backing up images?

JahJahwarrior · 05-19-2007, 02:19 PM

I've been putting images from my new *ist DS on my new Macbook, mainly because the PC is pretty full of video data at the moment

I'm hesitant to reformat my cards (2 gig and 1 1gig) until I know the images are backed up somehow. Do you all know of an easy way to back images up to a dvd as I acrue them, as in, today I put all my images on a dvd, in a week I add new images to the same dvd.... I think it has something to do with not "ending the session" but I've never tried something like that on a dvd or on a mac. I'll also ask on a mac forum, but thought I'd also find out from here how other Pentaxers back up their images.

PDL · 05-19-2007, 03:55 PM

I do not have a Mac - but here is what I do.
As I shoot and when the SD card gets filled up - I remove the card and slide the lock switch into place (keeps me from being stupid later)
When done shooting for the day, I copy the files off of the SD card onto a Wolverine flashpac 7000 portable hard drive - that is the first step towards archiving.
When I get back to where my main PC is I copy (not move) the files off of the Wolverine onto my hard disk. If I am really paranoid (as I was when my main PC hard drive failed) I will use my laptop to burn DVD's off the Wolverine (basically a DVD portable drive).
About once a quarter - or when something sounds as if it is about to die or I get worried - I burn DVD's. This makes me feel better - If I were really going to create a archive - I would copy the DVD's and move them to a safe deposit box - of course I would do this periodically since DVD's have a unknown life span.

Oh - and I only put SD cards into my cameras that are "unlocked" - I unlock the cards when I feel that I have a good Backup copy (the files are on the Wolverine and my main hard drive as a minimum - unless I am far away from my main PC). When a insert an card into the camera - I format it - I never just delete files off the SD card.

PDL

Arpe · 05-19-2007, 09:23 PM

What programme would you be using to write to DVD? IF Nero or Roxio, then yes, do not end the session, most computers can still read it.

PDL · 05-20-2007, 01:07 AM

I do not believe that Nero or Roxio work on a Macbook - but the software supported by Apple should provide the industry standard of closing a session without finalizing the DVD. At least I would hope so - or maybe this is only a PC thing? ---- Naa Apple has some very good stuff - DVD burning should be right up there.

Maybe another Mac user can chime in.

PDL

-spam- · 05-20-2007, 02:34 AM

When i get home from a shoot, i copy the photos off of my CF card onto my hard drive. I then copy those images again onto 2 of my external hard drives so they are stored in 3 different places. If one dies then they should still be safe on one of the other 2. I then format the CF card using the camera and keep shooting.

At the end of every week i make 2 copies of that weeks photos on 2 separate DVD's. For the same reason as using 3 hard drives.

daacon · 05-20-2007, 05:53 AM

word of caution with 'not ending a session' - you may have difficulties reading that DVD on any computer other than the one you created it on - so if the Mac dies .. (Mac's don't die do they haha).

If you only have a few Mb or hundreds of MB, maybe use a thumb dive , they are pretty cheap - then when you have enough on the Thumb drive (say 2gb) sure make a couple of backup DVD’s and store one offsite.

Personally I sync two computers with all my pictures, then (not often enough) I take full images of these machines onto an External drive. Finally (again not often enough) I cut them all to double sided DVD's.

Works for me - although everything is physically stored in the same location - I need to work on that off-site thing...so do what I say not what I do

JahJahwarrior · 05-20-2007, 12:27 PM

I've taken about 3 gigs of pictures in the last few weeks, and have 5 gigs of SD card storage space. I'm going to Houston, Tx for a debate tournament this week, and about 15 hours after I get back, I leave for a week of Yellowstone National Park. I'll have enough time to dump photos from Texas and recharge the batteries before I head out again

In the meantime, I had an SD card or two which I was waiting to format until I found a way to save them somewhere else. At the moment, I have the photos saved two physically seperate places, so I am happy.

All of you who save them so many places, do you do this for a hobby or for a job?

