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vievetrick · 01-17-2007, 07:21 AM

DVD and External Hard drive for me as well. DVD at work EHD at home.

cruiserlan2000 · 01-22-2007, 09:59 AM

now looking back - the old slr negatives sounds like a foolproof backup. with all these high technologies it seems like there is no way you can keep a decent backup that will last you 100 years. cd may get corrupted in time. same with the dvd. hard drive may crashed (even if you have 5 pcs with 5 backup of all your files). these are not a guarantee that you can have your backup ready when you need it. hardcopy is still the best backup IMHO (film negatives) i know that they were still able to make a digital copies of movies and pictures out of the old negative films that were filmed hundred years ago. is there a way to turn your digital pics into film negavites??? seems like going backward with the technology. but hey, you can't blame me. i still have my film negatives when i was in my younger years....

HogRider · 01-22-2007, 10:28 AM

My Backup:
All finished (web resized and full size) Images are in a folder on my hard Drive (Raid mirror) and a copy of it is on an external hard drive. (Weekly backup).

All PEFs are zipped/rared and burned to CDs and also on a separate external Hard Drive.

cruiserlan2000 · 01-22-2007, 11:51 AM

seems like a lot of work just to backup digital files. unlike the old slr days wherein you just go to a photo store and have your film develop or process and you have your film negatives for keeps that will last you a lifetime.

SpecialK · 01-22-2007, 09:11 PM

Quote:

seems like a lot of work just to backup digital files. unlike the old slr days wherein you just go to a photo store and have your film develop or process and you have your film negatives for keeps that will last you a lifetime.

Except they don't, as many people have found out.

I copy PEF's to my HD. I convert the best ones to jpg, touch up, and save in folder by date. Copy that to external HD during same session (mostly). Back up HD to DVDs about 1 or 2 times per month. I also put a small percentage in Photobucket, but I intend that for sharing and display rather than archiving.

The whole "lot of work" of backing up takes less than 5 minutes of operator time (though about 1/2 hour for Nero to burn a DVD.)

You could not pay me enough to shoot and organize film again. Well, maybe you could, but not very likely.

user440 · 03-10-2008, 08:12 AM

Just a reminder to everyone to be diligent in these backups.

Prior to getting my new computer, my primary computer HD was set to backup every night automatically to a system I had in the basement. When I bought my new computer just before Christmas, I had not had a chance to set this up again on the new system. I had planned on ripping out Vista and putting something else on, so did not really have everything setup as I normally would have.

In doing some maintenance on the computer, I inadvertently initiated a format of the partition where my pictures reside and I lost anything that was not already on my website between Christmas and now. I am working to recover these but am not optimistic.

Set those automatic backups so you do not have the same issue. As for me, I am ripping out Vista and going back to a dual boot Ubuntu and XP OS.

a a i b · 03-10-2008, 08:28 AM

I use Aperture -- the photo library lives on a portable FW drive. When I get to work I have a "vault" which I back up to.

davemdsn · 03-10-2008, 09:09 AM

I don't have room on my notebook for all my photos. I have three copies of all my photos.

First copy is the working files that live on USB powered mini drives. These are referenced by the computer using a library application.

Second copy is the primary backup that lives on a FW drive.

Third copy is the secondary backup that lives on DVDs.

Ultimately the DVD copies live in a safe deposit box at my bank. When I go out of town the FW drive also goes someplace safe while the mini drives travel with me.

mel · 03-10-2008, 09:35 AM

I'll play.

I'm fairly new at this and don't have a lot of computer equipment. Kids are always gaming on the computer as well so we have a history of harddrive crashes.

Right now I am saving basically everything on the harddrive but backing up on dvds. What I am putting on the dvd are only the save-worthy raw files and the tifs I make from the raw files. I'm not bothering with the jpeg copies as I only use those for webposting and emailing and such. I figure if I need another jpeg copy I can make one from the tif.

If the tax returns ever come I'm planning to get an external harddrive to save stuff to as well for the inevitable crash that is due any day now. I do need a better place for my dvds however.

I tend to not get too attached to my work. I like it but I don't think I'd be devastated if I lost it all (and I KNOW the world wouldn't be devastated either!). It's probably a throwback to the artschool days when the teacher would go around at random and tear up drawings in progress to teach us to not get too attached.

I'm sure this is rather odd in the digital art world, and in my profession as well. I'm a librarian!

**Lowell Goudge** · 03-10-2008, 09:57 AM

You need to start by asking how the principle ones are stored, Mine are by year, month, then activity or event.

