Question on Storage and back up

[srican69]

I ve just discovered the pleasure on shooting in RAW ... and while that gives me great control over during post-processing - I have a new headache in terms of the RAW files that I need to keep.

I have used the paid storage at Picasa ( that gave me 25 GB) for backing up my JPEGS.. but that will not go a long way toward storing my RAW files ( ~25 MB/file) ... one single event can chew up 10 GB

So far the options I am considering are

1) Store them on External HD and back them up on DVD discs
2) Ditto above except that I use Buy a Blu-Ray burner with 25 GB discs
3) Use my OLD PC as a NAS server ( with 2 3TB HDD)
4) Use Cabonite/Mozy


What do you think is the way to go?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Have you considered a hard drive dock?

You put bare drives into them. Removes without rebooting. It has the lowest cost per unit storage and allows for additional copies for offsite storage. An examples of the H/W: http://www.cyberguys.com/product-search/?keyword=hard+drive+dock

[srican69]

2. very interesting ..... never knew about it ...

looks like a real possibility too

Thank you so much ..

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. They have high speed interfaces too

The big thing for me was off site storage.

[srican69]

4. yes ... I can see myself making a trip to the bank locker about once a month with the backups

[JohnnyRingo]

5. I believe in external HDs.

Memory is cheap, with a full terabyte for around $100 or so if you shop around. Of course one has to physically back up the files, but even if it's done twice a year, the danger of losing valuable photos is minimal. For most, it takes 20 minutes.

As a further hedge against losing precious data, I'd suggest a small fireproof lockbox to store the drive ($30). I'd advise a drive that can be unplugged in case of a computer zapping power surge. That also stops wear on the spinning disc. Solid state, while it costs more, is even better.

This is all a one time expenditure. Who likes monthly bills for off-site storage?

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Backup-Portable-External-STBU1000103/dp/B00829THH8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1361995984&sr=8-4&keywords=external+storage

[ljm2002]

6. I use a 1Tb hard drive...

...that comes loaded with backup software and it backs up new files automatically and frequently (but not when the computer is busy).

If you need to store your images off site, you could get two of them and rotate them.

Also these days you can probably get 2Tb backup drives or better -- I haven't looked recently but I seem to recall that 2Tb was quite affordable the last time I looked.

I wouldn't mess around with DVDs for this purpose, you'll drive yourself nuts making backups and labeling them.

Just my $.02

[MichaelSoE]

7. I've been using a external raid drive for years.

It's mirrored (2 drives so if one dies the other is identical and nothing is lost) and when I down load RAWs off the camera they go straight into the raid drive. Since it's on my home network I can access the files from any of my computers. It's an old netgear duo. There are now better ones available, they are moderately priced and you have duplicates in case one drive craps out. I also do periodic backups of files that are not photos.

So unless my house burns down or the thieves of the night steal the raid, I'm covered.

[rdking647]

8. im anal about backups

i store photos on a raid drive.
i back that up onto a seperate external HD kept in a safe
i also use crashplan as an offsite backup