Backuping strategy

[cid]

I was just curious what is the right backup strategy for photos?
What approach do you prefer and why do you think it's the best?
Do you use some nice tool for syncing and/or backuping your photos?

I personally have two hard drives, where I store all my photos and cloud storage where I store all my exported collections from events (trips, holidays, ...) and also my photos which I upload on 500px. This can sound little bit overprotective, but I already had some hard time restoring data from failed hard drive (the only one where my photos were uploaded then)

Feel free to vote and to comment!

 

[Maximilian]

Hi cid!

Right now I am a little bit lazy during vacation. There I normally do not back up anything.
When I go to an area where I think that my camera might get stolen I replace the card by an empty one so at least those photos are safe.

I had no issues with cards until now (knock on wood) so I normally have only one inside the camera, except for special events.

I don't like clouds so they're no option to me.

Optical discs (CD/DVD ROM) are only for short term backup as I've already experienced a totally clear plastic disk with no reflecting area at all after just two years. Luckily no important data got lost.

I use several HDDs (preferably USB3.0 or e-sata) stored in different places and try to keep them up to date as good as possible and repleace them by time after several years.

 

[tomscott]

There isn't really a more pro back up option in the list unfortunately.

I have 2 16tb raid arrays one on site one off site.

I also have 16tbs in my mac pro which backs up automatically on site, then every month i swap the on site with the off site and allows it to back up and keep another safe.

I also use a 2TB external USB drive which I carry everywhere with my most recent files and a 5TB external which I keep in a fire proof safe with all my family stuff, incase of environmental disaster in my area where my whole back up strategy is based.

When I travel, I shoot raw to CF and jpeg to SD, back up my files to two HDDs and keep them in separate bags and also have a back up on the lappy, then I export the 5 Star images to a 128gb thumb drive and keep it on me incase bags are stolen.

 

[Don Haines]

off site storage is an absolute must!

If your backup is in the same room/building as your computer it will not help you in case of a fire or theft. If the computer burns up, so does the backup beside it. If the thieves take the computer, they take the backup beside it.

I have two complete backups. One at home and one at work. I also have an archival backup at a friend's house.

 

[LDS]

I was just curious what is the right backup strategy for photos?
What approach do you prefer and why do you think it's the best?

A good backup is one that lets you go back in time, and have more than one backup copy of any data. It also should be on media that allows for integrity check (and possibly recover) of some kind of corruption.

There are not only the catastrophic loss due to a damaged and no longer readable support, or accidentally deleting some files. Data, over time, can become "silently" corrupted - because of many factors, disk or memory errors, and so on. Some files may become unreadable due to corruption, or maybe can be inadvertently overwritten with different data.

A good backup application and storage calculate and store enough information to check for, and if possible recover, corruption. If this is not possible, it may be needed to go back in time to find a still uncorrupted copy of the file. For that reasons, those applications store a catalog of backed up files to quickly retrieve data. But that requires something more than simply copying the files.

It works in a similar way, but not the same way, of a RAID setup, but it does it at the file level, and works regardless of the underlying storage media technology (disks - RAID or not - optical disks, tapes, cloud, whatever). Of course the media needs to be reliable as well, but a memory error, for example, will write wrong data regardless of the storage technology. Some file systems, for example ZFS, have some of these features built-in. Others, like FAT32, are totally unreliable albeit fast, and should never be used. Cloud storage should be designed for backups, not simple file storage.

Then what backup system and strategy to adopt depend on how valuable photos are, what space you need, how much you can spend, and other factors like Internet connection speed. For example, what is available here is too slow in upload to make any cloud storage appealing, for me it's far easier to store some disks in a separate location 30km away, because I have that location available.

IMHO, there's no one-size-fits-all, but some best practices, and understanding what risks are covered within a given budget, and which not, and how big they are.

 

[JPAZ]

Can't say what is best but I:
-Use CF and SD in the 2 slots in the camera so have 2 of everything when I shoot and I travel with >80gb of CF cards
-Never delete the CF card until I need it for a new project even after uploading
-Upload to my PC as soon as I can from that CF
-PC has 2 disk "mirror RAID"
-Have continuous cloud backup from my PC (Crashplan)
-Every so often I backup to an external drive for added secure copy of everything (but I should do it more often : )

I have an external drive that I've used when in a remote location to store until I get home in addition to the cards but rarely do this.

 

[Zeidora]

Single card CF cards, for quicker write speeds. On the go, LaCie 4TB rugged RAID drive in RAID1 (= 2TB RAID1 for travel). Imaging work drive = 2x 3TB RAID1 drive. Home deep storage = 4x4TB RAID1 drive. Off site 2x4TB RAID1. Transport of files via the LaCie rugged drive. All those drives are thunderbolt or USB3.
Obviously, I put a lot of stock into RAID1 arrays.
I used to have some Buffalo Tech NAS drives, but file transfer over ethernet is rather slow. The main controller of one of the NAS boxes died on me, so not so happy with them in the long run. No loss of data, because I use multiple independent drive systems.

Cloud is an absolute no-go. It is out of my hands, clouds can also disappear like clouds.

 

[gregorywood]

I copy the SD Card in the field to a WD My Passport Wireless Drive - these are fantastic little drives that are battery powered, Wifi enabled and USB3 connectable. They have a built in SD card slot that can be configured to auto-import or manual.

I keep the files on the card until I get home where I import them to my Mac and then wipe the card. I keep the import copy on the WD My Passport for a week.

On my Mac I use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone (with versioning) my Thunderbolt attached image library as well as my system drive.

I also use CrashPlan Cloud Backup to back everything up to the cloud.