I keep multiple copies of backups

First backup is an external USB 2 hard disk. I use Laplink to update any changes from my photo directory.

About every few months, I burn a dvd or two, when I have enough to fill one up, based upon last back-up.

I am presently looking for off site also.

christinelandon · 03-10-2008, 08:15 PM

1) My desktop's second internal hard drive is my primary download point and storage for post processed photos.
2) Everything on that drive is automatically (LaCie's Silverkeeper) backed up onto an external hard drive.
3) Once I've got enough new files, I back those up to DVD.
4) I periodically wirelessly download copies of all post processed photos onto my laptop.
5) Everything on the laptop is periodically backed up onto a second external hard drive.

PDL · 03-11-2008, 01:17 AM

We have discussed backups here before, so here is a little history:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/everything-else/14182-dvd-backup.html
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/11871-transfering-...rd-drivre.html
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/everything-else/7216-backing-up-images.html

Now on to the current stuff.
RAID disk sets are not backups - they are a method of providing fault tolerance. There is a big caveat - If your disk controller dies, you just might not be able to get your data back. If your motherboard dies - you may not have the proper interface (I just bought a SATA card that is PCI - the mother board is too old to have PCI-X - with two 750GB drives as RAID 1 - mirrored --my two other drives are IDE as are my CD-RW and DVD-RW) The brand new Dell desktop my company bought me does not have a IDE interface on it.

DVD's (my choice of backups - or disaster recovery) my not be viable in the long run also. Just look at the HD DVD vs Blu-Ray - those poor b*stards that bought HD DVD are so SOL. Blu-Ray on a laptop (the current version) will drain you batteries in less than a half a movie and the v2.0 of Blu-Ray is not compatible with the current run of V1.0 readers/writers. Backward compatibility is not a Sony strength.

USB hard drives (my reluctant second choice for some stuff) is just another hard drive. If you read the threads listed above -- you will find out that I have some experience with hard drives and the result is, they will fail, or the interface will just go away. (anyone remember MFM and RLE disk drives? Hint: they were the "standard" before IDE) Even SCSI is giving way to iSCSI and iSAS/iSATA drives on big Data Center servers. As I said before, motherboards are being produced without any IDE interface at all and even PCI slots are starting to disappear.

Digital images are much more sensitive to damage. You need a computer -->> power and software to view them. Film - hold it up to the light and store it in a cool dry place. OS's change/monthly or at least every few years. Software used to read the images changes - just what will happen when your software backup vendor is bought out (Veritas, Legato etc) goes out of business or just plain does not work on new/old hardware? What about the differences in proprietary RAW files (just look at the "I can't read my K20D in Lightroom/CS3/CS2/PSE/PSP/PPB" threads). Things will change and it is up to you to figure out what to do and how comfortable with your workflow.

Should you back things up? - yes. Should you use CD/DVD/USB/TAPE - yes, use something. Should you be ready to copy everything to a new format when it comes out? - yup. Will the follow on generations be able to see your work - maybe - if you printed it using archive paper and ink. Will they be able to read your CD/DVD/USB/TAPE? Probably not, but they will have something to make wall hangings out of.

Maybe I should take my favorites and send them off to the Library of Congress for Copyright registration. The feds know how to keep a lot of c*ap around for a very long time.

The Elitist - formerly known as PDL

ftpaddict · 03-11-2008, 01:36 AM

Easiest solution for me - backup to GMail. Using this nifty little application, viksoe.dk - GMail Drive shell extension , I can upload all my photos to my GMail account(s). Virtually limitless storage. Each file exists on at least two different serves at any given time, if one should fail.

Extra advantage - I can access the files through the normal GMail interface, so they are accessible from anywhere around the world.

Also good for private file sharing

Lensvision · 03-11-2008, 11:44 AM

My backup device is an external HD. That's it.....

Geekybiker · 03-11-2008, 12:14 PM

I use a raid 1 NAS setup. Its nice as not only does it provide redundant backup, its accessible from every computer in the house (including wireless) It can be reached via FTP over the net if needed, and will serve MP3's and video as a UPnP device. It'll do more too.

