Is iCloud OK for backup? (Page 2): Trix, Thank you for your reply and comments. I will stick with my External Hard Drives. Don :sm24:...

donrosshill Loc: Delaware & Florida

Trix, Thank you for your reply and comments. I will stick with my External Hard Drives.
Don

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

donrosshill wrote:

Trix, Thank you for your reply and comments. I will stick with my External Hard Drives.
Don

Good luck Don, and may your data always be secure 😎.

Cheers,
Chris

Bob Boner

I have 3 backups on external hard drives. I keep one copy at home and two off site at different locations. I had a problem when I had only one backup and the hard drive failed. The tech service where I worked was able to disassemble the drive and recover the images--just lucky.

donrosshill Loc: Delaware & Florida

Thanks Trix. By the way, I was born in Raleigh, NC. 83 years ago.
Don

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

When it comes to backup you can't be too paranoid.

Keep your local backups and keep backing up to them.
It's a good idea to mix your media. Adding i cloud backup to the mix will not hurt any of your other backups and will back them up.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I don't use them but I think RAID drives with a good backup routine are a better option plus an off-site physical drive. Given the nature of the Cloud, it may give reliable storage but hackers could get into it too. Physical drives under your control are the most secure. When we have clouds here we get rain, sometimes thunder storms. The electronic cloud could suffer the same.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

donrosshill wrote:

Thanks Trix. By the way, I was born in Raleigh, NC. 83 years ago.
Don

Don, you should stop by for a visit if you’re ever making the trek from Florida to Delaware. A lot has changed in 83 years, and we have an excellent camera store (a quick plug for Southeastern Photo).

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

gvarner wrote:

I don't use them but I think RAID drives with a good backup routine are a better option plus an off-site physical drive. Given the nature of the Cloud, it may give reliable storage but hackers could get into it too. Physical drives under your control are the most secure. When we have clouds here we get rain, sometimes thunder storms. The electronic cloud could suffer the same.

Just to add. Hackers are generally interested in databases with useful information (like account numbers) that are easy to sort through. Can you imagine a hacker sorting through thousands of your pictures to find a tidbit of information?

A physical off-site copy for DR is fine if you actually regularly carry the copy off-site, if you don’t mind losing the data between updates, if the off-site copy doesn’t get hit by the same disaster that ruins your on-site data, and if the drive will actually spin up (a large percentage of drive failures occur on start-up after being spun down for awhile). The cloud eliminates all these issues and adds multiple geographic sites for your data, better quality drives, and the ability to access your data from anywhere with internet after a disaster.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

gvarner wrote:

I don't use them but I think RAID drives with a good backup routine are a better option plus an off-site physical drive...

The reason I don't use a RAID drive is that it's a single point of failure. Not because the RAID drive is unreliable, but because it's a single item, which could be vulnerable to physical disasters such as a fire in your office. Multiple hard drives are better in that respect because they can be spread to different locations. I keep one drive connected to my computer, one elsewhere in the house, and one off-site. They get rotated on a monthly basis (approximately) when I synchronize them.

wayne barnett Loc: Grants Pass, Oregon

bpulv wrote:

iCloud is mainly for file sharing, although it does provide backup. I would trust Apple over other cloud storage companies. That being said, I do not trust cloud storage as a general principle.

Computer security experts say you should always maintain a minimum of three (3) forms of backup for your photographs. At least one should be off site to protect against loss in the event of fire or natural disaster. The Cloud is not the best choice because your photos will be under the control of a second party that may have technical problems, financial failure or bankruptcy, sale to an unreliable party or may hold your data hostage to rising costs. My system provides both on and off site redundant backup that is completely under my own control.
My system consists of the following:

1) All storage of photographs is external to the computer’s (iMac) internal drive.

2) Downloads from the camera, editing, final product and primary storage is on a 5Tb Western Digital My Book drive.

a) Each shoot is stored in a folder identified by job name and date.

b) Within each folder are three sub-folders labeled “RAW”, “Edit” and “Final”. All uploads are made to the RAW folder and only copies of the raw files are copied to the Edit folder for editing. The final output that may include JEPG, TIFF, etc. files are transferred to the Final folder.

