Keeping my photos safe?

Chilt

Chilt

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Name
Nick
Edit My Images
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Hey guys, I don’t have a great pc by any means.. but it does the job, now I use a external hard drive to keep all my photos, I’m hearing horror stores of people losing all there work cause the hard drive failed, now, I was thinking I buying a second external hard drive to copy everything over and run the 2 so I’ll have everything on both Incase 1 fails, would you say this is a good idea? If not, what else can I do, I use Adobe Lightroom to edit my photos if that is of any information.

thanks for any help
Nick
 
If you've got Amazon Prime, that comes with free unlimited [photo] cloud backup.

Failing that, an external hard drive is a good idea.

Cloud backups are an option and are convenient, but often costly (recurringly so). However the worst disaster your home could face would be a fire, so make sure that external drive leaves the house with you when you go on holiday. I know one person who backs his photos up to his brother's PC at another location and his brother backs his PC up to him. Semi-cloud storage so to speak and robust.

Photos are one of the few things that are irreplaceable if you ever lose them. Have a backup!
 
You should have two, independent, back ups if your photographs are important to you. An external hard drive and cloud storage is a good choice.

Just as a matter of interest, are you using back up software?
 
In general terms, in IT, you look for your important files to be stored in 3 places minimum.

So, in your situation your minimum should be:
1. Local storage (be that the pc or an external drive if the pc doesn't have the storage - This is your working space.
2. Local backup - A local copy of your files that is kept generally un-connected, connected for updates
3. Off site back-up - This could be a physical copy of your local back-up, but stored off site (and regularly updated) or it could be cloud.
 
Harlequin565 said:
If you've got Amazon Prime, that comes with free unlimited [photo] cloud backup.

Failing that, an external hard drive is a good idea.

Cloud backups are an option and are convenient, but often costly (recurringly so). However the worst disaster your home could face would be a fire, so make sure that external drive leaves the house with you when you go on holiday. I know one person who backs his photos up to his brother's PC at another location and his brother backs his PC up to him. Semi-cloud storage so to speak and robust.

Photos are one of the few things that are irreplaceable if you ever lose them. Have a backup!
Click to expand...

I do have amazon prime and didn’t even realise it had that option! I’ll have a look into that thanks mate!
 
MartynK said:
You should have two, independent, back ups if your photographs are important to you. An external hard drive and cloud storage is a good choice.

Just as a matter of interest, are you using back up software?
Click to expand...

All I have at the moment is my external
Hard drive with my photos on! :/
 
Chilt said:
All I have at the moment is my external
Hard drive with my photos on! :/
Click to expand...

OK, but are you just copying files to the external drive manually, or are you using some sort of back up software that will do this automatically according to the schedule you set?
 
MartynK said:
OK, but are you just copying files to the external drive manually, or are you using some sort of back up software that will do this automatically according to the schedule you set?
Click to expand...

when I import my photos into Lightroom I make sure there going straight onto the external hard drive and when I finish editing I export onto the hard drive, Hope this helps?

nick
 
As the old advice goes.....

Only two types of HDD exist, those that will fail and those that have failed.

You should have a minimum of 2 drives that are not connected full time to the PC, these two drives are in effect copies of each other.

FWIW, I also have to separate drives in the computer (actually have more than 2) and granted they are on a common environment but two data drives internally also adds some protection IMO.

Hard drives are relatively low cost....if your image files are important/precious don't scrimp!
 
As has been said it's not a back-up if it's at the same location as your PC, what if your house burns down or you are burgled? Backing up to the cloud is one option, another is to put your external hard drive somewhere else when you are not backing up such as your car, in the garage, etc. 2 external drives is a much better option than one.
 
Yep two drives for sure , don`t think you can have to many back ups really , so cloud back up can not hurt as an extra .
 
PC and 2 external HDDs

overseas holidays, weddings etc all stored again on individual flashdrives

I use this

"C:\Program Files (x86)\2BrightSparks\SyncBackFree\SyncBackFree.exe"
 
If you don’t mind Google, they offer unlimited back up (upgrade to store original quality)

I back up on the NAS with raid 1 using resilio file sync to transfer from anywhere.
 
Darkruk said:
If you don’t mind Google, they offer unlimited back up (upgrade to store original quality)

I back up on the NAS with raid 1 using resilio file sync to transfer from anywhere.
Click to expand...

If the NAS is your only extra copy, then in pure terms it is not a backup................simply because it is at the same risk as the primary set i.e. the computer hard drive. In a practical sense unless you store one external drive off-site you have a poor backup protocol.
 
Thanks for the input guys, so when I get another hard drive, what’s the best way to get my stuff on it and then keep adding new stuff to it weekly?
Thanks
Nick
 
Chilt said:
Thanks for the input guys, so when I get another hard drive, what’s the best way to get my stuff on it and then keep adding new stuff to it weekly?
Thanks
Nick
Click to expand...
Get yourself a back up program , something like Acronis and make incremental back ups or schedule it to make a full back up daily, weekly or whatever suits
 
Chilt said:
Thanks for the input guys, so when I get another hard drive, what’s the best way to get my stuff on it and then keep adding new stuff to it weekly?
Thanks..........Nick
Click to expand...

i use 2BrightSparks\SyncBackFree
 
Chilt said:
when I import my photos into Lightroom I make sure there going straight onto the external hard drive and when I finish editing I export onto the hard drive, Hope this helps?

nick
Click to expand...

Not really, you're still exposed to risk. There's good advice in the thread so I won't repeat what others have said. Stay safe!
 