03-11-2008, 01:17 AM	#27
PDL Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: PNW USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,128	We have discussed backups here before, so here is a little history: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/everything-else/14182-dvd-backup.html https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/11871-transfering-...rd-drivre.html https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/everything-else/7216-backing-up-images.html Now on to the current stuff. RAID disk sets are not backups - they are a method of providing fault tolerance. There is a big caveat - If your disk controller dies, you just might not be able to get your data back. If your motherboard dies - you may not have the proper interface (I just bought a SATA card that is PCI - the mother board is too old to have PCI-X - with two 750GB drives as RAID 1 - mirrored --my two other drives are IDE as are my CD-RW and DVD-RW) The brand new Dell desktop my company bought me does not have a IDE interface on it. DVD's (my choice of backups - or disaster recovery) my not be viable in the long run also. Just look at the HD DVD vs Blu-Ray - those poor bstards that bought HD DVD are so SOL. Blu-Ray on a laptop (the current version) will drain you batteries in less than a half a movie and the v2.0 of Blu-Ray is not compatible with the current run of V1.0 readers/writers. Backward compatibility is not a Sony strength. USB hard drives (my reluctant second choice for some stuff) is just another hard drive. If you read the threads listed above -- you will find out that I have some experience with hard drives and the result is, they will fail, or the interface will just go away. (anyone remember MFM and RLE disk drives? Hint: they were the "standard" before IDE) Even SCSI is giving way to iSCSI and iSAS/iSATA drives on big Data Center servers. As I said before, motherboards are being produced without any IDE interface at all and even PCI slots are starting to disappear. Digital images are much more sensitive to damage. You need a computer -->> power and software to view them. Film - hold it up to the light and store it in a cool dry place. OS's change/monthly or at least every few years. Software used to read the images changes - just what will happen when your software backup vendor is bought out (Veritas, Legato etc) goes out of business or just plain does not work on new/old hardware? What about the differences in proprietary RAW files (just look at the "I can't read my K20D in Lightroom/CS3/CS2/PSE/PSP/PPB" threads). Things will change and it is up to you to figure out what to do and how comfortable with your workflow. Should you back things up? - yes. Should you use CD/DVD/USB/TAPE - yes, use something. Should you be ready to copy everything to a new format when it comes out? - yup. Will the follow on generations be able to see your work - maybe - if you printed it using archive paper and ink. Will they be able to read your CD/DVD/USB/TAPE? Probably not, but they will have something to make wall hangings out of. Maybe I should take my favorites and send them off to the Library of Congress for Copyright registration. The feds know how to keep a lot of cap around for a very long time. The Elitist - formerly known as PDL Last edited by PDL; 03-11-2008 at 01:24 AM. Reason: wording

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01-17-2007, 07:21 AM	#16
vievetrick Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Easthampton - Massachusetts - USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,183	DVD and External Hard drive for me as well. DVD at work EHD at home.

01-22-2007, 09:59 AM	#17
cruiserlan2000 Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Hercules, CA Posts: 63	now looking back - the old slr negatives sounds like a foolproof backup. with all these high technologies it seems like there is no way you can keep a decent backup that will last you 100 years. cd may get corrupted in time. same with the dvd. hard drive may crashed (even if you have 5 pcs with 5 backup of all your files). these are not a guarantee that you can have your backup ready when you need it. hardcopy is still the best backup IMHO (film negatives) i know that they were still able to make a digital copies of movies and pictures out of the old negative films that were filmed hundred years ago. is there a way to turn your digital pics into film negavites??? seems like going backward with the technology. but hey, you can't blame me. i still have my film negatives when i was in my younger years....

01-22-2007, 10:28 AM	#18
HogRider Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Arizona, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 608	My Backup: All finished (web resized and full size) Images are in a folder on my hard Drive (Raid mirror) and a copy of it is on an external hard drive. (Weekly backup). All PEFs are zipped/rared and burned to CDs and also on a separate external Hard Drive.

01-22-2007, 11:51 AM	#19
cruiserlan2000 Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Hercules, CA Posts: 63	seems like a lot of work just to backup digital files. unlike the old slr days wherein you just go to a photo store and have your film develop or process and you have your film negatives for keeps that will last you a lifetime.

01-22-2007, 09:11 PM	#20
SpecialK Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: So California Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,482	Quote: seems like a lot of work just to backup digital files. unlike the old slr days wherein you just go to a photo store and have your film develop or process and you have your film negatives for keeps that will last you a lifetime. Except they don't, as many people have found out. I copy PEF's to my HD. I convert the best ones to jpg, touch up, and save in folder by date. Copy that to external HD during same session (mostly). Back up HD to DVDs about 1 or 2 times per month. I also put a small percentage in Photobucket, but I intend that for sharing and display rather than archiving. The whole "lot of work" of backing up takes less than 5 minutes of operator time (though about 1/2 hour for Nero to burn a DVD.) You could not pay me enough to shoot and organize film again. Well, maybe you could, but not very likely.

