How do you backup your photos?

I have a multiple backup going on.

I have a full back-up of my HDD done via FW (as a bootable disk). I also have a HDD that I keep at my sisters home, that is also bootable. I have an Epson P-2000 that goes with me everywhere, for the images that I want to have on hand.

All of my important files are also backed up on CD's and DVD's.

CD and on another computer soon , hopefully via Firewire it will be easy to exchange the info back and forth between the iMac and the new iBook.

i currently back up my stuff on the spare space in my ipod, including photo's.

Ashapalan said:

i currently back up my stuff on the spare space in my ipod, including photo's.

Click to expand...

me too, hence the 40 gb ipod photo has been perfect for me

All my data is backed up on 2 external hard drives one that I keep off site. My music is also backed up on 2 other external hard drives that I keep off site. I also have 2 DVD copies of everything - one set that I keep at home and one that I keep at work. Pain in the a$$ backing so much up regularly but I'm paranoid about data loss.

For each roll, I create a CD backup (by clicking a dragging pics into a folder on my desktop, and then creating a burn folder from that folder). This gives me a Photo Album in CD form.

Then every now and then I just burn my iPhoto folder to a DVD. (Does anyone know; if I were to have a problem, if I just copied that iPhoto folder onto another computer, would that iPhoto read it the same way, or would I have a big organization mess?)

Chip NoVaMac said:

I have a multiple backup going on.

I have a full back-up of my HDD done via FW (as a bootable disk). I also have a HDD that I keep at my sisters home, that is also bootable. I have an Epson P-2000 that goes with me everywhere, for the images that I want to have on hand.

All of my important files are also backed up on CD's and DVD's.

Click to expand...

Which program do you have that makes a Bootable Disk?

EricNau said:

Which program do you have that makes a Bootable Disk?

Click to expand...

Carbon Copy Cloner

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

Burned to a DVD every few weeks. I store the disc here at work - call it my version of "off site backup". After all, what good is a backup copy in a fire, flood, theft, etc. if it is sitting next to the computer with exact same files on it?

Chip NoVaMac said:

Carbon Copy Cloner

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

Click to expand...

Thanks.

Now all I need is a External HDD.

EricNau said:

Thanks.

Now all I need is a External HDD.

Click to expand...

Keep an eye out for sales at WorstBuy and the such. $80 for 160gb after ALL rebates.

Chip NoVaMac said:

Keep an eye out for sales at WorstBuy and the such. $80 for 160gb after ALL rebates.

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Unfortunately, I'll need 250, because that's what my iMac has, (I shouldn't have upgraded, now I'm paying for it: literally).

I've heard a lot of great things about LaCie; I think I'm gonna get this one.
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10384

Chip NoVaMac said:

Keep an eye out for sales at WorstBuy and the such. $80 for 160gb after ALL rebates.

Click to expand...

I hate Worst Buy as well. I worked there for 3 hours before I quit. They wanted me to sell cameras I knew sucked only because they cost more.

Make redundent bacups, using multiple methods

several methods to backup photos:

1) My workflow is to first download the images to a folder outside of iPhoto. I backup this folder to CD and then I import the folder to iPhoto. So I have one backup from the the start before any modifications to the images.

2) Next. I keep a USB disk that every few days I turn on and copy "stuff" to. I keep backup copies of Photos, Music and videos there then I power the drive off.

3) In the terminal I use a few UNIX commands to copy a large (over 25GB) folder to a stack of DVDs. "tar -czf - foobar | split -b4500m foobar.tgz." will create a series of files with names like "foobar.tgz.aa, foobar.tgz.ab, foobar.tgz.ac, ..." where all file are 4.5GB long except the last file which could be shorter. These filescan be burned to DVD. If the folder fobar should ever be lost it can be recoverd _exactly_ from the stack of DVDs.

I can take the stack of DVD with me to work and keep them in a desk drawer. So if the house burns down, floods or whatever I've got a
copy of the data.

Photos are something that become more valuable with time. In 50 years
my kids will have kids that migt want some of these photos. It is
REALLY hard to make digital data last that long. If a burn enough
copies of the data there is hoe that maybe one or more of the copies will
survive a half century.

Yes you can move libraies.

EricNau said:

(Does anyone know; if I were to have a problem, if I just copied that iPhoto folder onto another computer, would that iPhoto read it the same way, or would I have a big organization mess?)

Click to expand...

It "works" provided you do not move the iPhoto libray. I mean if it was in home/Music one one computerthem yo mov it into home/Music on the otherand it works. Pretty much the same rules appy for moving the library around on the same computer. Aliases work best for this. Put an alias in home/Music that point to where the libray really lives.

I keep my libray on a Linux base file server. An alias oints t the shared folder. To Mac OS a shared folder looks and works just like a firewire or USB disk, no difference.

I backup my photos onto dvd (3 of them) which, one stays at home, one at the bank (safety deposit box) and one with family. Also on my HDD and soon an external drive.

~Shard~
Burned to a DVD every few weeks. I store the disc here at work - call it my version of "off site backup". After all, what good is a backup copy in a fire, flood, theft, etc. if it is sitting next to the computer with exact same files on it?

Click to expand...

That's why at the bank, not to mention the deed to my home which would cost more than the photos, "but not mentally more".

I had a flood when I first bought my home and it made my HP PC at the time look like a raft. So that's really when other ways of backup became important to me....Be proactive, not reactive my gram told me

Back using an external drive using both Backup and a finder copy of the iPhoto folder. I do this once or twice a month.

Once or twice a year I back up to a DVD

Passante said:

Back using an external drive using both Backup and a finder copy of the iPhoto folder.

Click to expand...

I had gotten some really good advice from underwater and nature photographer Norbert Wu a couple of years ago: an external HD with removable trays.

Here's the one I'm using:

http://store.yahoo.com/cooldrives/dkrehaenusb2.html

Basically, for $80, you get a chassis that has both USB and Firewire connectors...obviously, use the firewire

It comes with one tray, and additional trays are $15 each. Buy two more, to start with 3 total. Cost so far is $110.

Now go out and find whatever bare EIDE drive you like and/or can find cheap. For example, Pricewatch suggests that starting $89 each, I can find a 300GB EIDE drive...but I just need to pay a little more for a reputable vendor: Call it $100 each and buy 3 of them. So after some shipping costs, we're probably still under $450 total for the system.

What you now have is a standard triple-redundency backup system with (in this example) 300GB worth of storage.

You pick whatever backup cycle you want. For the first backup, you use Tray#1, the next time you backup, you use Tray#2, the next time is Tray#3, and when you get around to your fourth backup, you're finally back to Tray#1 - if the system blows up during the backup and takes both your PC and the backup out, you still have two (although slightly older) copies.

The beauty of this is fourfold:

1. The cost per GB is low. YMMV if you want to look at it as $1.50/GB at triple redundency, or $0.50/GB without redundency.

2. Labor savings. With a single big platter, its a single batch command that can run unattended (overnight)... a huge labor savings instead of having to babysit DVD swaps. Plus, its easier to manage a few HD's versus a couple hundred DVD's.

3. HD's have faster I/O than DVD's. Faster to restore after an oops, etc.

4. Your cost per GB will go down in the future, since you don't need to buy another chassis (just more HD's and trays). Plus, tomorrows HD's will be cheaper, too. For example, when I set mine up, the $100 per HD price point got you a 250GB HD, but today, the same amount of money buys a 300GB HD.


-hh