Dual layer DVDs stores about 9gb, pretty durable just the storage is the anus part.

 

[fokker]

I'm getting nervous about my poorly backed-up files...