Using two WD My Passports as photo drives with backup

KongKurs · Jan 28, 2015

Hi everyone

I'm very interested in getting a decent backup-flow of my photos going. Until now I've been placing all my eggs in one basket (I mean, on one drive), so if/when this dies, I'm lost. Please note that I'm not looking for a solution that costs anything, like an automatic backup to the cloud or whatever. This is purely hobby, and I'm not keen on spending a lot on backups.
Since Lightroom doesn't have a backup system of the photos, here's what I'm thinking:

Getting two WD My Passport Ultra's like these: WD My Passport Ultra Black - 1TB WDBZFP0010BBK-EESN | På lager (As far as I know, the WD SmartWare Pro follows free with this external drive?)
Copying all my photos from my catalog onto one of the drives
Using the WD SmartWare software on the other drive, to automatically backup the first drive every once a week or so

Does anyone of you have experience with the WD SmartWare Pro? Is it indeed free if you buy the Passport Ultra (not trial versions, right?). And will this setup work well? Anything I should know?

Thanks in advance.

sm4him · Jan 28, 2015

I've just started using LR, but I'm curious why you say it *doesn't* have a backup system for photos? The videos I've been watching clearly indicate it does. You select where you want the backup to be stored and then every time you import your photos in LR, it also creates the backup in the location of your choice.

Scatterbrained · Jan 28, 2015

I'm curious, does this need to be portable, or will it remain in one place? If you don't need one of them to be portable I'd recommend a RAID enclosure.

The_Traveler · Jan 28, 2015

I use two small 'portables' as my backup drives and keep the main catalog and pictures on a fast internal drive and backup every day (at least).
Syncback from 2brightsparks is excellent, flexible software (and no cost/cheap).

KongKurs · Jan 28, 2015

LR only has a feature to backup the catalog. That is the development settings of the photos, not the photos itself. And regarding the "backup during import", this would only work with photos that I import from now on, and I'm interested in backing up the catalog as it is now. Also, I would assume that this feature would slow down import quite much. I'd rather do the backup when I'm not simultaneously working with the photos...
RAID is only possible with Thunderbolt, isn't it?
I'd prefer the external drives to be portable, yes.

JacaRanda · Jan 28, 2015

Sharon (sm4him) is correct. LR upon import puts your new photos where you tell it to and can do this at least in two locations. I imagine it slows the process down to some degree, but I never notice. Backing up the catalog is something different.

Lightroom Help | Specify import options

The_Traveler · Jan 28, 2015

It seems to me you are over-thinking this.
LR is not a backup program, the fact that it does BU the catalog is handy but you should have a BU strategy that fits how you work and the number of files you have.

While passports are relatively quick and great for backups, I wouldn't use them for retrieval and editing.
If you are serious about your work, backup to two separate external mediums and safeguard those backups.

KongKurs · Jan 30, 2015

The_Traveler said:
It seems to me you are over-thinking this.
LR is not a backup program, the fact that it does BU the catalog is handy but you should have a BU strategy that fits how you work and the number of files you have.

While passports are relatively quick and great for backups, I wouldn't use them for retrieval and editing.
If you are serious about your work, backup to two separate external mediums and safeguard those backups.

Overthinking? I just want to backup...

So what you're saying is that the best way is to store photos on an internal drive and back this up regularly?
I don't understand what you mean with "safeguard" the backups.

And since my computer is a macbook I'm afraid the internal storage solution won't work, I will run out of space eventually, slowing everything down.

The_Traveler · Jan 30, 2015

Sorry, I know nothing about the internal capacity of a macbook but my experience with passport drives (I have two running currently) is that they really aren't fast enough for routine daily work.

I would suggest this, without knowledge of the physical issues with a macbook: find an external hd that runs fast enough to use over firewire (or whatever the latest connector is) to use as you main HD, then use two passports as routine backup daily. (Syncback is the program I always recommend; it is a flexible superb backup that runs on Windows and OSx Backup software that works - SyncBackPro and SyncBackSE

If you leave your office/house, take one of the Passports with you to guard against losing all your files in one theft or fire or, on a routine basis, leave one passport elsewhere for safekeeping and rotate that one in weekly.

If you are traveling, then use the passport for your mobile drive and then sync up with your main drive when you return home.

That will balance convenience with safety.

Tailgunner · Jan 30, 2015

KongKurs said:
I'd prefer the external drives to be portable, yes.

Does all your backup drives have to be portable? I started out with 3-1T Passports but recently incorporated a 6-T G-Drive Studio to my work. I keep one of the Passports plugged in along side the G-Drive and backup to it as well. At the end of the day, I unplug the Passport and take it home with me. This way I have always have copy incase something happens to my showroom/office.

KongKurs · Feb 2, 2015

The problem with the macbook is merely that I only have 500 GB available for everything, including OS, so I'll run out of space. Regarding having an external drive as a main drive depends on how picky you are, I think. My father owns a very new and super fast pc, and his work is saved onto an oooold USB 2 powered external drive and everything runs super smooth. I guess changing this to an USB 3 powered won't make things worse.

Does anyone have experience with the included WD backup software? Otherwise I will check out the SyncBack that the_traveler suggests, and thanks for this.

Tailgunner · Feb 2, 2015

KongKurs said:
The problem with the macbook is merely that I only have 500 GB available for everything, including OS, so I'll run out of space. Regarding having an external drive as a main drive depends on how picky you are, I think. My father owns a very new and super fast pc, and his work is saved onto an oooold USB 2 powered external drive and everything runs super smooth. I guess changing this to an USB 3 powered won't make things worse.

Does anyone have experience with the included WD backup software? Otherwise I will check out the SyncBack that the_traveler suggests, and thanks for this.

Oh sure, my macbook only has 125 GB but do you take every drive with you? I was suggesting a base type external hard drive for home or the office and a more portable external drive you can take with you when you go home or travel etc.

nerwin · Feb 4, 2015

I use a 2TB USB 3.0 Seagate Expansion drive and a free program called FBackup and works excellent. I'm always backed up and I don't even have to think about it. If I accidently delete a file off my main drive, I go to the certain file in FBackup and hit restore and boom its back like it was never gone.

Its not perfect, but atleast I have a backup in case something was to happen. Every now and then backup my photos on two different 2.5" external drives.

But my goal currently is to install a couple 3 terabyte drives in my desktop and set up raid and continue to backup everything to my external. That way I got 3 backups that are constantly updated.

If I did photography professionally, I would invest in something a lot better with several drives and probably off site backup as well.