Back That File Up!

Today, I posted something on my Facebook status update about backing up my 2008 images on DVDs and it spurred a great conversation. So, I thought I’d elaborate on here about backing up files.

Here goes: I’m completely anal when it comes to backing up my image files. My clients have NOTHING to worry about, because somewhere, some how, I probably have some version of the files if that’s ever a problem. I’d even rather edit the original Raw files over again if it came down to it. At this point, I have not actually gotten rid of image files (except for a few). I most likely will only keep copies for a certain number of years as business grows and I take more and more images.

When images come home, I pull them off my Compact Flash cards onto my computer’s hard drive (one on my Drive 2 and one on my Drive 1 where I have my “working sessions” folder). I work with a Mac Pro tower that has two hard drives installed.

Then, I make a DVD backup of the Raw files. Even before I sort, I make a backup. I don’t delete the images from my cards until this is done. It’s important to have plenty of cards if you are a busy shooter! My friend, Rebekah turned me onto these DVD+R DL disks from Newegg. Expensive, I know, but they are 8.5 GB of file space! You cannot go wrong with that! I have had a few fail during burning, but others have not. I just don’t seem to have much luck with disks anyway, so I just live with it.

A copy of the client’s folder now goes on my Drobo drive. I use mine for file storage instead of a backup system. I have HUGE hard drives on here, so no worries on space for quite a while. That drive, as well as my working sessions folder on my computer get auto backed up to Backblaze.com. There are lots of online backup storage systems you can use. It’s just the one that seems to be working for me.

I’ve developed a pretty quick method for editing my photos. I can edit a session in a day, if not faster. Weddings, longer, but still faster than I used to. That’s another post for another time. So, a fresh copy of my edited files goes on the Drobo, along with my sorted Raw files – I’ve deleted the ones that I don’t want to use in this set. Then, those get burned to another DVD and a copy goes to the studio and one at home.

There, that’s it. It’s what I do. I will clean it off my computer’s working session folder. Just to keep my computer free and clear. I told you, I’m anal about backups. I have had drives fail on me with simple bumps. I just don’t want to risk losing my clients images, or the hard work I’ve put into them. I may be going completely overboard, but not relying on just one method is working for me – as a peace of mind.

There are lots of methods like RAID systems, and EHDs and all those things. Just find what works for you. My only recommendation is to make MULTIPLE copies of your backups and store one off site from where you normally work. What if your home floods or burns? It’s all just about peace of mind for you and your business.

Hope that helps a little!

Besides, who would want to lose the file of this adorable image?

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