PDL · 05-20-2007, 01:39 PM

Some of us remember how easy it was to keep the original negatives from back in the good old days. If print was gone - get a new one. Some of us had darkrooms as did our parents - keeping images around is part of our DNA. With digital, the viability of long term storage of the original images is questionable -- I work in IT, I know that hard drives, tapes and optical media are the weakest links for image storage.

There have been multiple discussions about backups, archiving etc. throughout multiple forums over the last few months. If I were shooting film (which I still do) as much as I am digital, yes I would store my images off site. Is this my job -- no but I have to do something when I retire -- and why would I not want to use the images I shot last week? Store it or lose it.

Edit: I was on vacation in Dec 06 and between my son and I we shot 21GB (almost a gig a day) worth of images. Some days I did not shoot all that many - some days it was a gig or two. There were times when I did not have my camera with me - and those once in a lifetime shots came up - cr*pski. Off to Yellowstone ---- been there 8 times --- easy 2gig a day while in the park - no problem.

PDL

JahJahwarrior · 05-20-2007, 01:45 PM

I was shooting film until about two weeks ago. I really liked knowing that I have the negatives and the stuff on cd.....

-spam- · 05-20-2007, 04:32 PM

Originally posted by JahJahwarrior

All of you who save them so many places, do you do this for a hobby or for a job?

Just amature at the moment, but if one day i do start doing paid work then i have worked myself into a good practice.

I also know what it feels like to lose everything on a hard drive when it fails. Not a nice feeling

daacon · 05-21-2007, 01:18 PM

Originally posted by -spam-

Just amature at the moment, but if one day i do start doing paid work then i have worked myself into a good practice.

I also know what it feels like to lose everything on a hard drive when it fails. Not a nice feeling

I am amature for sure and likely will remain so however I have been in IT sice '86 and what -spam- said you only have to go through that once (and of course loose something valuable) to get into the habbit - it is not much effort realy (done on a weekly or so basis)

PDL · 05-21-2007, 04:47 PM

There are three types of backups.
Data backups - such as images - copied to additional hard drives, NAS devices or DVD's - sometimes these backups are stored off site.
Archive - Dumping of data and stored off site or somewhere other than a device readily accessable as on line storage --- tapes - DVD's etc.
Disaster Recovery - primarily OS and system configuration information - in Windows it is the C: drive/system state and a seperate set of drivers etc that is needed for reinstallation. Usually stored as seperate from on-line/near storage.

Backing up your images to "other" hard drives is OK - but in my experience hard drives are the weakest link (I manage servers with around 14TB of attached storage - the most often replaced items are hard drives). The ability of future computers to read your data is the biggest long term issue at present - using hard drives as a backup medium is questionable - given the history of hard drive interfaces (MFM, RLE, IDE, SCSI, SATA iSATA, USB, firewire etc.). The life span of CD's and DVD's are not really understood (show me a 30 year old CD data CD that works). Will be be able to read CD's or current DVD's in 5 years (when Blu-Ray/HD DVD's are the norm)?

Any way - use your best judgement and back it up. Use what you have and test it before you do the final erase. As for SD cards - Once the data are copied off onto my Wolverine and my local hard drive (even just the Wolverine in most cases) I format them when I put them into the camera for use.

PDL

retnip · 05-22-2007, 09:26 AM

Like others who have posted on this thread, I have been working in IT for a number of years (20+). I agree that the rapid pace of technological change can make it confusing when deciding on archival/backup solutions.

I currently back up all my important data to NAS on my home network. But I also back up most of the same data to my Amazon web services account -- simple storage solution (aka S3). There is a firefox plugin for S3 that makes the process simple. AND if you're traveling, the odds of finding a broadband connection are getting better every day.

