Back ups.

creators · Back ups.

I have just done my latest backup, 150G's zipped and put on an external HD, 9 hours. There has to be a better way. Help!

hil26

No easy answer.

Could always reduce the backup size by putting older images onto dvd, so they no longer reside on the PC - something I did with holiday images.

pasvorto

I would back up more often. If you need to keep them on the PC, make a new directory to put future shots into. Then, just backup that folder.

adam

buy a RAID controller and a couple of disks...

if you get a 4 port controller..PCI jobby,
you can buy 2 disks and mirror them (RAID1)..so everytime you write to the disk it writes to the other one too...then you have a copy if one disk fails..

or you could go wild and get something like 4x500GB disks, stripe 2 disks to give yourself a 1TB drive and use the other 2 to mirror (RAID 0+1)

you can even buy 3 disks, and mirror two and use the other one as a hot standby, so if one disk fails the standby takes over..good for the OS that..

i think you can get 8 ports RAID controllers too..imagine the possibilities!!! (if you have loads of spare cash that is!!)

i think the 4 port ones will only cost 40-50 quid...

Evolution104

Simonzphotoz

Keef ask Gabriel, he'll know, he has twin Raid on his.

creators

Thanks everyone, still not sure what to do. I had a look at Power Archiver, my zip program, and it seems to offer scripts that will allow me to update zip files, which at the moment would suit if I can understand it. Quite like the RAID idea, but not too much dosh around at the moment.

I had a chat with Gabriel, Simon, when I ask him a technical question I understand about half of what he says, which means I can't follow his advice, but he did alert me to scripts, I just have to find the right one.

Simonzphotoz

hmm, I usually just tell him to cut the crap and give me a straight answer, otherwise you'll be there all day and still be none the wiser!!

Simonzphotoz

My brother is the clever one when it comes to this stuff, and this is his opinion.

The two systems that I use are RAID (local) and Network Backup (remote).

RAID protects from a single disc failure by having two identical discs. It is good because you can replace the broken disc with almost no downtime as the computer will still work with one broken disc and when you replace the broken disc it does all the work for you to get the new disc identical to the ok one again.

Network Backup protects from a complete computer failure like power supply blowing and killing everything in the machine or theft. This will mean you don't lose any data.

The most important type of backup is remote backup because it protects data where as local backup - specifically raid is designed to allow a speedy recovery from a failure.

If you don't have a network the best alternative is an external USB drive which works perfectly but is more hassle because you have to remember to get, plug it in, do the backup, yada yada yada...

I use network backup because you can set it up to do it in the middle of the night when you're not using the machine and you can forget about it.

Most people I know who use USB backup only do it infrequently which is stupid.

Costs......

Well at the cheapest RAID can be as simple as another hard disc but it is more likely that you will need to buy a RAID card (Info ) if your motherboard is a few years old you would then need to buy two hard discs too.

For remote backup I'd recommend the Lacie Mini 320Gb (Info ) it can be used as both USB and Network. I would recommend this box even if you only want to use the USB connection because normal portable USB drives have a serious problem with overheating but this unit is designed to run 24/7 on the network to they have main sure that heat is not an issue.

So thats his view. I have just ordered a 500gb lacie external hard drive, should be enough room on there methinks.

creators

Thanks Simon, I think RAID and Lacie sound like the direction to go, because I definitely want an external backup.

Simonzphotoz

he had some other information about a network backup drive, i'll get him to email it me and then share. its the way to go apparently cos it does it automatically so for those lazy amongst us we don't have to have a senior moment and forget to do it... Laughing

creators

Thanks Simon, I definitely don't want any more senior moments than I have to.

Simonzphotoz

Sorry to resurect a thread, but I wanted to bring something to peoples attention.

Some may have noticed that I haven't been around lately, well there is a simple answer. My computer had a small crash the other day, most notably the day before my new 500gig back up drive arrived. However the rather frustrating outcome of the whole situation is that I have lost 4yrs, and nearly 8000 images, both originals and edited, and three weddings, one of which I am currently working on, of work. Pictures and documents.

So a word to those of us out there who don't back up regularly or at all and think it will never happen to them, don't be so stupid.

There are only two kinds of people, those of us who have had a crash, and those of us who haven't had one yet.

Please please please, buy a back up drive, even if you only do it as a hobby and have a thousand of so images, for the sake of a few hundred gig back up drive for about £30 quid, my 500g was £75 from www.dabs.com it is so worth it.

Evolution104

wow - that's really bad Simon. Usually I'd never consider it due to the expense, but since those wedding pictures are part of your livelihood, have you thought about having a professional service recover the data on the crashed drive? I hear it's expensive, but most data - even deleted data - can be recovered unless it was on a part of the disk that was physically damaged.

A lesson learned for all of us - unfortunately at your expense.
Again, I'm so sorry - this must be incredibly frustrating and disheartening.

Blue

Oh, my. I am so sorry. That is just terrible.
My silly newbie question is this: is the reason you want to have a backup drive so you could save RAW files without any loss? I guess I'm wondering why dvds or the internet wouldn't work otherwise?

Simonzphotoz

I am going to send the drive off to be professionally sorted out, it's looking to cost about 400 quid. It's not really my livelyhood, its my sisters wedding that she asked me take a few informal shots and b&w's. But its 400 i am willing to spend to get it all back, its four years of experimenting and learning up the swanny...not to mention the hours of editing and work!

Blue not a stupid question at all. Saving RAW files is lossless unless you convert them to jpeg or bmp as long as you keep them as nef (or equivilent) then you wont lose anything. The back up is simply an exact copy of your computers harddrive and is exactly as it sounds, a back up of your information. An external drive is great because it is quick, small and efficient, and relatively cheap. Where as dvd's only hold about 750meg which is 100 images with my D70, per disk. so at the moment i would have 80 disks just with whats on my computer now. And the internet is lossy and you have a limit to the amount you can upload unless you pay for it, and you may as well buy a external drive if your gonna do that.

Evolution104

creators

I'm really sorry to head about this Simon, I very much hope you get it sorted. And I am going to be a whole lot more assertive about backups in future, if I get a hint of people (you {he's my nephew, I am allowed to beat him}) slacking on this, the rhubard stick comes out.

peteski

Simon, does your hard disk make a clicking sound when it has power? If not, then you may have a slim chance of not needing a pro to retrieve the data. If the disk spins, then if you can find an identical disk, and I do mean identical, the model number must be exact, then you should be able to swap the controller boards and get the disk working. I've done this several times for Lacie drives after they have been dropped. If this is not possible, then it's time for the pro's!

I highly recommend that RAID5 systems are used for any data integrity and these days storage is cheap. I've been dealing with image storage for a long time and there are no safer ways (I'll come back to this in a moment) to store data and have it readily available.

It's always a good idea to write your data to DVD/CD too, my work flow is this: Memory Device->PC->DVD->edit/process->backup to external drive. ( for you windows users, ROBOCOPY is a great tool which allows you to only copy 'new' files on your folder to your backup drive).

But I think the best way to backup digital images is have them written to film. It's not cheap, grant it and most people don't even know you can do it. Film has been around as a storage medium for years and is more likely to last more than Disk or Tape storage.

Just a thought.....