Back Up!
In business we have to keep looking ahead and moving forward. As a photographer I also have to back up daily. Every day’s work has to be protected from power surges, fire, theft, equipment failure or just accidental deleting. Whether you are a professional, hobbyist or take lots of family photographs it’s important to have a system in place that can handle your workflow. There are two things we need to accomplish. 1. multiple copies and 2. on site and off site storage.
A big advantage of digital over film is the ability to store multiple copies in multiple locations of all of our image files. With negatives and transparencies they were always archived in the safest place possible. However even Ansel Adams once experienced the disaster of a fire that destroyed some of his work. Catastrophes will happen. So, yes, we need a back up system, and yes, there is the cost of time and money, but failure to properly manage your assets could cost you years of professional work or cherished family photographs.
Here is our current workflow. I shoot tethered most of the time but not always and even when I shoot to cf cards I usually download to a laptop in the field. When on location I use the G-Tech G/Drive Mobile 500 gig to back up. The G/Drive is solid, portable and fast using firewire 800. It doesn’t need external power so even in the field I am able to instantly back up everything I shoot. You can find them online and at some Bestbuy stores. http://www.g-technology.com/
As soon as I am back in the studio the new files are then copied to 2 back up drives and one desktop drive that I work from. We are using a docking station from Thermaltake called BlacX. This came from newegg.com and cost less than $30 with shipping. With this unit you can connect internal hds without an enclosure. So you are saving money and space over the normal desktop hard drives. The one that I use is a single and connects by usb so it’s a little slow; however, for backing up it’s just fine. There is a dual version that I may add later. For now my choice for hard drives are the Western Caviar Black 1tb. It runs about $85 and has a great rating.
So now I have the files on a desktop hd, and 2 bare hard drives. One of the two is filed away out of site in the studio and the other is kept off site. Multiple copies in multiple locations. Once I have finished editing, the processed and retouched files are copied to the back up drives and then I will burn 2 dvds of the finished images, also separated for additional backup. This may seem like a lot of trouble but knowing the clients’ and my personal images are safe for today, tomorrow and the future allows me to keep moving forward.
If you want the ultimate safe work flow check out the Chase Jarvis work flow. http://www.youtube.com/achaser123#p/u/31/Y-6EQo6it7Y
