image backup for photographers
TRANSCRIPT
All of this will be online
you don’t need to get screenshots or take notes i’ll post link on the SD Photo Facebook group
http://www.slideshare.net
about me
• I’vemanageddataforalongtime
• Ihaven’tlostanyofit…yet
• Mymethodshaveevolvedovertime
• IpracticeGOODDATAHYGIENE
name your files sensibly
• Itdoesn’tmatterhowgreatyourbackupisifyoucan’trecognizeafileonceyoufindit
• Pickaschemeanddon’tdeviatefromit
• Lightroom,PhotoMechanic,CaptureOnePro,etc.allowrenameonimport.Takeadvantageofthatfeature
File Naming• IuseYYYY-MM-DD-camera_model.CR2.Thatgivesmelongfilenameslike: Wyoming/2016/Grand Tetons/2016-06-25-Canon 5d Mark III/_S8398.CR2 ItmaylookunwieldybutIuseitbecauseI:
• CansortmyfilesbydateandfindtheonesfromJuneof2016
• Knowtheshootlocationbecausethedirectorynameaddsinformation
• Evenknowwhichcamerabodywasusedduringtheshoot
“Tokens”
Why?• Believeitornot,somepeopledon’tdownloadimagesofftheirmemorycard.Huh?
• Manypeoplekeepallimagesontheirharddrive.Whatifitfails?Whataboutfireortheft?
• Youmightlosesomeorallofyourimages
• Datarecoveryservicesareexpensiveandnotalwayssuccessful
• Thinkofthisasprotectingyourlife’swork
How?
• WeusedtobackthingsuponCDsuntilimagesgottoobig
• WethenbackedthemuptoDVDsuntilimagesgottoobig
• Happily,thecostofmagneticmedia(harddisks)hasmadeitaffordabletobackuptoanexternalharddisk
What to Back Up?• Withdigitalimages,youhaveseveralfilecategoriestobackup:
• RAWimages(ifyoushootRAW)
• PSDs/TIFFsifyouaredoingpost-processing
• Metadata,ifitissavedinXMPformat
• JPEGs,whichareessentiallyyourprints
• CatalogsifyouuseLightroom,C1,etc.
Where?• Backingupcanbedonetooneormoreexternalharddrives
• Itcanalsobedonetothe“Cloud”
• The“Cloud”isamarketingtermforhighcapacityserverswithhighavailabilityconnectedsecurelytotheInternet
• BackingupdatatotheCloudcanbefairlycost-effectivebutitisanongoingcostandextremelyslow
• Morecloudinformationlater
Create Mirrors• Thereisnoneedtobackupallyourfileseachtime.Onlyonesthathavechanged
• Mirror(createaduplicate)ofallyourfiles
• Whenmirroring,onlycopychangedfilestothebackupdrive
• Considerusinga“sync”optionsoimages/filesdeletedduringeditsareremovedfromyourmirror
• Mirroreachdrivethatcontainsrelevantdata.IfthecatalogisonafastbootdiskandRAWimagesonalargeexternaldisk,backbothofthemupatthesametime
More About Mirroring
• Itissafertocreatemultipleseparatemirrors
• Storeoneonyourshelfandupdateitfrequently(onceaweekatnight)
• Storeoneoffsite,perhapsinasafedepositbox,andswapitfortheoneonyourshelfperiodically(onceamonth)
Software for Backup
• IamanunabashedKISS(keepitsimple,stupid)advocate.Themore“smarts”yourbackupsoftwarehas,themorepointsoffailure,inmyopinion
• IuseSuperDuper!ontheMac.Itmakesyourbackupdisklookexactlyliketheprimary.Italsoallowsperformsincrementalbackupsoncethefirstoneiscomplete
Ultra complicated mirroring
setup
How About RAID?• RAIDstandsforRedundantArrayofIndependentDisks.IuseRAID5.OtherRAIDlevelsprovidelesssafety
• Theideaisthatdataisspreadacrossanumberofdisks,makingitpossibletosufferacompletediskcrashononeofthem,andyetretainallyourdata.Youcanjustpullafaileddiskoutwiththepoweronandthereplacementrebuildsitself
• RAIDdoesn’tprotectfromaccidentallydeletingafileorfromafireorfloodwipingoutthecomputingdevices
• DrobooranyotherNAS(NetworkAttachedStorage)appliancearenotassafeasoffsitebackupmirrors
More Backup Software• TimeMachineispartofMacOS.Keepsversionsoffilesonyourdisk
• TimeMachinehasworkedformefortextfiles.
