Backing up your photos

[arej]

What is your preferred method and routine for backup and looking after your photos. I've never really decided on what to do and as a result they are not ordered very well and all over the place.
I am looking to buy a 1TB external hard drive at the moment as a solution, is this what most people do or is there a better way? I have considered backing up onto SD cards as transfer is very quick and it is a stable? method of storage and not all my photographic eggs are in the same basket but it is expensive in the long term with lots of photos.
Opinions please!

[stigmundfreud]

i use

external 2TB system, mirrored to 1TB
I then plug this into a USB to LAN device
I then put this in the loft
I plug it in to power in the loft
I then connect the USB LAN sharer to an Ethernet over Power adapter (you can connect your LAN to the wall sockets)
I then connect the wireless router network port to a second power to ethernet adapter.
I then connect my laptop to the USB LAN device as if its a local USB hard drive

there are a lot of I's there but its all what me me me does

[GetCarter]

Two external HDs, and every year I back up all the year's 'masters' onto DVDs and store them in someone elses house. I also upload all the half decent stuff to sell on Photobox, so they have copies of everything I'd feel pi55ed off about if I lost.

[CAB]

GetCarter said:

Two external HDs, and every year I back up all the year's 'masters' onto DVDs and store them in someone elses house. I also upload all the half decent stuff to sell on Photobox, so they have copies of everything I'd feel pi55ed off about if I lost.

DVD's ... that must take a hell of a long time.

Personally i have a couple of remote 2TB la cie firewire drives, which mirror the main HD and themselves. Personally i find backing up much easier/happens more frequently if i can do it quickly which is where fire wire comes into its own...

CAB

Edited by CAB on Sunday 3rd January 22:01

[Blue Meanie]

I have an account with flikr, so everything gets sent there, in their original condition. Does the job. It syncs directly from iphoto.

[stigmundfreud]

unless you work in raw, flickr is good

[Pete Baraka]

A pair of 1TB eSATA drives here. I don't wipe the CF cards until the data is on the internal drive and both of the external drives. Just like Steve, when I need to free off space I archive to DVD (two copies).

Pete

[andy-xr]

Pair of 1TB drives for me too, some stuff held in a Gmail account as hires finished jpeg, and of course I have prints

[Fordo]

I have a 1tb drive that my whole computer back ups to daily, and I backup important / old projects to DVDs - toast titanium does a great job of archiving stuff to multiple dvds, even including a mac and pc unarchive program on each disc. Doesnt take too long to burn huge projects to multiple discs. - ive been meaning to store these at someone elses house, like getcarter does. - your backups no use if your house is burgled or burns down! I find DVDs to be the most cost effective deep storage solution, although i make sure i buy makes that are renowned for their longevity, and i store them in decent dust free cases.

[EmmaP]

Jobs written to CD or DVD whenever I need space or have time to write a CD.

I back up on external hard drive after completing each day's work. HD is stored away from home.

[furtive]

I use:

HP EX490 MediaSmart Server with folder duplication for local backup
Mozy.com for online backup

[driverrob]

I backup all new files to DVD every month or two and store them in a steel filing cabinet in a cupboard.
Lots of pics go to my Flickr account but not all as they're not all for public viewing - though I suppose I could just change that on the site.
All the decent ones are also stored at places like Photobox or Snapfish because I print them and put them in albums !!

[Yellabelly]

I use 1 x Buffalo 320Mb external drive for General Photos
1 x eSATA 320Mb external drive for Specific RAW files
1 x ----- 60Mb compact external drive for family photos

plus Flickr, Photobox and Photobucket for additional duplicate storage

[crmcatee]

Couple of 1.5TB drives and some NAS storage for online backups but for easier access.

One of the 1.5's makes a backup of what I want. And gets swapped with the one that's in my locked drawer in the office.

Directories get dated so I know what's the latest.

Nice simple and suits me.

I am going to have to rethink it as I've just ripped all my DVD's to HD and need to have a backup. I feel another 1.5Tb drive being bought and making the same journey to work.

I've also scanned important documents onto the hard drives just in case the firesafe has a problem.
Oh and theres a list of the items in the house (images also) just in case the insurance query.


Now if only there was a way to backup my vinyl collection.

[driverrob]

crmcatee said:

Now if only there was a way to backup my vinyl collection.

Line-out on stereo to line-in on laptop+LPRipper+LPRecorder => mp3
Slow old job though if you have a large collection (probably proportional to owner's age) so far from complete.

[crmcatee]

driverrob said:

Slow old job though if you have a large collection (probably proportional to owner's age) so far from complete.

Thats a polite way of saying I'm old I can't remember how many there are but think the last count was about the 1100 mark - so I'm never going to do it.

[Tycho]

CF Card to Laptop
Laptop via Sync Toy to HDD on network
Burn DVD of latest pics every month or so and mail to parents.

[_dobbo_]

crmcatee said:

driverrob said:

Slow old job though if you have a large collection (probably proportional to owner's age) so far from complete.

Thats a polite way of saying I'm old I can't remember how many there are but think the last count was about the 1100 mark - so I'm never going to do it.

Over 5,000 assorted bits of vinyl is what has stopped me even thinking about doing this. Sad really, but I do still have a decent record deck so I can listen to vinyl when I want to.

Regarding photos - I keep mine on the PC and on a backup drive. I've considered one of the online backup sites, for about $5 a month you'll get 100GB a month storage - more than enough I'd wager.

[Whitefly Swatter]

whats the estiated life of a DVD? or come to that a Blu-Ray disk

I backup to cd/dvd, a NAS drive, another PC and have off site backup for important stuff

boB aka
eddited for spekkin

Edited by Whitefly Swatter on Tuesday 5th January 11:59

[Busa_Rush]

_dobbo_ said:

I've considered one of the online backup sites, for about $5 a month you'll get 100GB a month storage - more than enough I'd wager.

Or sign up to Servage . . . http://servage.net/ 750GB total storage and 7.5TB transfer per month. You can register and host various domains there too, they have ready to go scripts for variuous different content management systems and their servers are fast and they have very good connectivity.

All that for £5 a month is a bargain !