At the start of each year, many of us choose to set goals to accomplish things that are meaningful in the new year. If you haven’t thought about setting some photography goals, why not take some time this week to do so?
In my opinion, one of the most important-and most neglected things you can do as a photographer, is to protect the precious images you’ve created. This goes for you cellphone shooters, too! You spent the big bucks on the gear (and/or fancy new phone), spent time getting yourself educated-maybe and hopefully even attended workshops and classes to enable you to continue to grow and learn. You’re out shooting every chance you can get-even if it’s only shooting family photos. A majority of you have spent a considerable amount of money on software to make those images the best that they can be, not to mention all the time you’ve spent in front of that computer editing them. With all of that investment in time and money, why in the world would you not do everything possible to protect that investment-and your precious memories?!!
So many people I chat with have little to no system in place for protecting their images from a catastrophe. We all know we should back up our images on a regular basis, but many of you might admit that you are not currently doing so. Why in the world not?!! My apartment in Michigan was hit by lightning not once-but twice! Both times I lost expensive stereo equipment. After that I got an expensive surge protector. I learned my lesson 😜 That’s also a great step before we talk about backing up. Have a good surge protector for all of your computer and peripheral devices.
Here’s a quote to consider:“If you have neglected to prepare for total system failure, then you should expect to lose everything when disaster inevitably strikes.”
By the way, the images you see in this post are some of my most favorite images, taken before, during or after storms. I would be heartbroken to have these and so many others just disappear because I was lazy and careless…
First, let’s start at the beginning: what is a back-up, and why don’t most people do it? A back-up is a copy-an exact duplicate of the original file.
One of the reasons people don’t back up their files may be that you think they are safe sitting in your computer. You and I both know they’re not. One day that computer will crash, and take your images with it! I’ve had very few computer failures. The reason my last laptop failed, is because I filled the memory to the extent that the hard drive just stopped working- irreparably.
Another reason might be that you think it’s an expensive and complicated thing to set up and maintain. It’s not. Setting up a solid back-up system will take some time and money to get started up front, but that is small change compared to the priceless value of your images! And if you’ve ever tried to recover data from a failed hard drive, the cost can run upwards of $750, and there is a very high likelihood that the images are not recoverable. Some services will still charge that money even if the recovery fails!
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-and if you think about it, that should horrify you, too!
So, if you want to make this the year that you finally take care of business and get it done, here are some tips-and the actual system that I use to back up my image files. (first pause for pretty pictures:)
First, I don’t actually keep any original images on my computer. The amount of space that would consume would have me needing a new computer every few years, not to mention the computer crashing issue. After every shoot, I immediately import my images-all of them, into Lightroom. Those images go directly onto a 16TB Western Digital hard drive. After I have gone through the images and deleted any that I don’t want to keep, I drag that file(by hand), over to an identical 16TB hard drive. I now have 3 copies-two on the hard drives and one still on the memory card. Some people like to just save their memory cards as a back up. That just seems like a nightmare to me. I have yet to see someone with a good system-other than tossing them in a drawer, to keep track of the details of the images on those cards. And though the cost of memory cards continues to drop, that still seems an expensive and not so great option to consider.
Next, after the images are safely on two different hard drives, you’re off to a great start! BUT, your system still has a flaw. What happens if you have one of those insurance nightmares-fire, ice, theft, flood? Or if the cat goes trotting across your desk and knocks both hard drives to the floor. Unless they are the newer SSD drives, they definitely don’t like to be dropped!
The safety net I use is an online cloud storage system. I personally use Backblaze for this step. I have used them for years with no issues whatsoever. Getting set up takes minutes, maybe even seconds. Once set up, Backblaze will automatically back up continuously in the background. Not only will it back up your computer (unless you have a MAC running Time Machine. That’s a different story). Backblaze will back up every hard drive you have connected to your computer. When a drive is missing for 10 days(because maybe you take it back and for the to work), you will start getting warning notices, to remind you to plug that drive back in-or the files will be deleted from their cloud storage. This happens because they assume the drive is no longer in use. I am not currently using that option. You would need a license for each computer. Since I use a laptop and desktop, I pay for two licenses. The hard drives you attach to those computers and back up are no additional charge, no matter how many! At the time of this writing, the current price for personal (not business) backup is $99/year. (per computer)
One of the things I love about Backblaze, is their quarterly(?) email update on drive failure rates. This is a huge help when considering a new hard drive to buy. If I go to their list and see a certain drive with high failure rights, I will certainly steer clear of it! They are also quick to respond to any questions or concerns. And though I am writing this because I truly believe in the importance of a strong back up system, and to help you protect your images, one other benefit of Backblaze is that you can earn free months when you get a friend to sign up. If you use this link: https://secure.backblaze.com/r/0194s5, you will get a free month to try them out before buying, and if you do sign up with them, I will also get a free month. It’s a win/win!
By the way, you may be wondering how you get your images from Backblaze if you do a failure of some sort with your on-site back up system. Getting the images is easy! You just notify them, and they will send you a hard drive with all of your images-or computer files on it! I believe they charge you up front for that drive, but you may have the option of returning it after you grab the images from it. Don’t quote me on that. Everyone I know that has had to have images sent to them has kept the hard drive to just keep using it. It was a quick, painless process! Feel free to leave feedback if you use Backblaze, or comment on any other part of this post.
A few additional things you might consider doing for even more peace of mind. Use a portable hard drive to make another back up of your images and computer files. You could then store that offsite-like at work or a family member’s house. Most people who use external hard drives have a bunch of older ones lying around that still work. Depending on the size of the drive, you could store a copy of all of your images there-or maybe just your most important/favorite ones. I use a star system in Lightroom, and have extra backups of my 3-5 star images; the ones that would truly break my heart if they were to disappear. Make sure to set up a reminder to update this offsite drive regularly-like at least once a month.
There are so many different ways you could protect your images. This is the way that I protect my own images, and would be a relatively easy way for you to protect yours, as well. Cost: maybe some new external hard drives and your cloud backup service. Before you buy a hard drive, do a quick review search to make sure they seem reliable. I have used Western Digital desktop and portable hard drives for a decade now, with minimal issues. If you can afford to get SSD drives, they would likely be more durable and last longer than the spinning hard drives we’ve been used to. Large ones are still pretty cost-prohibitive for most of us.
Bottom line-don’t wait, thinking nothing will ever happen. That’s not realistic or wise. Take care of your precious images and memories before it’s too late! It’s peace of mind we all should have. And that’s a great New Year’s Goal/Resolution to pursue!
Oh, and for my iPhone user friends. It could not be simpler to back up your images to iCloud, which is free (to an extent) with your iPhone. Just set up your account and set phone to back up every night when charging and on Wifi. That’s a no-brainer! Non Apple peeps-sorry, I have no idea what you do. But you need to figure it out and back up regularly, too!
Thanks for hanging with me to the end here. I hope you found this information useful. And if you click on any of the links for the hard drives-they are Amazon affiliate links. I will get a small commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. The drives I linked to are ones that I am using. You may want to pick a different size than the ones I suggested, as not many of you likely need a 16TB drive-or two.
Val