• IchoseasimplerarrangementwithSuperDuper!forimages
• IfyouchooseTimeMachine,includethediskonwhichyoustoreyourimagesandtheoneonwhichyoustoreyourcatalogs
• UseTimeMachineinmanualmodesoitdoesn’tslowyoudownwhileyouareworkingonimages.
• TimeMachineworksgreatfordocumentsandsmallfiles;it’snotcleartheengineeringscalestomulti-megabyteRAWfiles
Windows Backup• Windowshashadbackupbuiltinforalongtime.YoujustgototheStartMenu,clickControlPanel,thenSystemMaintenance.Theitemyouarelookingforis“BackupandRestore”
• Windowsisadominantbusinessplatform,soextremelyeffectivesoftwareexists.Foronepersonworkingonimages,BackupandRestoremaybesufficient
• Again,considernotallowingBackupandRestoretorunexceptattimesyoudesignate(whenyoufinishaneditorwhileyou’reasleep)
• Disclosure:IamaMacuser
© Nancy Ross
THE CLOUD
strategy 2: Cloud Based Mirroring
• Onlineservicestypicallyimplementincrementalbackup(onlywhathaschanged)afterfirstcompletebackup
• Itcantake10minutesormoreperRAWfile,dependingontheresolutionofyourfiles
• Forthousandsoffiles,theinitialbackupcanbetime-consuming;ideallystartwhenyourcatalogissmall
• Butnomatterwhatsizeyourcatalogis,it’simportanttostart
• Onceyouaregoingonabackupprogram,you’resafe!
which Cloud Based Solutions
• Crashplanistheservicethatusuallycomesupastopchoice.Theyofferafreetrialandanindividualplanisabout$5/month.Unlimitedstorage
• YoumaywanttolookintoBackblaze*.Again,freetrial,unlimitedstorage,$5/month
• Carboniteisabout$60/yearor$12/month,unlimitedstorage.It’snotclearthattheyofferanextra$7/monthaddedvalue*
• Lookatthesitesforthesecompaniesanddecideforyourself
• Understandhowtouninstallthe“freetrial”beforeyouinstallit,shouldyouoptnottosubscribetotheservice
The Rest of the Cloud
• AmazonoffersbackupforPrimesubscribers.Ihaveneverbeenabletomakethisworkreliably
• Dropboxisgreatforsharingfiles,butforamulti-terabytearchive,itmaynotbeuptothetask
• Ifyoufindotheralternatives,letmeknow!
Cloud Caveat
• Youarerelyingonthestabilityofsomeoneelse’ssystemtoarchiveyourimages
• Makesureyouhaveayourownbackupaswell
• Whatiftheygooutofbusiness?
• Whatifthere’sahurricaneorearthquake?
• Don’tallowasinglepointoffailure
warning: new software!• BeforeyouinstallanewversionofPhotoshoporLightroom(orwhatever),backeverythingup
• Atcertainupgradeintervals,yourcatalogsoftwareinparticularwillneedtoaddorremovesomeparticlesofinformationfromthedatabase.Itwillneedtoalterthe“schema”ofthedatabase
• Whenyouseean“upgradingdatabase”messagebox,knowthatfromyourpointofview,thisisaone-wayprocess.Youcan’tun-upgradethatdatabase
• So,todowngradeifyouhaveproblemswiththenewrelease,youneedtorestoreyouroldcatalogfromabackup
Hope you can join us for our october talk!
it’s about photography, not computers