Backing up SD cards: Wow... We've all said we need to back up our cards...I just watched a trial. A guy was hired to do photos and 30 second movie interviews. His transportation, meals...

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Wow... We've all said we need to back up our cards...I just watched a trial. A guy was hired to do photos and 30 second movie interviews. His transportation, meals and all expenses were paid. He was flown from AZ. for the shoot. When he returned home to AZ, he found all his cards were corrupt... He hired an IT tech to try to recover the files with no luck...

He was sued and lost, duh.....

He had no backups.. This is a great example of having backups and had them separated. He should have mailed a copy to himself.

This was a very costly endeavor for him, and his reputation.

Vector

When I travel, I typically back up the days pics to my PC And if they are really important (and I have wifi) to one of the free cloud storage services. Sorry for the customers and a tough way to learn a lesson.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

Exactly why when I want to save photos, I carry my laptop with me on trips and download evertything to it each day. Then I make sure they downloaded before formatting my cards. Knock on wood my procedure continues working.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Another argument for dual card slots.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

frankraney wrote:

Wow... We've all said we need to back up our cards... (show quote)

Anybody who reads my posts here on backup knows I am paranoid. So, I do a three-level backup when traveling. At the end of the day, the days are all backed up to a LaCie Boss. This happens pretty much immediately when entering the hotel room.

The next step is importing the images on the Dell Laptop into Lightroom Classic.

Overnight, the Laptop backs up everything to Dropbox via the Cloud.

Depending on the length of the trip, I alternate XQD or SD cards every day or so and switch to a freshly formatted memory card.

The DJI drive is in my Messenger Bag with me when I fly. The Laptop is in my camera bag as a carry-on.

For an alleged Professional to make a Rookie mistake like this is unforgivable.

Festus Loc: North Dakota

frankraney wrote:

Wow... We've all said we need to back up our cards... (show quote)

Anyone being paid to do photography work should be smart enough to back up his/her work. Enough said!

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Festus wrote:

Anyone being paid to do photography work should be smart enough to back up his/her work. Enough said!

My point exactly..... Plus...... How did ALL his cards get corrupt at once?

photoman43

I too am paranoid about backups. That is why during a photo shoot I do not use cards that are super large in GB capacity. I prefer to use 32 or 62 GB cards as opposed to the larger cards.

And during the shoot I check the display feature to make sure the images are there.

Occasionally I will back up in camera using a second card.

When the shoot is over, I tripple back up my cards from that day.

I went digital when Nikon came out with the D 200. I never have had a corrupted card. I use only cards recommended by Nikon for my specific body and only format them in camera. And I download the images from the card only with a card reader. I never put a card directly into a laptop or a desktop.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

PhotogHobbyist wrote:

Exactly why when I want to save photos, I carry my laptop with me on trips and download evertything to it each day. Then I make sure they downloaded before formatting my cards. Knock on wood my procedure continues working.

I do the same but also download to a second ext HD and carry enough cards so I do not have to reuse them and will delete the cards aFTER I AM HOME AND THE IMAGES are on my main computer and my backup Cloud

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

photoman43 wrote:

I too am paranoid about backups. That is why durin... (show quote)

What issues do you think you might have with putting a card directly into a laptop or desktop? Just curious. I do that all the time with no problem.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

frankraney wrote:

Wow... We've all said we need to back up our cards... (show quote)

One would think he would have verified his work after each interview and copied it to a computer and external disk. That is quite foolish and even dual slots can easily fail seeing as all the cards were corrupt dual, quad or 20 cards in the camera would be no good as the camera seems to have been corrupting the cards and not the cards fault.
For a big paying gig like this verify each session before it is ended on a separate device.
1000's of the same bird or flowers no big deal for personal use, just take some more 1000's.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

frankraney wrote:

Wow... We've all said we need to back up our cards... (show quote)

Hey, stuff happens. While I was working, I carried professional liability insurance - to help deal with exactly this kind of catastrophe. It won't help the client or a reputation, but it will cover the costs involved.

In the meantime, if his cards were corrupt, backing up corrupt files would not have helped him or his client. . . Just sayin'

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Fredrick wrote:

What issues do you think you might have with putting a card directly into a laptop or desktop? Just curious. I do that all the time with no problem.

If you're not careful, and have inexpensive memory cards or thumb drives and pull them out of the reader slot without telling the OS to "close" the card, corruption can occur.

I worked for a company that purchased branded USB sticks as a giveaway. If you yanked it out of the PC without closing the card it was toast.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

frankraney wrote:

Wow... We've all said we need to back up our cards... (show quote)

Something seems fishy.

He discovered AFTER he arrived back home that multiple data cards were corrupted?

What would cause corruption of multiple cards such that data recovery was impossible? Given that was the case, then backup data may also have been susceptible. It seems like there is more going on that failure to backup data.

Are you sure it was not a portable hard drive that contained all the data?

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Gene51 wrote:

Hey, stuff happens. While I was working, I carried professional liability insurance - to help deal with exactly this kind of catastrophe. It won't help the client or a reputation, but it will cover the costs involved.

In the meantime, if his cards were corrupt, backing up corrupt files would not have helped him or his client. . . Just sayin'

It would have helped if he had immediately backed them up at the motel.... Either to cloud or lap top of preferably both....... He must have been new... We all learn expensive lessons sometimes, especially if unprepared or not planned for..... Since it was movie stars, he probably got to excited.....