03-10-2008, 08:12 AM	#21
user440 Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: St. Louis, MO Photos: Gallery Posts: 349	Just a reminder to everyone to be diligent in these backups. Prior to getting my new computer, my primary computer HD was set to backup every night automatically to a system I had in the basement. When I bought my new computer just before Christmas, I had not had a chance to set this up again on the new system. I had planned on ripping out Vista and putting something else on, so did not really have everything setup as I normally would have. In doing some maintenance on the computer, I inadvertently initiated a format of the partition where my pictures reside and I lost anything that was not already on my website between Christmas and now. I am working to recover these but am not optimistic. Set those automatic backups so you do not have the same issue. As for me, I am ripping out Vista and going back to a dual boot Ubuntu and XP OS.

03-10-2008, 08:28 AM	#22
a a i b Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Brooklyn Photos: Gallery Posts: 315	I use Aperture -- the photo library lives on a portable FW drive. When I get to work I have a "vault" which I back up to.

03-10-2008, 09:09 AM	#23
davemdsn Inactive Account Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Boise, Idaho Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,413	I don't have room on my notebook for all my photos. I have three copies of all my photos. First copy is the working files that live on USB powered mini drives. These are referenced by the computer using a library application. Second copy is the primary backup that lives on a FW drive. Third copy is the secondary backup that lives on DVDs. Ultimately the DVD copies live in a safe deposit box at my bank. When I go out of town the FW drive also goes someplace safe while the mini drives travel with me.

03-10-2008, 09:35 AM	#24
mel Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Virginia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,531	I'll play. I'm fairly new at this and don't have a lot of computer equipment. Kids are always gaming on the computer as well so we have a history of harddrive crashes. Right now I am saving basically everything on the harddrive but backing up on dvds. What I am putting on the dvd are only the save-worthy raw files and the tifs I make from the raw files. I'm not bothering with the jpeg copies as I only use those for webposting and emailing and such. I figure if I need another jpeg copy I can make one from the tif. If the tax returns ever come I'm planning to get an external harddrive to save stuff to as well for the inevitable crash that is due any day now. I do need a better place for my dvds however. I tend to not get too attached to my work. I like it but I don't think I'd be devastated if I lost it all (and I KNOW the world wouldn't be devastated either!). It's probably a throwback to the artschool days when the teacher would go around at random and tear up drawings in progress to teach us to not get too attached. I'm sure this is rather odd in the digital art world, and in my profession as well. I'm a librarian!

03-10-2008, 09:57 AM	#25
Lowell Goudge Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,892	You need to start by asking how the principle ones are stored, Mine are by year, month, then activity or event. I keep multiple copies of backups First backup is an external USB 2 hard disk. I use Laplink to update any changes from my photo directory. About every few months, I burn a dvd or two, when I have enough to fill one up, based upon last back-up. I am presently looking for off site also.

03-10-2008, 08:15 PM	#26
christinelandon Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Seattle, Washington, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 812	1) My desktop's second internal hard drive is my primary download point and storage for post processed photos. 2) Everything on that drive is automatically (LaCie's Silverkeeper) backed up onto an external hard drive. 3) Once I've got enough new files, I back those up to DVD. 4) I periodically wirelessly download copies of all post processed photos onto my laptop. 5) Everything on the laptop is periodically backed up onto a second external hard drive.

03-11-2008, 01:36 AM	#28
ftpaddict Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Yurp Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,666	Easiest solution for me - backup to GMail. Using this nifty little application, viksoe.dk - GMail Drive shell extension , I can upload all my photos to my GMail account(s). Virtually limitless storage. Each file exists on at least two different serves at any given time, if one should fail. Extra advantage - I can access the files through the normal GMail interface, so they are accessible from anywhere around the world. Also good for private file sharing

03-11-2008, 11:44 AM	#29
Lensvision Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: The Netherlands Photos: Gallery Posts: 47	My backup device is an external HD. That's it.....

03-11-2008, 12:14 PM	#30
Geekybiker Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Chicagoland Posts: 337	I use a raid 1 NAS setup. Its nice as not only does it provide redundant backup, its accessible from every computer in the house (including wireless) It can be reached via FTP over the net if needed, and will serve MP3's and video as a UPnP device. It'll do more too.

How do you backup your photos?

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