|
| Recent
Articles |
Using Online File Backup Services
There is one major problem with most computer backup procedures. Usually after a backup is made, all of the information and data stays in the same place as it always was. However, there are many disasters that could...
Online Data Storage - Accessibility Is Everything
Most people don't realize how convenient online data storage really is in these days using email storage services. The benefits for storing excess data online and freeing up space on your own hard drive is becoming...
How Flash Drives Are Ideal For School
Whether you call them flash drives, jump drives, thumb drives, USB drives or compact flash memory, one thing is certain: USB flash drive technology has soared at universities and colleges in recent years and their...
Online Backup Vs. Tape Backup
We work in an increasingly data driven business environment where your business critical data is the core of your business. It is estimated that 60% of companies that lose their data shut down within 6 months.
ISCSI Target Guide And Info
The purpose of iSCSI is simple: make a block storage device, such as a disk or a volume, accessible over a mainstream IP network. When iSCSI was introduced it looked like a nice niche market because 1Gbps...
|
|
|
| Recent WebProNews Articles |
No Thank You Sex, We're Networking
When it comes to surfing the Internet, sex is getting licked by social networking and the ability to connect with people based on more than just hormonal urges. Ha ha, let's all say it together. Interest in sex is going...
Google And Yahoo To Take 90% Of Paid Search
U.S. Internet users did 75. 8 percent of their January 2007 searches on Google or Yahoo, according to comScore media, and Nielsen//NetRatings found the combined total to be 76.4 percent. "In fact, over...
Google By Numbers; Profits Flatten Out
Revenue and profits rose for Google in their first quarter, earning net income of $1 billion on $3.66 billion in revenue. That net income is a little less than that of fourth quarter 2006, which reached $1.03 billion.
Google Slips Webmasters More Anchor Phrases
The Webmaster Central tools from Google received a welcomed update last month, to display anchor phrases leading to a site. Google has expanded upon that feature. Webmasters should be pleased with the...
Schmidt Defends DoubleClick Buy, Net Neutrality
At the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco today, Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke with Federated Media's John Battelle to discuss Google's purchase of DoubleClick, Network Neutrality, and the company's seemingly aggressive...
|
|
|
 |
|
04.23.07
The Importance Of Backing Up Photos
 By Thomas Hawk
I got an email today from my friend (and talented photographer) Lane Hartwell. Lane was asking me about one of the online backup services that is out there and my opinion on it.
I hadn't heard of the company so I emailed them to try and learn more about them -- I'll try to post on them after I learn more about them later.
A lot of readers have been asking me lately about my backup strategy and Lane's email brought up a super important point yet again. And that is that we simply cannot talk about the importance of photo back up enough. Lane almost lost one of her drives at 4am in the morning last night and it would just kill me to see any photographer lose their photos, especially her.
At this point there is simply no reason not to have a strong backup strategy in place -- and yet when I talk to some of the most talented photographers that I know I find that their work as often as not is not backed up. I'm not sure if it is because photographers are more creative types and would rather focus on fun things like actually taking pictures vs. dealing with icky boring things like back up, but it is simply imperative and terribly important.
All of my own photos are backed at present. I have over 5.5 terabytes of personal storage. This sounds like alot, but do you know how cheap personal storage has become? Right now at Amazon.com (sold out at B&H Photo) you can get a Seagate 750 GB external hard drive (Seagate as photographed above) for $259. 3 years ago this would have been unthinkable. This is the best value per GB that I think I've ever seen.
Even with very large 20MB huge RAW files from a 5D, a 750GB drive like this will hold over 38,000 photos. Most people don't have 38,000 photos so a drive like this is more than enough.
In fact, I'd recommend that you actually buy two of them -- use one as a constant back up at home, and use the other for remote storage. This can be kept at your office, or at a friends house. In my case I keep a backup copy of all of my finished photographs on a hard drive at my parent's house down in Los Angeles as well. Every time I visit I bring my current back up and swap it out for the old one. This way I've got three copies of all of my finished photos and one of them is remote.
Earlier this year my parent's garage burned down. I'm glad their house didn't burn down as well, but fires happen, which is why an offsite drive makes sense to duplicate your back up efforts.
I have three of these Seagate drives and love them. I highly recommend them (disclosure, Seagate does sponsor the Photowalking show that I do with Robert Scoble and gave me a free one once, but I'd already been a happy user of the two that I bought for myself).
I've tried many different hard drives, Maxtor, Cobra, Western Digital LaCie (LaCie's are the worst) and Seagates have always performed the best for me.
The hard drive you have your photos on now *will* fail. Guaranteed. It's not a matter of if it's a matter of when. So do yourself a favor and if you're work is not backed up, start backing it up.
Some have said, well why not just DVDs. I personally don't like this strategy because it's too much of a pain in the ass and because of that it doesn't end up getting done as often as it should. With an external hard drive it's portable and you can just drag and drop whenever you want to back things up. I organize my photos by day, so I can just drag over each day's photos onto a back up drive.
Consider this blog post your public service announcement for the day. If you don't have a back up drive, go buy one.
Comments
About the Author:
Thomas Hawk is a San Francisco based photographer and technology writer.
He publishes the web site Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection and is also
the Evangelist and CEO of the photo sharing site Zooomr
|