3) The complete primary storage drive is backed up to a Drobo 5-drive RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). This allows multiple backup copies of the data along with offsite backup. In addition, the Drobo’s firmware automatically corrects any data transfer errors and insures that all backup drives have matched data. The RAID consists of five Western Digital Red Drives, which are designed for this type of service and have an excellent reputation for reliability. Furthermore they are “hot swappable” which means they can be safely inserted and removed from the Drobo without removing power from the system.

a) The Drobo is only powered on when backups are being made. Otherwise, it is powered off. This limits the exposure to possible hacking.

c) Although the Drobo can hold up to five drives, only four are in the unit at any given time. Three of the drives are never removed and provide the basic redundancy.

d) The fourth drive position is used for the offsite backup. Two drives are used for that purpose. Once a week or as necessary, drive 4 is removed from the Drobo and taken to the bank. Drive 5 is removed from my safe deposit box and drive 4 takes it place in the box.

4) Drive 5 is inserted into the Drobo where the data from Drives 1, 2 and 3 are automatically copied to it.

iCloud is mainly for file sharing, although it doe... (show quote)

bpulv outlined his redundant backup system. Apparently he is a computer professional or had it set up by a pro. The system described is similar to what I had at the data center of a oil company. The only difference is my system ran 24/7. For most of us this system would be over kill.

I would suggest that for most of us a setup of two backup drives swapped out on a weekly or monthly rotation would give as much protecting as needed. Yes there may be some small loss if a disaster hit or one failed. That being said most of your data (pictures) would be preserved. I have found that when most drives fail it is the power supply that fails. Most times the data on the drives can be recovered by putting the drive in a new box or use a recovery service the get the data off the old drive and put on a new media.

For most of us amateurs that want a best case situation I would suggest:
1. save the original camera chip. This is the original data. Cleaning it up as you shoot will keep most of the oops out of the mix. When full or nearly so keep them in a secure place. Identify each chip as to date or location. These can be used to recover any original data that may have been corrupted or otherwise lost.
2. organize your shots on your computer in a way they can be easily found. I have 'lost' many shots for a while because I did not have them in a proper place.
3. use a redundant, rotating backup system. Get two automatic backup external disk drives. Rotate them on a regular schedule. Keep one off site or in a safe place. If a disaster happens at your primary location then the 'offsite' drive can be used to recover when things get back to normal.

jefren Loc: Montgomery, Alabama

BPurly, your process sounds very effective. About how much money is such a setup? Thanks.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

wayne barnett wrote:

...1. save the original camera chip. This is the original data. Cleaning it up as you shoot will keep most of the oops out of the mix. When full or nearly so keep them in a secure place. Identify each chip as to date or location. These can be used to recover any original data that may have been corrupted or otherwise lost...

This is a very expensive option for those of us who use XQD cards.
Even for SD cards it's expensive. I just looked at the price of SD cards and found a 16 Gig card for $9. Let's say you can buy them on sale for $2. That's about $135/TByte. You can buy external hard drives for less than $100/TByte.

Not to mention the fact that when you want to find something you have 60-70 cards to look through for 1TByte of photos. My photos total about 1.5 TByte.

RichardE Loc: California

If one is using the new LR CC, not Classic, are not your photos in iCloud as one of a 'back-up'? ( I only use Classic)
I also have 3 B/Us and fireproof box for one of them.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

RichardE wrote:

If one is using the new LR CC, not Classic, are not your photos in iCloud as one of a 'back-up'? ( I only use Classic)
I also have 3 B/Us and fireproof box for one of them.

Don't depend on fireproof boxes. They're fine for a quick fire, but if they are left for any length of time in a fire the contents will overheat. Simple thermodynamics. If you want to protect one of your backups from a fire store it away from your house. Maybe at a neighbor's or relative's house.

RichardE Loc: California

Thanks, I was wondering about sustained heat.