I use a RAID 0 pair as main storage, with a NAS with a Time Machine backup for my boot drive. Looking to sort out some sort of secure NAS system that can go in the basement, as an 'off site' backup solution. Backup of a backup! The idea of losing all me digital image files terrifies me. Will probably invest in some sort of cloud storage solution for treasured data files at some stage too. But only as a backup; the idea of having only cloud based storage doesn't appeal; don't want to end up being 'held to ransom' by some greedy corporate entity/hackers etc.
 
I now use FreeFileSync to backup my files.
I copy everything to an external HD and to my laptop which I backup to a 2nd HD.
I used to keep a HD at work but since retiring I keep one of them in a waterproof, fireproof safe, I got a small safe from Argos :)
 
Harlequin565 said:
Cloud backups are an option and are convenient, but often costly (recurringly so).
Click to expand...

I think that by the time you factor in redundant drives, replacement for failure and some kind of hard drive swap in case "the worst" happens to your storage facility (aka House), Cloud Storage is incredibly cheap. 1TB of AWS Glacier will cost you like $60 a year and is designed to withstand nuclear apocalypse without your doing any more than upload and pay them. It's also a revenue expense rather than capital :)
 
Chilt said:
I was thinking I buying a second external hard drive to copy everything over and run the 2 so I’ll have everything on both Incase 1 fails, would you say this is a good idea? If not, what else can I do, I use Adobe Lightroom to edit my photos if that is of any information.

thanks for any help
Nick
Click to expand...

Yes. Always a good idea.

For example: I have a primary backup in the home, hooked to the computer, and backing up files depending on how often they're being used. Document files, graphic design files, Photoshop files, that I am currently working on, gets backed up every half hour. Files I've finished and stored in a folder labelled 'Archives' gets manually backed up when I know I've moved finished work into this folder.

But every week, I would make a secondary backup, on another external HDD, after that I would take it out of the house and keep it in the outdoor storage room. So that if the house is on fire, the secondary backup drives would be safe.

You could do other options: Leave the secondary backup drive at a family member's home, at a friend's home, in a self-deposit box at a bank.
 
Major Eazy said:
You could do other options: Leave the secondary backup drive at a family member's home, at a friend's home, in a self-deposit box at a bank.
Click to expand...

Does anybody genuinely use a safe deposit box? How does the cost compare to cloud storage?
 
JonathanRyan said:
Does anybody genuinely use a safe deposit box?
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Criminals innit? And anyone wanting to hide summat they consider valuable, away. Popular with people who'd happily declare themselves/business bankrupt, in order to avoid paying employees/contractors/debts. A security deposit box keeps such valuable items/cash etc away from the taxman/debt collectors etc. It's a bit like Switzerland but on a smaller, and more local scale. I spose it's possible that there might be some who simply want to store something like valuable heirlooms in as safe a place as possible, but let's face it; most folk would find somewhere pretty safe to stash something at home. As for costs; I spose it's in the realm of 'if you have to ask...'
 
JonathanRyan said:
Does anybody genuinely use a safe deposit box? How does the cost compare to cloud storage?
Click to expand...

I have a fireproof USB drive, its 3Tb and weighs 7kg!!!! Its also usefully waterproof for when the firemen give it a soaking!!

Fire Protection

Up to 1550° F, 30 minutes per ASTM E-119

Water Protection

IP68: Fully submersed, fresh or salt water, 10 foot depth, 72 hours

https://iosafe.com/products/solo-g3/

Haven't tested it though...................
 
I used to keep a back up disk at a relatives house but sadly he died a few years ago. Apart from my NAS I keep another USB drive with a copy of all my photos in a fire resistant safe. Yes fire resistant not fire proof. If my entire house burnt down taking the contents of the safe, I think I will have more serious problems than my loss of photos. I did produce a Blurb book from LR using my favourites and it is still on their server. I also have a few saved on the Club website.

Dave
 
Box Brownie said:
Do the bank's still offer safety deposit boxes???
Click to expand...

I Googled it :)

Halifax have safety deposit boxes. They cost from £200 a year for one that will take a thumbdrive. They are available 24 hours a day - but only at their Oxford Street Branch. Slightly bizarrely, all Metro Banks have safety deposit boxes. 3" X 5" X 21.5" is £20 a month. So you should get several 2.5" drives in one for less than £1 a day. Minimum rental seems to be a month - if I had a local branch I think it would be all sorts of fun for £20.
 
One the thing that hasn't been mentioned is versioning. If your backup is a simple copy of the hard drive, if you make an inadvertent change to a file or it becomes corrupt, your backup is then worthless.
Make sure you have versioning enabled and for a sufficiently long time.
I use crash plan for my cloud backup. Unlimited storage including versioning for 10 per month, I can also access the backup via my phone or web should i ever need to.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Rapscallion said:
If your backup is a simple copy of the hard drive, if you ,are an inadvertent change to a file or it becomes corrupt, your backup is then worthless.
Click to expand...
Rule 1 of all data processing: never alter the original data; always work on a copy. I used to really appreciate the people who ignored that rule and then had to pay myself and colleagues to sort out the mess. It's an ill wind, as they say... :naughty:
 
If you have Office 365 you get 1TB of cloud storage (OneDrive) with this. I have my OneDrive installed on a Lacie 2TB external drive. Whenever I add anything to it (Photos or otherwise) it gets uploaded to the cloud. All of my RAW photographs are uploaded this way. One of the other benefits is that I can turn the sync off which allows me to add new photos to the drive and cull. I can then turn on sync and all the new files on the drive are automatically uploaded. For 5.99 a month you get the 1TB storage plus the entire MS Office suite. I think personally it is an excellent deal when compared to storage prices of other cloud providers.
 
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