Where do you back up your picture files?

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123paradox321

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Wei
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Hi all,

I've previously had to do a recover on my 1TB external hard disk and didn't get all the files. It was a true pain hence I'm looking for some ideas how to reliably back up the files . Suggestions anyone?
 
Amazon cloud
 
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I have a 5TB HDD for my archive and
another one to back it up.
 
123paradox321 said:
Does the system recognise NEFs as picture files?
Click to expand...
NEFs will never be recognized as pictures as they are
not… not even by a converter.
123paradox321 said:
I've read that unlimited storage is only for picture files.
Click to expand...
A file is a given amount of information between a start
and a finish point. Pictures or not, documents or images
this is all data. It is copyable and readable, duplicatable
and writeable but may not always be editable though al-
ways recognizable.

Some outside services may have filters to accept only
photos but this is of no concern if your BU is a peripheral.
 
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123paradox321 said:
Does the system recognise NEFs as picture files? I've read that unlimited storage is only for picture files.
Click to expand...


I'm a Canon user but it does upload CR2 files which are the Canon raw version of NEF files
 
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I have a 2TB external drive that is a backup of my 2TB internal data drive and a 1TB external drive that is an archive of older (non-RAW) files.
My main data drive is also backed up constantly to BackBlaze. If I ever need to get anything back from BackBlaze, I can download individual files or whole batches. BackBlaze can even post you an actual hard drive of your files if you need.
The cost of BackBlaze was the winner for me, it was about £35 for a year of completely unlimited backup. No file size limits, no limit on file types either. It'll also backup from your external drives if you want.
I also leave raw files on the SD card till I've at least got them copied onto my main data drive and my external backup.
 
i use an external NAS 4TB and an 8TB Thunderbolt Mirror basically 2 or 3 drives working as one, so if one fails you don't loose it all, All the keepers i also backup to Onedrive or dropbox. If you need a simplistic fast drive then the Western digital Duos are ok, the world of NAS is a minefield but also a good area to look with Synology and QNAP

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Deskt...467627744&sr=8-1&keywords=western+digital+duo

or the daddy

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Di...e=UTF8&qid=1467627882&sr=8-1&keywords=wd+16tb

please note i only use Amazon as reference purposes cheaper else where if you google...
Very subjective topic

One thing to bare in mind also is Office 365 from Microsoft 5.99 a month gets you full office suite 60mins of Skype calls a month AND 1TB of storage space which is more than enough for all the keepers :)
 
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123paradox321 said:
sounds like a raid setup.
Click to expand...
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No, it isn't!
This is known as a single BUD (back up drive). A 1:1
copy of the original. Assured that both disks will hardly
fail at the same time, I decided to opt for this approach
as the real RAID BU I had went wrong. This had cost
me a small fortune at the time. Made of 4x 3TB HHD
in a special casing of its own, it was the management
driving software that failed.

A "RAID" (redundant array of independent disks) is a data
storage virtualization technology that combines multiple
physical disk drive components into a single logical unit
for the purposes of data redundancy, performance impro-
vement, or both.
 
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123paradox321 said:
Does the system recognise NEFs as picture files? I've read that unlimited storage is only for picture files.
Click to expand...
Amazon Prime does online storage of pictures where certain file types are perhaps not counted as pictures. But Amazon Cloud drive has an Everything option that lets you back up anything.

Just to start an argument, a raw file is a computer file that contains, amongst other things, information about light and colour values of each pixel. And needs dedicated software to visualise it. A JPEG, on the other hand, is a computer file that contains, amongst other things, information about light and colour values of each pixel. And needs dedicated software to visualise it. You can't hold either of them up to the light though!
 
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Prime allows unlimited nef file back up. Check your facts peeps
 
I have a couple of 2TB external hard drives keeping my backup at home. I also have the last six months at least on my current laptop and the six months before that on a second laptop. All my keepers are uploaded to PhotoDeck for sales which automatically backs up to Amazon Secure. The really good photos are also all uploaded to my website which is hosted by GoDaddy.com and hasn't had a single lost data event in the 15 years I have been using them.

