Backup: How do you backup your photos? I shoot in RAW format, and have two external hard drives (Transcend 4TB), but one of them crashed. I have them connected to my MAC, and have...

PAB20 Loc: From Louisiana, but now live in Florida

How do you backup your photos? I shoot in RAW format, and have two external hard drives (Transcend 4TB), but one of them crashed. I have them connected to my MAC, and have never moved them to bring them anywhere, but one still crashed nonetheless, and the photos on it are non-retrievable. The last time I backed up my photos from external hard drive #1 to external hard drive #2 was 3-4 weeks ago. Therefore, I lost all photos taken during that timeframe. Lesson learned - I will now download from the SD card to both hard drives simultaneously. I've also ordered a third external hard drive as I will backup to that one every two-weeks. It may sound like overkill, but I think I'll feel better. Don't let this happen to you if you value your photos. May sure you have them backed up at least two places.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I use WD external drives. When I first started in digital I had one drive. When it crashed I lost a whole season of Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier NP. I still think about all the lost photographs. Truth be told, I'm a much better photographer now and most of the lost photos were not a great loss. But there were a few that can never be replaced. Lesson learned. Now I use four drives and all four are updated weekly.

PAB20 Loc: From Louisiana, but now live in Florida

Retired CPO wrote:

I use WD external drives. When I first started in digital I had one drive. When it crashed I lost a whole season of Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier NP. I still think about all the lost photographs. Truth be told, I'm a much better photographer now and most of the lost photos were not a great loss. But there were a few that can never be replaced. Lesson learned. Now I use four drives and all four are updated weekly.

I feel your pain regarding your lost photos. Four drives! I thought three drives was overkill, but once you experience this, you become super guarded.

Thanks for your reply.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

During transfer from memory card to computer, I transfer the files to one computer. Then the backups begin. I copy the transferred files to a second hard drive in that computer. Log into a second computer and copy those files to a second hard drive in that computer. Then, copy the files to the computer I use for PS. That last computer has a hard drive specifically set aside for the images on which I work and a second drive that backs up any changes to the image drive. So, original files are backed up twice. Then, the original and work files are backed up automatically.
--Bob

PAB20 wrote:

How do you backup your photos? I shoot in RAW for... (show quote)

PAB20 Loc: From Louisiana, but now live in Florida

rmalarz wrote:

During transfer from memory card to computer, I tr... (show quote)

I don't put them on my MAC's hard drive at all. Upon the downloading, they go straight into Lightroom CC Classic and one external hard drive. I'm guessing I will be able to download to both external hard drives while downloading into Lightroom CC Classic.

Thanks for your reply.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

PAB20 wrote:

How do you backup your photos? I shoot in RAW for... (show quote)

You need an off-site DR (disaster recovery) copy to protect against fire, flood, power surge, lightning, etc. as well as a local backup. Unless your internet access is very slow, I would use ICloud if I were using a Mac. Very easy to set up a regular (at least nightly) backup.

PAB20 Loc: From Louisiana, but now live in Florida

TriX wrote:

You need an off-site DR (disaster recovery) copy as well as a local backup. Unless your internet access is very slow, I would use ICloud if I were using a Mac. Very easy to set up a regular (at least nightly) backup.

I did get a recommendation to use Backblaze cloud storage as they allow RAW format.

Thank you for your reply.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

PAB20 wrote:

I did get a recommendation to use Backblaze cloud storage as they allow RAW format.

Thank you for your reply.

Backblaze is a decent sized cloud provider (although not in the league with Amazon or Google) best known for its quarterly reports on drive failures by manufacturer/model. My concern with Backblaze, unlike Amazon for example, is that I believe they only have one site at present (Sacramento, CA), although they say that they intend to add more. The major providers (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc) have multiple sites and keep at least 3 copies of your data at geographically seperate sites to protect against the primary site being hit by a disaster. Sacramento is certainly a better location than Silicon Valley, but still... perhaps they have expanded to more sites - worth checking before committing.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

The reality of the situation is, if I were to come home to find the place burnt to the ground, backups would be the least of my concerns. The amount of time it would take to get a settlement along with the aggravation of dealing with insurance companies would put photography on a very far back burner.