05-19-2007, 02:19 PM	#1
JahJahwarrior Inactive Account Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Gainesville, Fl Posts: 102	backing up images? I've been putting images from my new *ist DS on my new Macbook, mainly because the PC is pretty full of video data at the moment I'm hesitant to reformat my cards (2 gig and 1 1gig) until I know the images are backed up somehow. Do you all know of an easy way to back images up to a dvd as I acrue them, as in, today I put all my images on a dvd, in a week I add new images to the same dvd.... I think it has something to do with not "ending the session" but I've never tried something like that on a dvd or on a mac. I'll also ask on a mac forum, but thought I'd also find out from here how other Pentaxers back up their images.

05-20-2007, 01:39 PM	#8
PDL Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: PNW USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,128	Some of us remember how easy it was to keep the original negatives from back in the good old days. If print was gone - get a new one. Some of us had darkrooms as did our parents - keeping images around is part of our DNA. With digital, the viability of long term storage of the original images is questionable -- I work in IT, I know that hard drives, tapes and optical media are the weakest links for image storage. There have been multiple discussions about backups, archiving etc. throughout multiple forums over the last few months. If I were shooting film (which I still do) as much as I am digital, yes I would store my images off site. Is this my job -- no but I have to do something when I retire -- and why would I not want to use the images I shot last week? Store it or lose it. Edit: I was on vacation in Dec 06 and between my son and I we shot 21GB (almost a gig a day) worth of images. Some days I did not shoot all that many - some days it was a gig or two. There were times when I did not have my camera with me - and those once in a lifetime shots came up - crpski. Off to Yellowstone ---- been there 8 times --- easy 2gig a day while in the park - no problem. PDL Last edited by PDL; 05-20-2007 at 01:44 PM. Reason: thing about vacation*

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05-19-2007, 03:55 PM	#2
PDL Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: PNW USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,128	I do not have a Mac - but here is what I do. As I shoot and when the SD card gets filled up - I remove the card and slide the lock switch into place (keeps me from being stupid later) When done shooting for the day, I copy the files off of the SD card onto a Wolverine flashpac 7000 portable hard drive - that is the first step towards archiving. When I get back to where my main PC is I copy (not move) the files off of the Wolverine onto my hard disk. If I am really paranoid (as I was when my main PC hard drive failed) I will use my laptop to burn DVD's off the Wolverine (basically a DVD portable drive). About once a quarter - or when something sounds as if it is about to die or I get worried - I burn DVD's. This makes me feel better - If I were really going to create a archive - I would copy the DVD's and move them to a safe deposit box - of course I would do this periodically since DVD's have a unknown life span. Oh - and I only put SD cards into my cameras that are "unlocked" - I unlock the cards when I feel that I have a good Backup copy (the files are on the Wolverine and my main hard drive as a minimum - unless I am far away from my main PC). When a insert an card into the camera - I format it - I never just delete files off the SD card. PDL

05-19-2007, 09:23 PM	#3
Arpe Pentaxian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: New Zealand Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 4,452	What programme would you be using to write to DVD? IF Nero or Roxio, then yes, do not end the session, most computers can still read it.

05-20-2007, 01:07 AM	#4
PDL Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: PNW USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,128	I do not believe that Nero or Roxio work on a Macbook - but the software supported by Apple should provide the industry standard of closing a session without finalizing the DVD. At least I would hope so - or maybe this is only a PC thing? ---- Naa Apple has some very good stuff - DVD burning should be right up there. Maybe another Mac user can chime in. PDL

05-20-2007, 02:34 AM	#5
-spam- Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 354	When i get home from a shoot, i copy the photos off of my CF card onto my hard drive. I then copy those images again onto 2 of my external hard drives so they are stored in 3 different places. If one dies then they should still be safe on one of the other 2. I then format the CF card using the camera and keep shooting. At the end of every week i make 2 copies of that weeks photos on 2 separate DVD's. For the same reason as using 3 hard drives.

