Archives and Backup Copies
Most digital photographers are not taking the time to properly protect their precious digital images. As a professional photographer, the idea of losing a single important image scares me, but losing everything that I have ever shot because my computer crashes horrifies me. Ask yourself, “What would I lose if my computer died right now?”
Let me say this to you in bold for maximum impact: If you have neglected to prepare for total system failure, then you should expect to lose everything when disaster inevitably strikes.
My philosophy on how to best protect and preserve digital images borrows from rock climbing. Smart rock climbers use redundant safety systems so that if one piece of their protective equipment fails, they will not fall all the way to the ground. I think that all of us serious digital photographers need to adopt a similar philosophy. We need to take active measures to insure that we have redundant levels of image protection in place before a catastrophe happens.
I have been teaching about this need for redundant levels of protection for quite some time in my classes and have come to realize that most of us need an image archive plus a separate set of image backups. I consider an “archive” to be a copy of a file that cannot be erased, changed, or overwritten. A backup is a duplicate of the most up-to-date version of a file.
An archive is as permanent a copy of a file as I can get. Whenever I empty a memory card of new images into my computer I burn another copy of these files onto a blank CD-R or a DVD+/-R disk. These optical disks are my archive. The files that these disks contain are static and frozen in time and nothing can ever change them. Once a CD-R or DVD+/-R disk is burned, the files that it contains are permanently etched onto the disk’s surface.
In my world, a “backup” is an additional copy of a file on an external hard drive or server. Every time that I improve an image–a file which is stored within my computer–I want these improvements carried over to copy of the files that lives on my external backup device. Unlike the files in the archive, backups are ever-changing and need to be updated constantly.
Making archival copies is very simple. Whenever I empty a memory card I take the time to also burn these files onto a disk. One card = one disk. Sure, you might be able to fit two memory cards onto a single disk but blank CD-R and DVD+/-R media are so cheap these days that I don’t usually mind having extra room on a disk.
These CDs and DVDs are my ultimate fallback. If my computer were to die right now, I could retrieve any and every digital image that I have ever captured thanks to my static CD / DVD archive!
Yes, CDs and DVDs can be scratched or physically damaged. Yes, it is also true that standard +/-R media will not last forever, but they are still the least expensive, long-term storage option currently available. The fact that regular CD and DVD disks will degrade over the next decade does not bother me much. If it worries you, they do make higher-quality disks and chemically inert labeling pens.
Slow disk degradation does not worry me much either; I am not going to be leaving my disks in a sealed time capsule for hundreds of years. Quite the opposite, actually, I expect that within the next decade some other media will replace CDs and DVDs. When this happens, I will transfer my archives onto whatever new data storage technologies are available.
I expect that within my lifetime I will have to transfer my archives again and again as technology changes and improves. Those who fail to keep up with these changes in technology may someday find that their archives are as easy to use as sound recordings stored on 8-track cassette tapes or home movies that were recorded on Betamax videotapes.
The point of the archive is piece of mind. My stack of disks gives me a sense of security. It makes me feel confident that whatever disaster happens to this computer, it will not destroy all of my photographs. If a virus eats my hard drive I am going to be sad, but I am not going to be out of business. Viruses and power surges can destroy my computer but they can’t harm the disks that are filed away in a binder, in a cabinet, or in a bank’s safety deposit box.
There is one other huge benefit to archiving all of my original captures. Since I know that I have a copy of every original capture safely stored away, I can be an absolutely ruthless editor of the images that remain within my computer. I can delete anything from my computer knowing that, if I change my mind later, I can get the original file back from the archives. Thanks to the archive, I have no reason to store anything but my best captures inside of my computer. Careful editing helps me free up hard drive space and it keeps my photo library down to a manageable size.
In addition to my archive, I also backup everything that is on my computer to an external hard drive on a regular basis. I use my external hard drive as a “mirror image” of my computer’s internal hard drive. If my computer were to crash right now, I could plug this external drive into another machine and have immediate access to all of my work.
With the right software and an external hard drive, it is easy to maintain a complete backup of your entire computer. There are a lot of good, cheap backup utilities out there. My favorite for Windows users is a program called Acronis True Image Home. On the Mac, I am fond of a program called Carbon Copy Cloner. Mac OS 10.5 users can also use Apple’s integrated backup utility, which is called Time Machine.
