bob fleer Loc: Annapolis, MD

has anyone heard if a system called skyvault 360? the reviews from their site look good and the price is not bad at all, do like that the system is constantly backing up your system while you are working on your computer. Probably got the terms wrong

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Hi Bob,
That option is available in other backup software too. I use Acronis True Image - it has that as well as many other options for automatically scheduled backups.
Mark

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Likewise Carbonite.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

Hi Bob,

I looked at their website and it is just another cloud storage system. I think cloud storage is a bad idea for several reasons. First, your computer will be uploading photos for hours on end, but more importantly, your photographs and data will not be under your complete control. The supplier of the service could increase the cost of the service at any time and thus hold your photos and data hostage. Secondly, especially with a smaller player such as Skyvault 360, they could go bankrupt and the site could be seized along with your photos by the IRS or creditors, they could be hacked, sold or go out of business. They could have technical problems beyond their control or yours, etc. To me it is too risky.

Computer security experts say you should always maintain a minimum of three (3) forms of backup for your photographs. At least one should be off site to protect against loss in the event of fire or natural disaster. My system provides both on and off site redundant backup that is completely under my own control. The upfront costs were higher, but I own the equipment and I completely control my property.

My system consists of the following:

1) All storage of photographs are external to the computer’s (iMac) internal drive freeing up space.

2) Downloads from the camera, editing, final product and primary storage is on a 5Tb Western Digital My Book drive.

a) Each shoot is stored in a folder identified by job name and date.

b) Within each folder are three sub-folders labeled “RAW”, “Edit” and “Final”. All uploads are made to the RAW folder and only copies of the raw files are copied to the Edit folder for editing. The final output that may include JEPG, TIFF, etc. files are transferred to the Final folder. At the conclusion of editing, the RAW copies in the Edit Folder are deleted, freeing up space.

3) The complete primary storage drive is backed up to a Drobo 5-drive RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) using TimeMachine, although I could clone the backup or use other software. This allows multiple backup copies of the data along with offsite backup. In addition, the Drobo’s firmware automatically corrects any data transfer errors and insures that all backup drives have matched data. The RAID consists of five Western Digital Red Drives, which are designed for this type of service and have an excellent reputation for reliability. Furthermore they are “hot swappable,” which means they can be safely inserted and removed from the Drobo without removing power from the system.

a) The Drobo is only powered on when backups are being made. Otherwise, it is powered off. This limits the exposure to possible hacking and other failures.

b) Although the Drobo can hold up to five drives, only four are in the unit at any given time. Three of the drives are never removed and provide the basic redundancy.

c) The fourth drive position is used for the offsite backup. Two drives are used for that purpose.Once a week or as necessary, drive 4 is removed from the Drobo and taken to the bank. Drive 5 is removed from my safe deposit box and drive 4 takes it place in the box.

4) Drive 5 is inserted into the Drobo where the data from Drives 1, 2 and 3 are automatically copied to it.

bob fleer Loc: Annapolis, MD

thank you all, just so concerned about loosing photos, i do use 2 2 tb hard drives to back up entire computer an 2 more to backup lightroom possibly just worry too much.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

What a surprise!

If I were going to use cloud storage, I would go with BackBlaze.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Just curious. When your Mac is running, does that eternal drive run the whole time?

My primary machine is Windows, with internal 4TB storage. I use two eternal drives for backing up data, and I have a Synology NAS, which makes it convenient to access files from other computers. I don't store much data on my Macs, but I have externals running TimeMachine.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

A good backup system should have redundancy - both for the data/images and as to where it's stored. I back up my files to 2x8TB USB hard drives locally, and to BackBlaze in the cloud.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

Everything you state is accurate, for the most part, but there are other factors.

Regardless how elaborate your backup strategy is, if your house burns, or blows away, your data goes with it. I use CrashPlan to guard against that possibility.

I never know when CrashPlan is backing up. It just runs. Nearly every time I look at the status, it states the backup is complete. I can add/remove data from the backup at any time. Code42, the owners of CrashPlan, recently executed an increase in fees, but gave additional services. I can even manipulate my account from my iPhone. I currently have 1.4Tb of data sitting on their servers.