05-20-2007, 05:53 AM	#6
daacon Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Alberta,Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 20,914	word of caution with 'not ending a session' - you may have difficulties reading that DVD on any computer other than the one you created it on - so if the Mac dies .. (Mac's don't die do they haha). If you only have a few Mb or hundreds of MB, maybe use a thumb dive , they are pretty cheap - then when you have enough on the Thumb drive (say 2gb) sure make a couple of backup DVD’s and store one offsite. Personally I sync two computers with all my pictures, then (not often enough) I take full images of these machines onto an External drive. Finally (again not often enough) I cut them all to double sided DVD's. Works for me - although everything is physically stored in the same location - I need to work on that off-site thing...so do what I say not what I do

05-20-2007, 12:27 PM	#7
JahJahwarrior Inactive Account Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Gainesville, Fl Posts: 102 Original Poster	I've taken about 3 gigs of pictures in the last few weeks, and have 5 gigs of SD card storage space. I'm going to Houston, Tx for a debate tournament this week, and about 15 hours after I get back, I leave for a week of Yellowstone National Park. I'll have enough time to dump photos from Texas and recharge the batteries before I head out again In the meantime, I had an SD card or two which I was waiting to format until I found a way to save them somewhere else. At the moment, I have the photos saved two physically seperate places, so I am happy. All of you who save them so many places, do you do this for a hobby or for a job?

05-20-2007, 01:45 PM	#9
JahJahwarrior Inactive Account Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Gainesville, Fl Posts: 102 Original Poster	I was shooting film until about two weeks ago. I really liked knowing that I have the negatives and the stuff on cd.....

05-20-2007, 04:32 PM	#10
-spam- Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 354	Originally posted by JahJahwarrior All of you who save them so many places, do you do this for a hobby or for a job? Just amature at the moment, but if one day i do start doing paid work then i have worked myself into a good practice. I also know what it feels like to lose everything on a hard drive when it fails. Not a nice feeling

05-21-2007, 01:18 PM	#11
daacon Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Alberta,Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 20,914	Originally posted by -spam- Just amature at the moment, but if one day i do start doing paid work then i have worked myself into a good practice. I also know what it feels like to lose everything on a hard drive when it fails. Not a nice feeling I am amature for sure and likely will remain so however I have been in IT sice '86 and what -spam- said you only have to go through that once (and of course loose something valuable) to get into the habbit - it is not much effort realy (done on a weekly or so basis)

05-21-2007, 04:47 PM	#12
PDL Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: PNW USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,128	There are three types of backups. Data backups - such as images - copied to additional hard drives, NAS devices or DVD's - sometimes these backups are stored off site. Archive - Dumping of data and stored off site or somewhere other than a device readily accessable as on line storage --- tapes - DVD's etc. Disaster Recovery - primarily OS and system configuration information - in Windows it is the C: drive/system state and a seperate set of drivers etc that is needed for reinstallation. Usually stored as seperate from on-line/near storage. Backing up your images to "other" hard drives is OK - but in my experience hard drives are the weakest link (I manage servers with around 14TB of attached storage - the most often replaced items are hard drives). The ability of future computers to read your data is the biggest long term issue at present - using hard drives as a backup medium is questionable - given the history of hard drive interfaces (MFM, RLE, IDE, SCSI, SATA iSATA, USB, firewire etc.). The life span of CD's and DVD's are not really understood (show me a 30 year old CD data CD that works). Will be be able to read CD's or current DVD's in 5 years (when Blu-Ray/HD DVD's are the norm)? Any way - use your best judgement and back it up. Use what you have and test it before you do the final erase. As for SD cards - Once the data are copied off onto my Wolverine and my local hard drive (even just the Wolverine in most cases) I format them when I put them into the camera for use. PDL

05-22-2007, 09:26 AM	#13
retnip New Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 4	Like others who have posted on this thread, I have been working in IT for a number of years (20+). I agree that the rapid pace of technological change can make it confusing when deciding on archival/backup solutions. I currently back up all my important data to NAS on my home network. But I also back up most of the same data to my Amazon web services account -- simple storage solution (aka S3). There is a firefox plugin for S3 that makes the process simple. AND if you're traveling, the odds of finding a broadband connection are getting better every day.