External hard drive (Page 2): My guess is that in a 1000 years digital, the idea of digital and all things digital will be lost somewhere in the basement of time. And frankly it won't...

Mudshark Loc: Illinois

Twardlow wrote:

ALL Hard drives fail. Only a matter of when. They are physical, and physical things wear out...sometime.

The M disc doesn't etch the info on a cd/DVD, but changes the material underneath to synthetic stone.

Not qualified to judge, but I'm trying it.

Come back in a thousand years and I'll tell you how it worked out.

Tom

My guess is that in a 1000 years digital, the idea of digital and all things digital will be lost somewhere in the basement of time. And frankly it won't make any difference to me...I'm sure I'll be part of the sludge in the bio waste disposal unit....

Mudshark Loc: Illinois

jimni2001 wrote:

quote=Mudshark br I am told by experts and I hav... (show quote)

I feel your pain brother...I not only have negs and trannys stuffed in a filing cabinet but also cardboard boxes, etc....what a mess. And have you tried moving the file cabinet to clean....Good Lord...and then there's the client that wants something from 20 years ago...sure...I can find it.....@#$%##$

CocoaRoger Loc: Cocoa Florida

I have a Seagate 1T. Got it 2 years ago and use it for the same reason. Cost was about $80 then. Regardless of what you get do get one. Also, burn your photo's to disk.

angiehunt Loc: Florida

I'm also paranoid about backup and storage. I had an Apple Airport, but it died after about 3 years (and was nice enough to tell me when it started to fail.) At the same time I was backing up to a My Book 1T, and so I also bought a My Book 4 T (they come in sizes up to 6 Terabytes.) Bought it on Amazon.com, and no complaints. I also keep my best work backed up in a dropbox file. :-)

Angie

RedIris Loc: MN, USA

Some (CD/DVD) also fly apart in the super fast drives. None of this has been a problem for me so far...

About 10 years ago, I burned my own music CDs (custom playlists) using quality music media discs. I would put them in their own plastic Jewelcase. A few years later I went back to play one and it had cracked at the hole where it was placed on the spindle in the jewelcase. All other CDs had cracked also. The cracks in the discs are what causes the explosive discs in super fast drives. Check the 'hole' before placing into a drive.

If you are saving in 3 ring binders without placing them on spindle type jewelcases, that would be ideal or in paper envelopes.

Jer Loc: Mesa, Arizona

I agree with you. I need to do better. One of my top photos was on my computer drive. I went to print another copy only to find out the file was corrupted. I was lucky that I had a backup on an USB drive. I'm planning to make yet another copy on an archival DVD. They are expensive but hopefully with be worth it.

fabians wrote:

I'm really anal about backup. I have all my pictures (originals and touched up) in three places; the computer hard drive, a 1tb Seagate external, and quality DVD's. When ready to backup, I plug in the external HD, then backup my recents photos, then unplug the drive. The external is not 'on' all the time, should last forever. Then I burn a DVD's worth of pictures onto a DVD, catalog it, and then I'm done.

mwh2385 Loc: Fairfield Glade, Tennessee

Western Digital Book Series are excellent external drive. And they have great warranties and tech support.

Mike H.

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

OHenry wrote:

I am just about sold on the idea that I really need some kind of back-up so I don't lose valued photos from my hard drive that I've been seriously collecting for about a year now. I'm also pretty convinced that an external hard drive is the way to go. Now.....what kind and how much storage??

I'm interested in your comments and opinions.

"Just about sold on the idea"? Really? You should have been sold on the idea as soon as you got your digital camera - maybe even on the same receipt!

You may want to do a major cataloging of your photos by moving every photo you have into "My Pictures" and breaking that down into subfolders like the year, major subject categories, minor categories inside the major categories, etc. before doing your backup. Then you will be copying just "My Pictures" onto the external drive with ease.

Don't delete the ones on your C: drive when you're done. Keep them there too.

The brand doesn't make much difference on USB external drives anymore because they're all made in China and any of them can make mistakes or breakdown as easily as the others. Seagate and Western Digital are big names but that just means they compete and you'll probably find hot deals on them more often. I'd get 1TB or 1.5TB since they're just $100 to $150 most anywhere including office supply stores.

When you're done backing up, take your external drive away from the computer and put it somewhere else - such as somebody else's house or in a fireproof safe. There's no advantage to having a backup if they both go up in the same house fire or if they both get blown to bits by a lightning strike to the same computer.

Hopefully this is the last thread you read before you drop everything and go to the local Best Buy or Office Max immediately!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

jimni2001 wrote:

I have never heard of a disc flying apart but then again there is a lot that I am sure I have never heard of.

Mythbusters tested that idea around 2006. They did get one to break apart by spinning it, but I don't remember how.

bshure Loc: San Diego

If you're really serious about backups, you need some kind of off-site backup! snapfish, smugmug, phanfare, flicker, picasa, mozy or carbonite.

I have photos on three disks at home and off-site at phanfare.

I have friends who never erase images from SD cards. They buy new ones and archive the old ones.

RedIris Loc: MN, USA

jerryc41 wrote:

jimni2001 wrote:

I have never heard of a disc flying apart but then again there is a lot that I am sure I have never heard of.

Mythbusters tested that idea around 2006. They did get one to break apart by spinning it, but I don't remember how.

My daughter's CD/DVD disc exploded in their drive... I think it was broken to begin with though... like I said, my discs became cracked in the jewelcases they were stored in. The spindle in the jewelcase was too tight, or seemed to be. Maybe a bad batch of discs.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

I have 3. The last one I got is the Sandisk Memory Vault. They clain to last 100 years. I will never know. I do like having photos stored OFF of my computer and know they are much safer. I unplug mine every night so I don't worry about storms wiping out the computer AND all my photos.

snowbear

jimni2001 wrote:

Just make sure you upgrade before the technology expires.

Hmmm . . . maybe it's time for me to swap out the 9-track/3600' reel tapes. :mrgreen:

francesca3 Loc: Sausalito, CA

OHenry wrote:

I am just about sold on the idea that I really need some kind of back-up so I don't lose valued photos from my hard drive that I've been seriously collecting for about a year now. I'm also pretty convinced that an external hard drive is the way to go. Now.....what kind and how much storage??

I'm interested in your comments and opinions.

Whatever brand of external hard drive you choose, I recommend that you buy a TB sized drive.

OHenry Loc: St. Michaels, MD

marcomarks wrote:

quote=OHenry I am just about sold on the idea tha... (show quote)

....I did laugh when I read your comments just now. As it turns out, I just returned from Staples where I purchased a Seagate "Backup Plus" 1 tb (paid $79.99). I had already organized photos into "my Pictures" long ago just to keep my sanity.

My plan is to do pretty much as you suggest, especially after the tech at Staples told me that if I left the external drive plugged in, it was possible for a storm or something to wipe out everything.

As I understand it, this external drive can be set so it continuously backs up only "My Pictures", but I can avoid this feature by not installing the software. My question for you (before I actually open the box) is this.....

If I plug it in and ask it to copy "My Pictures" and then I put it away somewhere, what happens awhile later when I have more pictures to be added? Does it pick up where it left off or do I "erase" what is there and have everything copied (and therefore updated) again? Inquiring minds want to know!

Lastly, 1.5 years ago when I got my dslr, I had no idea I would fall in love with this hobby. Only now do I realize that I'll be doing this crazy stuff for as long as I'm able. Thanks for your help.