Much Ado Over Nothing, or Complete Mayhem?
>> Tuesday, March 31, 2009
With all of this talk about the Conficker virus I thought this might be an important post. I am a bit anal about backing up my original image RAW files. Those are my photo "negatives" and they document my entire children's lives. So I have them on my main computer, backed up on two external hard drives (one that is off site in case the house burns down), and on DVDs. I do the DVDs because I can store them safely off site and easily add a new DVD rather than having to get my drive back and saving the new images. I spend so much time backing up that I am one year behind in processing these photos!
So for external drives, I love Iomega drives. There are other perfectly good brands out there like Western Digital, but lately I have been buying Iomega and they have worked great. This is the one I just bought:
Now I wish I had gone with an even larger one, but even this one has more than enough space to store all of my photos with plenty of room left over, for now.
If I had "real" fast internet (I have satellite which is fast compared to 28 K dial-up) I would also use an off site backup company. My husband uses MozyPro Business Online Backup at work and loves it. For home use Mozy has Mozy Online Backup - 2GB Free and also Mozy Unlimited Backup - $4.95/Month . If you buy a year you get one month free, and if you purchase two years you get three months free! Or just buy it month-to-month. Right now you can get 10% off if you click on one of these links and type the code APRIL into the referral box at signup. I always love a discount!
Remember, you can't use Mozy if you have satellite or dial-up (unless you have incredible patience or only tiny files).
If you are on a budget and just want a cheap easy route, burn DVDs. Make one copy to store in your house, and one copy to store off site. I have used all brands and they all seem to work. I realize DVDs won't last forever, but store them in a hard CD case safely away from your kids and pets and they are a decent backup for years and years. And I don't think computer terrorists can fry them like they can hard drives (this is not based on any actual information, just from my reading too much sci fi!).
Someone suggested the best back-up plan for your images in the comment section. Make photo prints! Wow, that is the best advice I have seen. Not only do they last a few generations if properly stored, you will enjoy them much more as actual photos rather than image files on your computer. Brilliant suggestion!
Just make sure to back up your important files and photos. You never know what can happen and it is better to be safe than sorry... I really hope this Conflicker virus ends up being a big ado over nothing.
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7 Thoughtful Comments:
I hope so too. i use and external dirve for backing up. Works good so far.
Good to know! I keep all my "photo" stuff on an external, and we backup our entire system on it as well. I keep all my RAW files on DVD's. I may be the voice of dissent (there was bound to be 1 thing we don't agree on!!!LOL) but I think that would be enough. I agree, keep it off site if possible. I don't, but they are in a place for immediate removal.
Backing up in several places, and DVD's seems, kinda over kill to me. But again, that just may be me!
Wanted you to know I just happened to stumble upon your website the other day. I LOVE it!! I am finding it very useful. I am new to photoshop and so far I am fascinated with it. I want to know everything... :-)
Thank you for all your information! You rock!!
thanks - I just had my external drive crash - I lost A LOT. I bought a mirrored 2 tb drive - one mirrors the other AND i joined Mozy since they will back up the external drive. It is slow going but it's backing up my external drive.
Even with my mirrored drive - I put video files on it and somehow they are gone!!! That is why I joined Mozy too.
Thanks for all the great actions and stuff. My daughter just made some skateboarding storyboards on her blog.
Thanks!
Thank you so much for your back-up ideas. We also use an external back-up hard drive.
However, instead of CD disks, we find it much easier to back up to 8GB memory sticks for off-site storage (in case of fire or robbery, in a safety deposit box, or exchange with family and/or friends for them to keep safe) - less than $20 at Wal-Mart.
http://sometimesontheedge.blogspot.com/
wow its been ages since I have been here, and i just spotted that eyes bright action. thank you so much! i love your actions and helpful techniques!
My external is on its last legs. I am in the market for a new ones! Thanks for the backup ideas!
jessie
http://designsbyjessie.etsy.com
You can (almost) never back up enough.
Online storage sites can go under-- I've used half a dozen over the years that have closed up shop.
DVDs and CDs can scratch, and the files themselves might not always save properly on the CD/DVD and are irreadable. (Another reason why you can't rely only on one backup method...). Similarly, technology can change-- will the CDs/DVDs of today be easily playable in 50 years? Think about the beta tapes, floppy disks, huge dos disks, and records. Technology changes, but paper is simple and easy to pass down in a family.
Local hard drives also crash, as do external hard drives. I've had external hard drives stop working from just sitting there-- work one day, don't the next. Computers fans can go out, software can cause errors, Windows can become unbootable. While there are recovery methods, they don't always work.
Keeping a copy of your files on a local hard disk, external hard drive, CD or DVD, offsite, online, and in paper prints is probably a reasonably good measure.
Don't settle for anything less than this:
1) Local hard drive backup.
2) External hard drive or USB drive backup
3) Online backup (never rely solely on this)
4) PHOTO PRINTS!
Digital files can and do become "lossless" over time, with either photos becoming unopenable or partially irreadable (search "lossless jpg, invalid jpg marker, etc.). Sometimes the copies of what you backup don't fully transfer, or the file itself was damaged/corrupt, or you encounter the lossless JPEG.
I'll say it again.. GET PHOTO PRINTS. It would be terrible to have to tell your kid that "well, mommy's computer stopped working, so all of your childhood photos are gone." Photo prints stand up to time longer than digital. They don't require maintainance or passwords. They can sit in the closet for decades, without it being necessary to "back them up" or "transition" them from one file type to another. (File types and technology changes over time. Back in the early 1990s, .GIF files were the rage. Now, .JPEGs and .TIFFs are. As time moves on, someone/you must actively manage your digital collection with backups, file conversions, etc. Think of the .WPS files of the 1990s-- unreadable without a MS Word/.doc converter now.)
While paper prints alone is not the answer, a combination of digital and paper can be. Paper prints can easily be given to family members and future generations. They don't need to know your computer password or what websites you backed up the family photos on-- your heirs simply hand the grandkids a box of treasured photos.
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