The thing about backups, though, is that they are only useful if they are current. If you haven’t updated your backup in months, then what good will it be if your computer dies right now? My archive can take me back to the moment when an image left my camera, but I need the backup to bring me back to today so that I don’t have to start all over on the project or files I was working on.
If all of this seems like a lot of effort, then please consider the dismal alternative. If you have no backup and no archive, what will you lose when your computer crashes? Could you really re-shoot your favorite pictures, or are the moments that they recorded simply irreplaceable? I believe that spending a few minutes burning disks for my archive and regularly using my backup utility with an external hard drive is absolutely worth it if it protects me from a total disaster.
If you would like help shopping for an external hard drive please visit this page at our store.
Feb 2010 Update: Backing up with Windows 7
A new backup utility is of the improvements built into all versions of Windows 7! For more information click here.
Filed Under: FAQ • Getting Started • Hardware • Workflow
About the Author: David Marx has an extensive knowledge of digital photography and is an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop and in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. David is a talented instructor and his entertaining teaching style works for students of all skill levels. He has been teaching digital photography and image enhancement with Adobe Photoshop since 2002. In addition, David’s sports and landscape images are often featured on the web and in outdoor sports publications.
In 2009, David Marx led digital photography programs for the 
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Helpful remindfer after class.
Fans of this site know that I am keen on backups and archives for my computers and my digital images. I cannot stress enough how important it is to make multiple copies of our important files.
This morning I read an interesting blog post from Terry White, director North America Creative Pro Core Business for Adobe Systems Inc., on his recent troubles and on how his multitude of backups saved the day. Terry White’s backup system is more elaborate then mine but as you will see in his article we share the same basic philosophy: “Any device will fail sooner or later. Make multiple backups to reduce your risk of total disaster.”
For more expert advice on backup systems please click here.
[...] Source and Read More: thelightroomlab.com [...]
You could be more blunt in this: if you don’t keep a copy, you WILL loose all your data at some point in time.
Most people have this false sense of security around the data stored on their HD’s
One thing that I always try to get into my friends heads:
If you just want to do 1 thing, store one copy of what you really don’t want to lose (on a DVD, 2nd external drive, whatever) at somebody else’s place.
If your house burns down, your DVD-archive stored in your basement will be worthless.
You do not have a true fall-back scenario if any one event (HD crash, fire, flood, burglary, etc) can destoy all your copies.
My structure:
1) running Timemachine on OSX for the “local HD failure”
2) regular incremental backup to external HD which normally resides at parents-in-law house 5 miles away
3) mirror of my picture folder to my brothers server 80 miles away (process running automatically at night over the internet)
But I’d be happy if everone would just perform point 2) once a year.
I shoot RAW and convert to dng on importing into Lightroom. Do you recommend saving the RAW files or the dng files to the Untouchable disk? I also apply basic metadata on import (creator, copyright, general keywords). If you recommend keeping the dng files instead of the RAW images (which could require proprietary software from Canon when you’ve switched to Nikon), would you burn the disk before or after changing the metadata. The advantage to doing it after is easier searching. Also, if you rename your files, be sure to preserve the original file name to make it easier to locate the original file.
I used to feel fairly secure burning to DVD, but recently, I had a series of DVDs fail that were 1 1/2 years old. I did ship them via boat from America to France, so maybe something happened? Not all were corrupted though, mostly my most current files. Thankfully I had all the files on a hard drive as well. I have a lot less confidence in DVD now. I think of it as ONE of my safety nets, which I know you are saying as well, I just share as a word of warning.
Don’t be too confident in DVD!
During a photo-vacation in Canada, my 1.0 TB external hard Drive stopped working. I bought another for the remainder of my vacation. Upon returning home, I took the failed drive to a Data Retrieval company. They got the drive to activate, and in 10-minutes an acrid, blue smoke came from the drive enclosure. To make this long story, shorter; they were able to retrieve my 36,000 images, at a cost of $2,100.00. A costly lesson. I now have two external hard drives.
Chris
What a story, Chris! Thanks for sharing that and for pointing out the high (financial) cost of hard drive recovery. I had just commented on the cost of hard drive recovery on another thread.
-Scott
[...] you put anything on it. See how to format an external drive and please don’t forget to back everything up. var a2a_config = a2a_config || {}; a2a_config.linkname="Recommended External Hard Drives– [...]
[...] Archives and Backup Copies [...]
[...] Archives and Backup Copies [...]