All of the concerns you list could, in fact, occur but my biggest concern is the loss of my data. If CrashPlan suddenly shuts down due to bankruptcy or seizure, I still have 3 copies of all my data here at home. If I lose everything stored at CrashPlan, it isn't the end of the line for me. I simply will find another service provider and start backing up to them. I never put all my eggs in one basket.

While I admit there are likely some scams out there, for the most part these are viable companies, providing a great service for a nominal fee. Code42 started as an accounting service, backing up customer data to servers that they maintain (relieving the customer of setting up expensive server systems to perform the backups). It worked so well, they started selling the backup service independently of the accounting services. They are very professional people who do great work.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

The external drive that backs up the iMac, but not photographs, and the external Edit Drive run all the time the iMac is running. The Drobo only runs when I am backing up the Edit Drive for the reason I stated in my original post.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

By storing drives in my safe deposit box at the bank, I have offsite storage that is under my control. Even if there is a natural desaster such as an earthquake (I live in California) or the bank burns down, a bank vault is impregnable. My data will be safe and the data is always under my control. Even if Chase went belly up, I would only lose access to my safe deposit box until FDIC followed there procedures.

Since my safe deposit is free, I have no monthly or annual fees to pay. Even if I had to pay for the safe deposit box, the cost is half what cloud storage costs and my computer isn't running constantly doing uploads. That extends the life of my computer system as well.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

Good!! Offsite copies of data are extremely important, in my opinion.

goldstar46 Loc: Tampa, Fl

Hi Bob and everyone else...

Sounds like you are a student of both 'Leo the Tech Guy' and my friend here in Oldsmar, Fl... Scott Kelby of KelbyOne... You have spoken the philosophy of both of them

1)... As 'Leo the Tech Guy..' always says - always have three copies, 1 copy onsite, 1 copy offsite, and 1 copy in the cloud
2)... Also, your filing and naming system is identical to Scott Kelby of KelbyOne...

YES, you are right and I do pretty much the same with a slight exception....

1)... Originals on 1 - 8-TB Drive internal with naming system such as yours... Drive Letter 'P' for photos - Currently with over 5-TB of photos,
2)... This internal Original 8-TB is then backed up to two separate and individual 8-TB drives for double protection... Drive 'X' and Drive 'Z'
3)... And all of this, each and all of the 3-individual drives are backed up to the cloud with a firm know as 'BackBlaze'

BackBlaze cost is $50 / year, with unlimited storage as long as it in on one machine... and that included all internal machines, and any USB attached machines to that one CPU... I currently am backing up about 18-TB and costing only $ 4.25 per month....... Quite a bargain to say the least...

Now, for the cost of 8-TB hard drives... Below is the current price for WD 8-TB external easyStore which is $179 @ BestBuy.. From time to time, you can get this on sale for $139 to 149/ for the drive and the very last one I bought was for $139 + Tax and no shipping.. You just have to watch to see when it goes on sale... NOW, for the big mamer-jamer... If you get the right model of this unit, it will have the WD 'RED' Label hard drive which is used for NAS units but they put it into a external case and you can 'Shuck' the drive out of the case for a 'stand-a-long' 8-TB eSATA drive for a 'dirt' cheap price..

Check the below information and do your homework and searching out the listed model number

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-easystore-8tb-external-usb-3-0-hard-drive-black/5792401.p?skuId=5792401

Below is one more link of how to identify which drive you have and insure that you have the 8-TB RED drive

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/7fx0i0/wd_easystore_8tb_compendium/

I hope that this will help with your final goal and keep clicking...

Regards......
George

goldstar46 Loc: Tampa, Fl

Would like to add one more thought to this string............. I know that some people like to talk about RAID and how it is 'better'...???

RAID........... NOT!!!.. I have been there and done that. Some 5 or 6 years ago, had a 3-TB Raid 1 drive system... The system crashed and lost both of the drives because their were RAID'ed.. Got quotes and lowest price I got for a restore was $ 1,500/ for one drive... Even with that, the company was only going to give me 'un-named' files with NO MedtData....... CRAP NO..

So, with that in mind, that is why I use 2 individual and separate - 8-TB drives for back up, each one independent of each other, and then also the cloud..

That way, I can lose my main drive, or either of the two local backup drives, or lose the cloud and I am still 'Safe...'

Regards
George

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks.