On-Line Backup Service

[TheRoff]

I would like to hear anyone's recommendations or experience with on-line backup services. Every time I hear my current external hard drives click on, I always hope it isn't the last time.


Thanks,


Larry

[Sean Setters]

I guess it depends on how much you want to back up....


Honestly, I use a Flickr Pro account to back up the images I really want to keep. Otherwise, I have a CD storage case that can hold 200 DVDs. I started burning a backup copy of every paid session I did to a DVD. I figured they were safest that way...

[StapledPhoto]

I haven't used any backup services online so I can't really reccomend any, but why not just get a second external hard drive with all of the same files on it? Internal and external storage is super cheap. There are also cheap or free software solutions out there that'll sync files for you between folders / different hard drives but I personally just do it manually.


I have all of my photos on my computer's drive and on an external backup and my only concern now is a robbery / fire / flood so I'm thinking of keeping another external with family nearby or at work. This will inevitably not be completely up to date but will be a lot better than losing everything. I'm thinking that I'll take my home external drive which will be up to date and periodically swap it out with the one I keep elsewhere.

[HiFiGuy1]

Ever consider a small RAID NAS? I would. If you get a box with RAID 1 (mirroring), it has redundancy, so you won't lose any data even if a drive dies. RAID 5 is even better, but it requires at least three drives, whereas RAID 1 can be done with only two.

[peety3]

The redundancy of RAID is useless if your house burns down, etc. You're also dependent on how well the NAS reports disk problems, and how well it manages the drive swap when problems happen.


I'm a huge fan of Jungle Disk. $2/month service fee, then $0.15/GB storage pay-as-you-use, and I believe no bandwidth cost if you use Rackspace CF as the storage site. The software is simple yet effective - backups can be as often as 15 minutes, or as infrequent as when you click the button. It can also be a networked storage drive. It offers version control, so it can keep up to perhaps 10 revisions of a particular file (up to 60 days old). I haven't played much with that feature though.


I use it for personal files and key photographic files while "in progress". I keep a second set of storage drives at my parents' house as my off-site safety net.

[Jordan]

Hmm... yeah I don't use an online storage site either... but could be a good idea. I just keep everything I'm "working on" on my main internal HD of my MacBook Pro (which doesn't do much traveling) and then I make backups onto my main external HD every couple of days. Then once the data is in those two places, I can breath easy. If every decide to remove it from one of those two places (which I often do actually) then I burn in to a DVD first. I have a DVD binder of all my backups labeled well. Also, that second drive (the external...) I make backups of it onto another external here and there too. I'm paranoid about losing data. But I know if I do lose anything, it will be when I least expect it. I've found external hard drives seem to be the most dangerous place for them - so if you only have ONE and you use it a lot, and I would back them up to a second and/or DVD soon!

[crosbyharbison]

I back up my lightroom library onto my ftp server (ixwebhosting.com) in case of natural disaster at home.


I keep jpeg's on flickr with my pro account but find that with my 5DII some pictures exceed the 20 megabyte limit /:


lastly I have a copy of my lightroom library mirrored on a second internal drive in case a single drive fails.

[uberbloke]

I dislike the idea of my personal stuff residing in the cloud and like to have more control over my images... so this is what I do...


2 external hard disks, from different manufactures.


Backup computer to external disk 1 when camera memory cards are full


External disk 2 stored at in-laws house.


Every month or when necessary, backup to disk 2 (means having to talk to in-laws :-).


Replace each external disk every 3 years, staggered by a year.


This works for me, it does require a bit of discipline but I know that every image is always in at least 2 places... replacing the external drives on a rolling basis has so far meant that every time I replace them, they are MUCH bigger than the ones they are replacing and I have yet to have a problem with disk space!


In case fire I have the remote backup.


NOTE


I used to backup to CD (in the old days) but have experienced CDdegradationand been unable toretrievesome images... no experience with DVD, but copying the data has always worked for m

[peety3]

I dislike the idea of my personal stuff residing in the cloud and like to have more control over my images... so this is what I do...

Why is that? Read your contract and verify that they don't have license to use your files, maintain good copyrights, and you'll have no worries.

Backup computer to external disk 1 when camera memory cards are full


Every month or when necessary, backup to disk 2 (means having to talk to in-laws :-).


This works for me, it does require a bit of discipline but I know that every image is always in at least 2 places... replacing the external drives on a rolling basis has so far meant that every time I replace them, they are MUCH bigger than the ones they are replacing and I have yet to have a problem with disk space!


In case fire I have the remote backup.

All that means your most recent work is always the most vulnerable, and an unexpected photo opportunity can put you in a bad spot: full memory cards, no time to keep up with your backup plan, etc.

[TheRoff]

Thanks all. I already have 2 external hard drives that I backup to. Just a bit paranoid I guess. I will look into Jungle Disk.





Thanks.