Long term storage help? External hardrive??

E5telle

E5telle

Suspended / Banned
Messages
44
Edit My Images
No
Hi

Im looking for an alternative option for securley storing my images long term (to burning to CD/DVD) and thinking about buying an external hard drive.

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas or reccomendations for a reliable external hard drive.

Thanks

E5telle
 
im not what i would call an expert, but their are a mountain of drives out their that would suit your purpose..

Think the main thing would be price ? and what sort of size do you need.

or maybe use one of the many online options ?
 
The most straightforward thing would be a simple 'portable' external drive. Those drives are almost always powered by USB, so they don't require plugging into a power supply.

They have physically small drives inside (2.5" laptop drives) and they cost around £60 for 500Gb

Assuming you're not saving RAW files, then you'll fit tens of thousands of photos on such a drive. Even if you are saving RAW files then at around 25Mb each you'll still have a huge amount of space.

Once you've filled the drive after a couple of years, buy another one.

The above assumes that you'll also keep a copy of your pictures on your PC, so the portable drives become backup storage. That's what you're after I think, but the important point is to have your files in two places.

There are lots of other options, including using network drives (which can be accessed by any computer on your network), or online storage as has been suggested.

You might want to use some backup software too, so that you can automate backing up to save you a job.

Others will give good advice here I'm sure.
 
Hi. I use Lacie 1TB hard drives that are usb but need external power so they are on the desktop.
 
External drives work well but I'd suggest you use at least 2 so you have a level of redundancy if and when one fails, I also write to dvd (archival quality) as another level of backup, ideally keep one of the back-ups off site (office/mums house etc) so if your place gets burnt down/flooded etc you still have something left.
 
Yes, Allway Sync

http://allwaysync.com/

Not the prettiest piece of software, but underneath the hood it's brilliant. Well worth paying the £15 for the pro version. (Not that you'll need pro features, but because such a good piece of software deserves to be paid for).
 
Get a Mac and use Time Machine!
 
I'd actually advise against software to back up automatically, the problem is it'll also copy any errors across (and viruses) and more importantly if you accidently delete a load of images some will delete from the back-up as well.
Another factor is you'll need to leave the back-up plugged in all the time (more or less) for the auto to work, better to just plug in when you need to, less wear and less chance of of both copies being close together to get stolen/flooded...
 
You might be better asking this in the computer section at the bottom of the forums. In summary:

  • Define what you want to backup and how often you want to do it. I treat my personal data and photos differently from system backups - I backup my personal data every 20 minutes, system backups - of the OS and installed apps - happen once a week overnight.
  • Any backup of data is better than no backup. One backup of your data is good, but needs to be outside (i.e. not on an internal drive) of the machine you are backing up. Two copies is better.
  • Offsite (i.e. you take a portable HDD with you and leave it somewhere else) is better than two copies in the house but requires that you are regimented in swapping backups (no point having a backup of data that is months old and then losing everything between then and now)
  • If you automate, it is better to have disks attached all the time unless you have software that will detect a particular disk being inserted and backup when it is.
  • Depending on your desktop HDD usage and external USB usage, it may be worth using Microsofts system backup (assuming you are using Win7) fairly regularly as this is the easiest way I have found of being able to restore a computer in case of HDD failure

Sorry, rambling a bit there but there are a lot of variables to consider.

As to hard drive purchase, it's a bit of a lottery. Read my musings here: http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=4055929&postcount=17
 
I use Verbatim USB3 external drives, they are very small and require no power supply (USB 2 compatible too). 1Tb versions are under £100 and come in a variety of colours. Colours are handy not just a gimmick, yellow ones are my photos, black one is my music.
I also use Karens Replicator a freeware tool that mirrors folder changes. It will only backup files that have been modified since the last backup. It will also run scheduled backups, and its FREE.
 
As noted above be careful with backup software and the permissions you give it. An incorrect tick in a box and you might find it starts deleting images from your backup that you have moved elsewhere locally.
Check, check and check again...
 
Photodiva said:
Get a Mac and use Time Machine!
Click to expand...

I use Time machine for general system backup and it's great, because it doesn't overwrite anything that has since been deleted. In the end though you're limited by the size of the hard drive and something like Lightroom really needs a solution tailored specifically to archiving images in some form of catalogue system. Mind you, TM has saved my bacon a few times, not only when I've needed to do a system restore, but when I've inadvertently chucked something away off my mac :)

I used Lacie 1TB drives with a USB2.0 and FW800 interface. But I've recently changed over to WB 1TB portable drives because they power through USB 3.0 so are much better for taking out and about. Plus, they're smaller and cheaper now.

I archive manually. I drag and drop files onto the external drive into the specific location that is linked to LR3.
 
Allway Sync includes an option to propagate deletions or not. To all intents and purposes it is perfect.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top