Backing up Photos

[out of focus]

I shoot in RAW and JPEG and have been backing up files in external hard drive and also on disc for years, but especially now that I'm using a camera with higher resolution, I just don't know how sustainable that is unless I want to keep collecting things like external hard drives. And the other (more long term) matter has to do with how those things, especially the discs, will hold up to time (since I'd like to pass on those photos to my kids later on). Unless I'm to back up files to the cloud, I just don't know if there are any alternatives to my approach.

Anyway, I'm curious about others' approaches to backing up files and what your thoughts are about it.
Thank you!

 

[PKM-UK]

Hi Johnny,

Before posting I checked the number of awards I’ve won over the years for successful data back-up and it appears to be less than one (and I lost that… ). Therefore, adopt my strategy at your peril - and cost - but you asked and this is what I do.

Firstly, my DAM and ‘photographic hub‘ is Lightroom Classic (Lr C). The catalogue and images are kept on an external drive. After any shoot the raw data is loaded into Lr C and backed up to a different external drive. (2 copies of the raw data).

The catalogue is backed up after any session where ‘I wouldn’t want to do that again’ to the internal drive and iCloud. (Generally the last 4 copies are retained).

After editing, I retain all ‘keeper‘ raws and the resultant jpgs, I ditch most interim DNG’s/ TIFF’s and delete non-keeper raws.

Typically monthly, the catalogue, retained raws, jpgs and other files are backed up to 2 further external drives, one sits in our house safe, the other sits in an off-site house safe. (2 copies of a global ‘total meltdown’ critical data snapshot).

I also run Time Machine using yet another external hard drive, which usually rescues me from unbelievable acts of silliness.

Thing is, I’m such a complete klutz, I still manage to misplace stuff sometimes…

In conclusion - it’s a nightmare.

Phil

 

[cdgta]

My backup routines are:

-to use only 64gb or below sd cards with 2nd slot set to back up first slot's RAW images (I use more smaller cards as opposed to fewer larger cards in case of corrupt card so less lost)
-back up day's shoot to both computer and external drive when transferring images off camera* & at that time, after checking both sd cards, one card gets saved until all post production is done and other card is formatted and will be moved to the backup slot while a 'new' card goes into slot 1;
( *when travelling I always backed up to both a laptop and Dropbox as well as a Gnarbox 2 SSD which is a fantastic rugged device which you should check out online if you are interested)
-once images are 'done', the resultant jpgs are saved locally & backed up to DB plus 3 external drives (plus while being processed they are backed up daily locally & externally) and then I move the reserved sd card back into the rotation for use in the camera again and delete the day's shoot files from the local storage and go through the copy of those files on the external drive and, like Phil, I keep only 'keeper' RAW files for longterm storage there.

I forgot to mention that I label each folder coming off a day's shoot by date & location/subject then as final images are exported as jpgs I set up naming each batch with date (year/month/day) and number (000xx format) and descriptor name.

So far this has worked well for me and is simple but when I just read it over I admit it sounded like overkill and like a lot of work...in fact it is easy for me.
My photos of our family are the most precious to us so this routine protects those well.

Cathy

 

[out of focus]

Thank you, Phil and Cathy.

Wow, and I complained about how much time and space my routine takes!
It sounds like you both have a fairly extensive workflow for backing up your photos. I'm at once impressed and intimidated by it.

From reading both your posts, I think that I might need to be more discriminating than I generally have been about which RAW files that I backup. If I go back and look more carefully at some of the files that I've backed up (something that I should be doing much more often anyway), I should probably delete a sizable number of them since they honestly would not all qualify as keepers. That would be a start.

Thank you both very much for describing your approaches!

 

[Bryan Conner]

From reading both your posts, I think that I might need to be more discriminating than I generally have been about which RAW files that I backup. If I go back and look more carefully at some of the files that I've backed up (something that I should be doing much more often anyway), I should probably delete a sizable number of them since they honestly would not all qualify as keepers. That would be a start.

Thank you both very much for describing your approaches!

I agree completely, and also need to stop saving images that are a waste of space. I know that this habit comes from back when I was shooting weddings and I was afraid to have a bride (or mother of the bride ) ask to see a certain picture that she saw me take and I would not have saved it. So I used to save EVERYTHING. Now that I am no longer shooting weddings professionally, I should stop that. But you know...habits are hard to break.

Thanks for sharing your workflows.

 

[cdgta]

I realized many years ago that I was unlikely to go back to re-edit old pictures since there are always so many current ones taken with the much better current crop of cameras/lenses. that realization helps to get rid of a lot of images although admittedly it was hard to do at that time! Also made easier as Bryan points out when you are not shooting professionally.

With the ability to set up automatic backups, the time & effort is substantially reduced.

What is far more time-consuming these days is monitoring several different websites as replacements for DPR, lol!

Cathy

 

[PKM-UK]

…snip…

What is far more time-consuming these days is monitoring several different websites as replacements for DPR, lol!

Cathy