I use CDs and DVDs and 3 external hard drives none of my pics are on my computer hard drive.
Please comment briefly on your backup strategy.
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Just yesterday I was reading an article online that recommended a RAID backup system and downplayed the stability of optical drives, particularly DVDs, as image storage media. On the other hand, I have read previously that data on ALL magnetic media (hard drives) deteriorate slowly. An example is the tapes from the Apollo missions; many are no longer readable. For this reason, some authors call hard discs "volatile" and recommend the "nonvolatile" optical disks. And it is possible today to buy a CD with a 300-year life expectancy and a DVD with an 80-year life expectancy. Since there is disagreement among even the "authorities" on this topic, I back up my pictures to both an external drive and two copies of DVS kept at different locations.
I keep a Lacie raid one for my kodachrome scans and 3 External Hard Drive Aperture Vaults, and a 2nd 500 gb Internal Hard Drive. Plus all files are burned to DVD/CD. I keep 3TB's of External Back Up, Oline is not an option here where I live.
Initially I load them twice to an external hard drive. One copy to a folder marked as "Originals", never to be touched again, and the other to a similar folder labeled "Edited". Each folder is named in a very specific format... example: 2009-03-28_WTS_Luncheon_DavePalmer_ORIGINALS With this format, it will always sort by date, even as the years go by. And the subcategory "WTS" is the name or abbreviation of the general topic or group of whom the pictures were taken. The next category is the function within that group, like a luncheon, or a concert, or a party...etc. The next category is a little more specific, like who was the speaker/singer/host of the event if it is applicable, the the final category is whether it is the "Original" folder or the "Edited" folder. Then under that general folder are any applicable and necessary subfolders, for things like "Contact Sheets", "Resized" images for use in emails and web use. This system has worked really well for me because it allows me to search by date, or by the Organization, or by the type of event, or by the person. When I've done my editing and contact sheets, and resized the applicable images, I load all of that onto 2 sets of CD/DVD's to be stored in my apartment, and offsite.
immediately upon downloading i burn an archive DVD, also import to an external hard drive using the DVD index reference as file folder, and lightroom at the same time, for current use. Finally, I make a backup in my own off line hard drive archive. I have never used on line storage.
I have an automatically scheduled incremental save every night to a Maxtor USB Hard Drive. Monthly I do a complete HD backup including system files to a diffeent Maxtor drive and keep it in my camera backpack. In case of fire or flood, etc. I can at least grab my camera bag and get out.