redfordl Loc: Carver,Ma.

Presently i download my images to windows live photo gallery & then if need editing done images are imported to pse10 or 11. My images are stored on my internal pc-C drive((87gb free of 232gb) and images are backed up to an external drive(110gb free of 232gb). I will be using lr5 to do my image importing,organizing and editing and wish to place any new images on the external hard drive as well as the imported images(old ones)from the c drive. Should i empty the external hard drive(old one) and do an entirely new back up onto a new hard drive(500gb or 1 tb) from the c.drive (internal on pc).? I do not wish to fill up my present computers hard drive with images as i started to shoot jpeg +raw and it will fill up fast and slow the pc down. Also a new computer purchase with 1tb mem is not in the future. Any recommendations would hel!! I do not desire to back up to the internet(carbonite service or the like). Thanks!! If one needs additional info please let meknow. I am an amateur photographer who takes about 100-200 images wkly.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

I have an external 2TB hard drive I back up to, but I also put my pic's on archival gold disks (CD's), which I feel is still one of the best solutions for back up.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Depending on what kind of computer you have, you might be able to add an inexpensive internal 1TB/2TB drive. That's what I've been doing for years. All the programs go onto C, and all the data goes onto D.

Whatever you decide, make sure your pictures exist on at least two drives.

redfordl Loc: Carver,Ma.

How many gb"s does an archival gold disk hold and how many pictures?

strikerazde Loc: Phoenix, AZ

You do not say what kind of computer you have, I'll assume a desktop, not a laptop. If possible you want to add another INTERNAL drive for photos. Depending on how you connect a external drive USB 3, or 2, firewire ect. Working with photos stored on an external drive can be dog slow on older computers.

Then you would use your external drive for backups, and it does not really matter if those are slow or not. Hard drives are very inexpensive these days, you can get two 500 GIG drives for less than $100.

You can easily figure out the drive size you need, simply take your photo size and multiply by your average number of images for a month, week or whatever and that will give you the size you need for a given time period. For example I shoot a D800 with an average RAW file size of 45,020KB. That would give me 23,850 images on a 1TB drive. That would give me about 119 weeks of storage if I shot 200 shots a week.

Whatever you do, as someone already said NEVER have your images in only one place!

pixbyjnjphotos Loc: Apache Junction,AZ

This may not be right for everybody but I like it for myself. I have two external hard drives, one 500 gb and the other is 1 tb. I don't store many photos on my computer. I work off the smaller drive and back up to the larger drive. I like this as I have more than one computer and I live in Missouri half of the year and snowbird to Arizona during the other half. My setup allows me to have the backups and to be portable enough to easily take all my pictures and work from one computer to another. It worked good just about a month ago when my main laptop crashed. Bought a new laptop and loaded it up with all my software. Plugged in my external drive and voila, there is all my photography stuff and easily picked up from where I left off. Was down for only two days. Didn't lose a thing. It works for me.

redfordl Loc: Carver,Ma.

Striker, yes you are correct in assuming i have a (dell inspiron 436) desktop. Would i add a 1tb internal drive in addition to the 250gb drive which still has 87gb space free. Could you give me a link on how to add this 1tb drive. Would i have to reinstall my windows 7 os if i do this? Also where do you purchase your 1tb sata drives cheaply,but certainly of good quality. Also i will back up to a 1tb external hard drive (to be purchased). Thanks for the useful tips on photo storage!!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Since Stryker is offline, I'll jump in here. It's very easy to install a second drive. You secure it in place and then plug in a couple of wires. Below are some links. With a second drive, all your programs can be on the C drive, and your pictures and other data can be on D. It makes backing up much easier.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4794262_install-second-hard-drive-dell.html

http://compreviews.about.com/od/tutorials/ss/DIYSATAHD.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4809927_second-hard-drive-dell-computer.html

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

Jerry,
This OP also asked where he could purchase an additional HDD for his system.
Sites that sell reasonably priced HDDs, SSDs and Hybrid drives:
NewEgg.com
TigerDirect.com
BestBuy.com
Walmart.com

I think you can get your best pricing from NewEgg and Tiger since they constantly have sales and stock almost every make and model of storage device on the market with the added advantage of no tax and sometimes free shipping.

CTTonymm Loc: Connecticut

I had three main requirements for increased/faster drive capacity for photo work and storage:
1. Fast response to software and image loading for processing
2. High capacity storage for RAW files
3. Off line backup in case of drive failures, fire or theft

I solved (1.) by replacing my laptop main computer drive with an SSD (I have macs and use macsales.com for source of drives and excellent "how-to" install instructions and videos). Then I bought a new mac mini for desktop use and use my laptop for travel now.

I solved (2.) with an external drive (non SSD) and I run off that when I'm home. The new mini has an SSD drive for software and system files only and file access time from the external drive is fast enough. I copy my current year photo files to my laptop for availability and process work when traveling and leave the external drive home - unplugged and off.

I have a second (bootable) external drive for (3.) on which I store a full backup copy of the backup drive. I keep it unplugged and off - although I have yet to set up a storage place for it away from the house in case of fire/theft.

I use Chronosync for backups and LR5 for processing along with Photoshop Elements 11 for occasional needs. I think it's asking for trouble to store all files on an internal backup (either primary or secondary backup drive) because you will lose your files if someone steals the computer. You need a backup of those files somewhere outside your main computer.

Just my 2cents worth.

Tony M

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Right. I usually buy from Newegg, Tiger, or Amazon, depending on who has the lowest price. When buying a hard drive, I never shop by price alone. I first decide what make and model I want. Then I start shopping.

I've been getting Western Digital lately. They rank their drives by color, with Black being their best, so I always get a Black drive. Although it costs a bit more, they say it's better, and that's good enough for me.

redfordl Loc: Carver,Ma.

jerry, your the man. Thanks for your advice on system storage etc. I believe i will add a second 1tb internal drive to my pc(for photos) and then back up to a new 1tb extern al drive. Cheers!!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

:thumbup:

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

First off, by the size of the internal hard drive you describe, your computer is getting long of tooth and it won't be long before you're going to have to bite the bullet and get a new one.

But to answer a few of your questions, your thinking is on the right track by using LR5 to do your importing from now on instead of Windows Live Photo Gallery (which is useless). But instead of importing your images directly onto an external hard drive I'd suggest that you import them on your internal "C" drive at first. Tell LR5 to do a 1:1 rendering of the images upon import so that you can view your images "full size" quickly. Your internal hard drive will allow much faster viewing of the fresh images. Once you are done culling through your new images on the C drive, you can "rate" them, "keyword" them and make any other changes you like to them much faster. After that, use LR5 in Library mode to drag and drop them onto the external hard drive. This will clear some of them off your internal drive so you can add more in the future.

If you purchase a new external drive in a larger capacity, use the old external as a backup for the new drive. This way if one of the external drives craps out you'll have a backup.

If you install a new external drive the "copy" (don't move) all the the images from the smaller old drive to the new drive and then when you install LR5 make sure that your new catalog includes the C drive and the large external drive. Do not include the old external drive in the catalog. Just use one this as a backup to the new external drive.

redfordl Loc: Carver,Ma.

Jerry, yes the installation of an additional internal hard drive seems easy enough.(after viewing the videos on installation) I ordered a seagate 1tb internal drive today as well as a western digital 1tb external hard drive.. I will use the new 1tb internal hard drive to store all of my photos and i will backup my photos to the new 1tb external hard drive. ? Which internal disk drive will i download LR5 too? Thanks for your help and the advice received from fellow uhher"s. Have a Raucous July 4th.