It bears mentioning that I "once" had to go to the cloud backup to recover something but it was due to an accidental deletion of a handful of files that had just exceeded the retention window of the "versions" on CC Cloner. I thing that is a rare event.

This is a setup that has evolved over 3 years. It's as simple as it can be, inexpensive, and has multiple layers of protection.

Greg

 

[cid]

I copy the SD Card in the field to a WD My Passport Wireless Drive - these are fantastic little drives that are battery powered, Wifi enabled and USB3 connectable. They have a built in SD card slot that can be configured to auto-import or manual.

thank you, I'll have a look on this disc, does exist something similar with CF card slot?

off site storage is an absolute must!

If your backup is in the same room/building as your computer it will not help you in case of a fire or theft. If the computer burns up, so does the backup beside it. If the thieves take the computer, they take the backup beside it.

I have two complete backups. One at home and one at work. I also have an archival backup at a friend's house.

true, I added option for off site backup

 

[takesome1]

I just checked them all, except "none"

Seriously....

 

[cid]

I just checked them all, except "none"

Seriously....

that is why I allowed to check so many options 8)

 

[cid]

anyone else who wants to share his/her backup strategy or tricks?

 

[AUGS]

A while ago, I was doing a photography course, run by a few Protogs. They had a simple strategy for backup, as this is their livelihood and intellectual property (photos) they are looking after. Simply put, they called it the "3-2-1 Policy":

3x copies of the photos (original + 2 copies)
2x different medias (HDD, SSDD, DVD, Tape, card etc - 2xHDDs is okay) and 2x different formats (RAW, jpeg, Photoshop, Lightroom catalog, etc)
at least 1 copy offsite

Sounds a bit over the top, but after having a HDD fail - and seen disaster strike others homes - having the above strategy in place has been invaluable. This rings so true:

off site storage is an absolute must!

If your backup is in the same room/building as your computer it will not help you in case of a fire or theft. If the computer burns up, so does the backup beside it. If the thieves take the computer, they take the backup beside it.

I have two complete backups. One at home and one at work. I also have an archival backup at a friend's house.

While traveling, I copy to a laptop, backup the laptop to an external drive, and only re-use a card IF i run out of spare cards. The external drive comes with me in my camera bag at all times. I have even posted a second external drive to my home if I'm away for an extended period.

Hope this helps.

 

[cid]

A while ago, I was doing a photography course, run by a few Protogs. They had a simple strategy for backup, as this is their livelihood and intellectual property (photos) they are looking after. Simply put, they called it the "3-2-1 Policy":

3x copies of the photos (original + 2 copies)
2x different medias (HDD, SSDD, DVD, Tape, card etc - 2xHDDs is okay) and 2x different formats (RAW, jpeg, Photoshop, Lightroom catalog, etc)
at least 1 copy offsite

this 3-2-1 approach is very easy to remember, it also make sense, I like it!

 

[AlanF]

I have a backing up strategy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup
"In information technology, a backup, or the process of backing up, refers to the copying and archiving of computer data so it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form is to back up in two words, whereas the noun is backup"

 

[rfdesigner]

I lost most of my early digital photos when the insufficiently backup up HDD they were on broke.

Now I make sure there are always two copies of every photo, except for the ones I've just taken that day..

Once I've got an image or two I care about, I'll copy them over to my laptop, leaving them on the card also, that's quick and dirty and works. Once the card's getting a little full I'll copy from the laptop to a USB stick, allowing me to clear the camera card. Once the USB stick is getting full or when I find the time, I'll copy to a second laptop and clear the stick.. in time I want two HDDs in permanent positions, one in the house, and one in a shed in the garden so even if the house burns down I keep all my data. I don't trust cloud storage.

I looked at a NAS but it would have to be wifi for me and unless I managed to get 300Mbit wifi working reliably (my wifi dongle has had to be raked back to 54M as it got too hot at 300) it would take far too long to copy images between disks.... and that's with 8Mpixel images from a 30D, I'm about to jump to a 6D!

To summarise, never underestimate the data rate of hard media in your pocket/car..

a full 128GByte card taking two days in the post is equal to a 21Gbit data 6Mbit link... more if you want error correction etc.

 

[CSD]

I have 2 copies on the main workstation, the primary and back up. I have a third drive which is a version control drive which keeps the 3 previous copies of changed files.

On top of this I have a 20Tb NAS for on-site back up to compliment the workstation and for working with multiple rigs, it backs up both workstations main drives and also all images and media. I'm also looking at a second NAS to compliment and sync to.

I also have an old Ultrium drive which uses tapes and I sometimes use for offsite back up, these things are expensive up front for the drive but tape cost per Gb they can't be beat. More often I use 2 x 4Tb internal HDDs in a eSATA dock and rotate those for offsite storage with encryption enabled when stored offsite they are keep in a sealed protective container with silicon gel and anti-static bags.

 

[cid]

I have a backing up strategy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup
"In information technology, a backup, or the process of backing up, refers to the copying and archiving of computer data so it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form is to back up in two words, whereas the noun is backup"

I am so sorry, english is not my first language and I hope I didn't offend you

 

[cid]

I also have an old Ultrium drive which uses tapes and I sometimes use for offsite back up, these things are expensive up front for the drive but tape cost per Gb they can't be beat. More often I use 2 x 4Tb internal HDDs in a eSATA dock and rotate those for offsite storage with encryption enabled when stored offsite they are keep in a sealed protective container with silicon gel and anti-static bags.

very interesting, thank you for sharing

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I use a 16 TB NAS. Its not a dedicated server, I back up everything on it. Then, I have another NAS that backs it up.