The only concern to me is my RAW files, because they are all stored locally, (though the backup externals are stored in a fireproof safe when not in use). The important thing is the outputted images though, because they are what is going to sell.
 
I have a twin hard drive set up on my PC. The primary drive contains all the final JPEGs. The secondary contains all the RAW files plus Lightroom catalogues, that way if one fails, I can still get access to the final images. These drives are then backed up in real time to my twin drive Synology NAS and I use Google Drive to cloud storage my most important images.
 
123paradox321 said:
I'm looking for some ideas how to reliably back up the files . Suggestions anyone?
Click to expand...

I have a HP ProLiant Microserver (currently money off = £112) to which I back up all my photos.

Additionally when I have completed my treatment of my CR2s and created appropriate JPEGs for printing / display I copy these to the Microserver - THEN I make a backup copy to everything on a 6TB external l drive which I keep in a steel cupboard in my garage (my own solid cloud). Only then do I re-use my camera card. SO I have 3 separate copies of CR2 files + JPEGs created in Lightroom.
 
There are a few things to consider here.

1. Keep it simple - the more complicated, the less likely it to be reliable (or for you to bothered to fix it).
2. Automate if you can. Remove yourself as a dependency if you can.
3. Keep a local copy for fast recovery and remote copy for increased data availability/DR (house fire, burglary).
4. Just keeping a replica of data does not mean you are protected. If your master data corrupts or gets infected with a virus (remember Cryptolocker?) then you are possible going to overwrite good data with bad on your next copy. Point in time restore is key.

Here is mine.

My master data is copied to two local drives. Automated.
Every night between 01:00-08:00 all new data uploaded to Crashplan servers (cloud storage)
Result = 4 copies in total.

The key advantage is obviously a copy "in the cloud" but as important is that Crashplan offers point in time restores so if something goes wrong, I can recover from before it happened. All for £4 a month for unlimited storage. Other cloud storage providers are available :)

Many other options out there, none will ever be zero risk.

Hope this helps.
 
I've set up automatic backups (even sends me emails to say if successful or not) to external hard drives using carbon copy cloner (Mac only). Hard drives are kept in the house, off site copies and also a time machine backup too. I don't use cloud but do manually save all final hi res jpegs to a folder on my website so it's kind of a cloud backup. I'm only a hobbyist so I'm fine with this backup system, if the images were part of my job then I would probably look at cloud and other backups.
 
Kodiak Qc said:
NEFs will never be recognized as pictures as they are
not… not even by a converter.

A file is a given amount of information between a start
and a finish point. Pictures or not, documents or images
this is all data. It is copyable and readable, duplicatable
and writeable but may not always be editable though al-
ways recognizable.

Some outside services may have filters to accept only
photos but this is of no concern if your BU is a peripheral.
Click to expand...

Pedantic much?!

Paradox's question was to do with Amazon Prime photo backup, which is unlimited only for photo files. Their Raw policy is thus:

"Supported RAW File Types
The following RAW photo files from the following camera models are recognised by Amazon Drive as a photo file; however, file preview is not possible at this time. This is not a definitive list:

  • Nikon (NEF files) - Nikon D1, Nikon D1X, Nikon D4, Nikon Coolpix A, Nikon E5700, Nikon AW1, Nikon D800, Nikon D50, Nikon D610


  • Canon (CR2 Files**) - Canon 5D, Canon 1D, Canon 1D MarkIIN, Canon Rebel SL1, Canon 60D, Canon 5D MarkIII, Canon 1D MarkIV
    **While Amazon Drive recognises these files as photos, some of the information associated the file (like the time and date the photo was taken) may not be recognised.

  • Sony (ARW files) - Sony A7, Sony A7R, Sony A6000, Sony NEX-5T, Sony NEX-3N, Sony NEX-6"

Amazon prime backup seems like an excellent way of getting unlimited backup for both JPGs and raw files - as long as you shoot Nikon, Canon or Sony! m43 users are out of luck at this time.
 
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