Bayou

File versioning is indeed essential. It can save your data from ransomware attacks and other forms of data corruption. Any backup software that blindly overwrites an old version with the new puts you at great risk for loss.

The free version of SyncBack lacks versioning, while the $40 SE version has it. SyncBack is terrific...very robust and flexible.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

Same here. Plus, once a month, I run the W7 image backup on my W10 machines. Slow but still does the job. And the backup has saved me on a couple occasions.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

JPG technology hasn't changed since it's creation. The first jpg photo can be accessed today with any jpg viewer. This is not likely to change regardless of new tech.This in itself is an excellent reason to keep a jpg of all your digital photos. On the other hand, just like your moms box of photos, few photos will be interesting to your ancestors even if they can access them, even after just one generation.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Doesn't matter much how you back up your photos, keeping in mind two points. One, make sure you can access your files individually with any file manager. Two, make sure you backup regularly. The best way to back up regularly is have it done for you automatically.

There are many ways to do this, but, windows comes with two apps that can be used just for this, one is Robocopy and the other is Taskschd.msc. Robocopy is a very flexable backup program so you can tailor backups to your needs. Taskscheduler allows running applications on a schedule.
Learn how to use robocopy and then put it in a batch file and run the batch file from Taskschd.msc.

Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky

I wasn't talking about the actual images. I was talking about the external drives they would be stored on. Will an old 30-40 old external drive even be able to hook up to a futuristic computer? And I agree, most people won't want the images.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

One must migrate to new media as support changes.
Ask <now many> people who still have stuff on 8"floppies, or 3-1/4 floppies.
One should not plan on keeping the same media for 30-40 years, unless it's paper.

BarTim Loc: Milan, Ohio

As a Systems Analyst with 30 years experience, I concur with this method unless you want to get dedicated backup app.

Red6

I just read an article about this a year ago. This is a situation that libraries, museums and other institutions that store large amounts of information must confront. The article I read was about the Smithsonian which has millions of documents in a multitude of different storage formats. Technology is advancing so fast that any format they choose is soon outdated.

So far no single format has withstood the test of time for long term storage AND retrieval. Ironically, the best format so far seems to be paper.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I have no idea how the Windows backup works, but do a backup and then go in there and see how it looks. If it is a mirror copy of your main drive, then it should be okay. Ideally, it will copy or delete files based on what you have on your main hard drive. If you have only one backup dive, you really have no backup. If that drive fails, you have nothing. You should have at least two external backups.

I use SyncBackSE, and it's beautiful.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Twelve backups.
Ya never know what can happen to the first eleven.

bleirer

On the windows one I mentioned you can access individual files. You pick the folders to include and set a schedule and it runs in the background.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

Are you concurring with the use of the W10 system or the W7 image system, which still works? I'm a little confused by your answer.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Yes, that would be a different issue. Floppy drives from the past are pretty much gone today, and CD/DVD drives are disappearing I reckon. Hard drives for DOS/WINDOWS are still good though. My first PC had the first HD available to the public, 10 meg hard drive which was huge at the time, but it's DOS format would still be accessible today I believe from windows. Interestingly, one PSD file or raw file would not fit on that huge 10 megger😃

Floppies at that time were either 720K or 1.4 meg, big enough for a couple raw sidecar files I guess. DVD drives are kinda big at 4.7gigs, but really too small for large numbers of photo's.

Would be wise to move the files, preferably non-proprietary jpg files, to whatever medium is currently in use.
I used to back up all my photos and music to DVD drives. I quit doing that and instead have two external usb drives, and a network backup, so I have 4 copies of all my photo's and songs and most everything else on my PC.

Cloud would be a good idea if you worry about a house fire or explosion. I haven't gone to that extreme yet, probably won't, but it would be a good idea. I unplug one USB drive and back up that drive only once a week. My brother had an electrical surge caused by the electric company and every electrical device that was on was fried, even if it just had a led light indicating it was connected.

Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky

Thanks for the feedback

photoman43

I also recommend using Syncback. I use the SE (paid) version. I create normal backups when I am backing up file folders. After making deletions and edits, then I use Mirror backup to copy the changes and make any needed deletions. I choose to do mine manually.