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DVD Backups

Once an archive folder (for both original captures and derivative files) has reached the size of what will fit on current DVDs (roughly about 4.5GB, though that will change as DVD capacity increases), I will burn it to a write-once DVD to create a backup that cannot be compromised by a virus or file corruption.

Recommendation: The DAM Book – Digital Asset Management for Photographers by Peter Krogh (O’Reilly, 2005). This is an excellent book that really helped me to get a handle on my ever-growing collection of images. Peter has put a lot of thought into this topic and his methods provided a solid conceptual framework for improving my existing image archive system. I cannot recommend it highly enough! Off Site Backups So far I have detailed the steps that I use to make sure that I have a good backup for my main system drive, as well as my image archive. Having backups of those important files is essential, of course, but to protect your archives against home-destroying disasters like a wildfire or a flood, you have to take it a step further.

For me, that next step is a third copy of my entire image archive that lives on a large capacity external hard drive that is stored in a safe deposit box at my local bank, about six miles from my house. I typically bring this drive home once a week and update it to keep it current with the contents of my main Image Archive-A drive. I also keep a smaller drive at the bank that holds a bootable backup of the entire drive of my main computer. Like the image archive, this backup is also updated once a week. If a fire does destroy my house, I will have only lost a few days to a week of data and can restore my backup system disk to a new computer very quickly.

I checked with my bank and was told that their vault is both fire-proof and water-tight, but all vaults may not be created equal and if you live in a flood-prone area I would recommend double-checking to see if the vault at your bank will stay dry if 6 to 8 feet of flood waters innundate the building. If there is any doubt about the vault's ablity to keep the contents of your safe deposit box dry in a flood situation, then you might need to make sure your off-site copy is stored above the highest conceivable level the floodwaters might reach.

Of course, you don’t have to store an off-site backup in a bank vault; that just provides an extra level of protection against destruction. My office and studio are in the same structure as my house, which is why I chose to use my safe deposit box for my off-site copy. Keeping your main archive at home and a backup copy at your office might be more convenient for you. The main thing is to have a copy that is in a totally different physical location, preferably several miles away, so it is protected against any catastrophe that might destroy your home and the houses near you.

Online Storage

Another type of off-site backup that may be an option for you are the many companies that offer online archiving space. I do not use a service such as this simply because I feel the size of my image archive makes it impractical; it would take many weeks of continuous upload time to move all of my files onto remote servers. Of course, once the bulk of the archive has been transferred to the online server, then uploading new files does not take as long, but at the present time it is not an option for me. For smaller archives or non-image files, however, online storage may be a viable solution for you to explore. For instance, I use the iDisk that comes with my .Mac account to backup critically important files, as well as material that I may need for seminars or workshops since I can access them from any computer with an internet connection.

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© 2008, Seán Duggan • all rights reserved