So, offsite backups sound incredibly good, in reality of facing a loss, probably useless.
--Bob

TriX wrote:

You need an off-site DR (disaster recovery) copy to protect against fire, flood, power surge, lightning, etc. as well as a local backup. Unless your internet access is very slow, I would use ICloud if I were using a Mac. Very easy to set up a regular (at least nightly) backup.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Backblaze is a very good backup choice if one decides to go offsite. I used them for a while, but then thought...see my reply to Tri-X.
--Bob

PAB20 wrote:

I did get a recommendation to use Backblaze cloud storage as they allow RAW format.

Thank you for your reply.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

rmalarz wrote:

The reality of the situation is, if I were to come home to find the place burnt to the ground, backups would be the least of my concerns. The amount of time it would take to get a settlement along with the aggravation of dealing with insurance companies would put photography on a very far back burner.

So, offsite backups sound incredibly good, in reality of facing a loss, probably useless.
--Bob

But Bob, since you take your photography very seriously (not sure if it’s your full-time profession, but should be if it isn’t), after you got the insurance, rebuilt and got your life sort of back to normal (maybe taking years), wouldn’t you be sad to have lost a lifetime of work and memories (at least those in digital form)? What about a lightning strike that takes out your electronics? I know you shoot film, but you shoot digital also don’t you?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

The maybe taking years part is the issue. It wouldn't take any time at all to regret the loss of the thousands of negatives I'd have lost. That would be immediate. So, agreed, it would be very sad.

As for voltage spikes, I've got protection from that issue. However, the cameras, lenses, film processors, enlargers, darkroom equipment, etc. would take years to replace. Additionally, the musical instruments would be the same. I'm sure most of the equipment is no longer available or difficult to find. It would take an extraordinary effort to search for and replace all of the equipment, not to mention the image originals. I'd just as soon not think about it.

If it were just a matter of snapping one's fingers and replacement happens, yes, offsite backups would be justified. But, one has to face the reality of dealing with insurance companies.

Yes, I shoot both film and digital. I do lean more towards film, though.

Thank you very much for the kind compliment regarding my work. It's greatly appreciated.
--Bob

TriX wrote:

But Bob, since you take your photography very seriously (not sure if it’s your full-time profession, but should be if it isn’t), after you got the insurance, rebuilt and got your life sort of back to normal (maybe taking years), wouldn’t you be sad to have lost a lifetime of work and memories (at least those in digital form)? What about a lightning strike that takes out your electronics? I know you shoot film, but you shoot digital also don’t you?

therwol Loc: USA

PAB20 wrote:

How do you backup your photos? I shoot in RAW for... (show quote)

I've been criticized on this forum for mentioning that I never reuse my SD cards (said to be a waste of money.) I put them away in a special place when they're full, in addition to having redundant back up on external drives. The cloud doesn't bother me, by the way. I get 1 terabyte with my Office 365 subscription. I do have photos there that I share by sending links. If I did use it to store all of my photos, I'd run out of room, and upload times can be a bother.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

PAB20 wrote:

How do you backup your photos? I shoot in RAW for... (show quote)

I have a ton of photos on archivable gold CD;s and some granit disks, but I also have 14 TB of space on external drives!

therwol Loc: USA

speters wrote:

I have a ton of photos on archivable gold CD;s and some granit disks, but I also have 14 TB of space on external drives!

The best discs for archiving are M discs, said to have a life of up to 1000 years. They are available in DVD and Blu Ray discs. Newer burners should be compatible with them. (Something you should check if your burner is more than a few years old.) CDs won't even hold 20 RAW pictures coming out of my Nikon D810.