joraangm Loc: Baton Rouge, LA

I have an external hard drive that I back up all my pictures plus all my documents. I also have many on CD's and DVD's and intend to put them all on flash drives. It gives me peace of mind.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Nothing is fool proof.

jsharp Loc: Ballwin MO.

I backup to CD and if I really want a backup I print it.

carl hervol Loc: jacksonville florida

I backup ever think, take out what i don't want and then put them on DVD it saver that way.

Dan821 Loc: Traveling........

Having worked in IT for over 38 years and having seen customers lose valuable data, I appreciate the need for backups of valuable data.
I currently have 6 backups, sometimes 7 of my data, in various storage media.

1. My main photo-editing Desktop PC has RAID 1 (Mirrored) drives for all current workflow.

2. My Macbook has all current workflow on a pair of External USB drives, which also as set up as RAID 1.

3. As the files being worked on may be different between the desktop and Macbook, all of the internal/external RAID 1 arrays in the desktop and laptop are backed up to another set of USB External RAID 1 drives, with a daily differential backup; this only affects files from the two machines that have been "changed" since the last backup. This is how my "working images" are saved.

4. Then an incremental weekly backup of all current workflow on these USB External RAID 1 drives is taken and stored on a NAS storage array running RAID 10.

5. Also on the NAS Storage Array is an "Archival" original copy of ALL RAW images, which is loaded from the SD/CF cards before ever being imported into Lightroom/Photoshop.

6. The Archival original copy gets backed up to an offsite storage, whenever new images are imported to the RAW data folder on the NAS.

7. At times when returning from a trip, I will have a Hyperdrive loaded with all of the daily images copied from the SD/CF cards. These files get copied onto the Archival folder on the NAS, before being worked with on the desktop or Macbook.

Overkill? Maybe. However I have never lost any images, always have a reference point to go back to square one if I need to recover an original image, and I sleep easy at night knowing that my data is safe.

bgl Loc: Brooklyn,New York

I don't know if it is overkill but I am exhausted just following the process!

Dan821 Loc: Traveling........

Well, 38 years doing this kind of system setup, makes the task simple. I wanted something simple for me, efficient in operation, and ease of upgrade as the volume of data increases. I can upgrade to larger drives in any of the backup stages as needed, without affecting the other stages.
Personal choice!

Kuzano

I am reposting this from a previous poster here on UHH. Can't remember who.

However, I do recall it as being the BEST tongue in cheek treatise of the process of backup, as a Tao. In fact it is called the Tao of Backup.

It really does an excellent summary of the process and the frustrations of design of a good system:

http://www.taobackup.com/

jboy24 Loc: Downey Ca,

I do back up on one outboard drive and store my catalog in the other outboard drive from which I edit from, and also on archival DVD discs, when I have time or I realize I have way too many folders in LR..funny this came up, just the other day I realized that I desperately need to back up my files...

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Sage advice it is. Thanks for posting.

twillsol Loc: St. Louis, MO

I back up all my photos to two separate external hard drives.

My problem is, I only do this once a month, I should do it more often. but if I do lose any, they will only be the ones from the current month. I do not erase my SD card until they are backed up so I should not even lose them. I have 12 SD cards, so this is not a problem.

Elsiss Loc: Bayside, NY, Boynton Beach, Fl.

I backup to an external hard drive each time I download pics.

JoeDesertrat Loc: Daytona Beach, FL

No kidding. I am constantly seeing complaints from younger Facebook friends that they lost their phone and need everyone's phone numbers again and "OMG all my pictures were on it". Not to mention that someone else now has all of that.
I don't see a problem with digitizing everything as long as backups are made regularly. Technology does not generally disappear overnight and data can be transferred to newer technology as need be. If we lose the ability to access technology, we will probably have greater issues to worry about than our pictures.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

There is no reason that anyone should lose smart phone data. There are multiple systems available for smart phone backup. If someone loses data when a phone fails or is lost than that person was not backing up the data.

EddieC Loc: CT

I have a Mac and an Airport backup that does it automatically. I also back up on an external disc. In another vein I just read an article where one hour photo shops are going the way of the Dodo. People shooting digital don't process their images but keep them on their computers.