Of course you are…right? You have protection…right? You backup your images to a second hard drive…right? Think about all the other files you store on your computer. Do you keep your finances in Money or Quicken? Do you have work related files stored there too? Do you really want to have to reconstruct all that information?
I know, you’ve been meaning to do it, but you just haven’t gotten around to it. Being a father of two small children I know there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. If only there was an extra 8 hours available when the kids are asleep.
The fact is hard drives WILL fail. The question is WHEN. So what to do about it? Well, the solutions range from mind-numbingly easy to entirely too complex. Here’s the breakdown:
External USB or Firewire hard drive: These drives are self contained and as long as you have USB2 or Firewire available through your computer they will be quite fast. There are many that have a “One Touch” feature specifically to back up everything on your computer, which is great if you only have one hard drive to backup. If you have an older machine with USB1 you will want to invest in an add-on card that gives you USB2 or Firewire ports. It’s worth the time you will save waiting for things to get backed up.
If you have more than one drive you will probably need to have some type of backup software. Windows XP comes with a backup utility, but it’s pretty bare bones. It will do the job and it is already probably on your computer, so it’s a valid option. For other options take a look at these sites:
PC Magazine List
Backup-Software-Reviews.com
If you have a Mac, you can get free backup software by getting a .mac (pay) account:
.Mac website on Apple.com
If you have an opinion on any backup software please post a comment to this article.
If you are computer literate you can always add a bare drive to your computer if you have the room. Then use backup software as mentioned above.
Want to go whole hog? You could implement a full-on Digital Asset Management system. If you are a professional photographer this is a must have in the digital age. A good read is “The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers” by Peter Krogh. It spells out a complete workflow and management system to make sure your photos survive your lifetime and beyond. Mmmm…Just thinking about multi-disk raid systems makes me drool.
So what do I run? I currently have all Seagate drives. One drive stores all my program files (Windows, Photoshop, etc). A second drive stores my data (pictures, financial, work files). An external Firewire drive is used for nightly backups. Every night I run my backup software (Genie Backup Manager Home Edition). It can be configured to turn off the computer when it finishes. For most people that will be enough. You would at most lose one days worth of changes. Not a huge deal. I also have a second external firewire drive that I use to backup my backup drive. Just in case something bad happens.
I’m also in the process of reading “The DAM Book” mentioned above and will be implementing a lot of the practices as I get through it.
Do I feel safe? Mostly. If my house burns down I’m in big trouble. That’s one of the principles of The DAM Book that I will be implementing in the next month or so. Having a backup copy stored off-site is just that extra level of safety that will keep me sleeping through the night (now that the kids do).
Scott Chytil
http://www.chytilphoto.com
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