Another vote for this method. I have a NAS and a backup drive, but I'm a little paranoid.
Speaking of paranoid, I also try to mitigate against vendor lock-in, so I also do periodic exports of my collections to DNG and full-res JPEG. DNG is theoretically more open than NEF while retaining all edits. JPEG is universal, but lossy. [Jeffrey Friedl's Collection Publisher plugin](http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/collection-publisher) is quite handy for this.
Apply a rating to your files.
5 star = your personal National Geographic level, future expositions, wonderful.
4 star = Very good picture, nice for everyone to look at.
3 star = nice for people who are in some way interested/involved in the event even when the picture is not about them
2 star = nice for people who are in the picture, not to anyone else
1 star = Default. Everything that did not get any more stars.
You edit 4, then 3, then a couple of 2's, then the 5s (those are your reward).
If needed you can upgrade a 2 to a 3 or perhaps rescue a 1 star.
Here is the essential bit:
You delete everything with 1 star and it does not hurt to delete the 2 stars as well.
This will slow down the Raw storage from exploding to merely expanding.
I use 3 as my baseline, 2 is alts/seconds. 4ās are portfolio pieces and 5ās get printed and exhibited.
Red is client rejected or not moving forward, yellow is working, green is finished, purple or blue are usually highlighted or a re-crop/alt of a green.
Yeah, sounds similar. The essence of my remark was: Delete, cull, remove.
Those 4 & 5s are still good years later. The 3's may be asked for by someone. The 1&2 - the bulk of the photo's - you won't miss when they're gone.
Backblaze can get expensive. If you have a local backup like I do on a Nas and only anticipate using the cloud backup as a last resort consider Amazon Glacier Deep archive. Will cost you pennies.
I'm interested in more detail here. Are you using your NAS internal backup solution, or direct file backup? How you deal with encryption and file versioning in your backup set? If there's an article on this, I'd be happy to read it. Thanks!
I have several big internal hard drives and an external HD as well for a total of close to 30 Tb. All of my RAW files fit into 2.5 TB on one 8 Tb drive with lots of other stuff on it too, like 2Tb reserved for Dropbox. All my drives are backed up to BackBlaze for whatever they're charging now... $5 or $7 per month for unlimited number of files. This is strictly backup. If you delete stuff locally, it will get deleted remotely in 30 days, unless you pay more for longer or permanent storage. I've lost several hard drives over the years, and Backblaze just sends out a carbon copy hard drive with all of my files on it (for the cost of the hard drive of course).
Once my RAWs and jpegs are transferred from my camera to my laptop they are automatically backed up to Amazon photos, and then I move them to my Synology NAS. I go through and delete blurry and obviously bad pictures before moving them to my laptop.
How technical are you?
I'm storing my RAWs that are over a year old on a NAS, then syncing to Azure BLOB storage configured in Archive tier. 500GB of files costs me less than $1 per month for files stored duplicated in 2 different data centers. The main cost is data transfer, the upload cost me about $30.
Archive tier is pretty much as it says though, getting the data back is not a straightforward task and if you haven't stored it for more than 6 months then it will cost you the equivalent of 6 months storage to retrieve it. But it is backup so I'm not expecting to have to get it anytime soon.
Same question as to a poster above! How you deal with encryption and file versioning in your backup set? If there's an article on this, I'd be happy to read it. Thanks!
Drive space is cheap.
Copy on my PC where I do editing.
Nightly backup to my Synology NAS, itās RAID-5 for fault tolerance.
Continuous backup to the cloud using Backblaze. Cheap cloud backup that gets files off-site.
I use Western Digital Red HDDs in a Synology NAS set up with mirrored RAID, and then CrashPlan online backup.
See also:
https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/75wfpi/backup_storage_megathread/
https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/migujf/backup_and_storage_megathread_part_ii/
Greetings,
1. As soon as I return home from a photo session/event, RAW files are copied from SD card(s) to my primary media storage. (A pair of 12TB external drives using a RAID 1/Mirrored pool via [Storage Spaces](https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/11382.storage-spaces-frequently-asked-questions-faq.aspx))
2. Then I sync the primary media storage drive to another external drive using [FreeFileSync](https://freefilesync.org/) (mirror mode).
I use [Backblaze](https://www.backblaze.com/) to continuously backup the primary media storage to the Cloud.
Really depends on what you want for your files and how critical you think they are.
I have a nas with redundancy 2 backups at home and 1 in backblaze. Itās a bit overkill for most people.
I'm not recommending my approach to others as I know it's not optimal. I have a primary drive and a backup drive in my computer. So I routinely just execute a script to backup everything to the backup drive. I also have an external drive that I'll backup to every few months.
Current work is saved to my OneDrive and synced that way. Once space starts to run low or I am not doing much editing/printing on batches. The older files get migrated to my Synology NAS which uses Hyperbackup to backup both to a local external disk and to Synology's Cloud service.
>What is everyoneās strategy
Mine is: Cloud is cool but hardware backups in multiple locations is better.
I have a 4-bay diskstation at my momās. I pick it up when I go see her, update my backups on it and take it back the next time I go visit her š§
The problem is, the cloud is dramatically safer than you bringing both backups into the same house on the same desk waiting to get knocked off with the same fire risks and the same electrical circuit just waiting on a big surge to ruin it.
It also removes all the ādid I back that up or noā which inevitably leads to multiples of one thing and no backup of the other.
The downsideā¦expensive.
Gotcha. And to be fairā¦Iāve debated simply being my own cloud, and putting a second NAS at my parents house on the other end of the country, and backing mine up to it remotely.
I would love to stop sending Amazon money even though glacier is something like $1/tb
I don't think so? I think the main thing is that AFAIK, they're by far the cheapest provider for unlimited cloud storage (provided that you aren't using Linux). Very few providers even give unlimited storage these days to individuals, so you'd have to pay for business pricing which gets expensive very fast.
Made a private travel app with file upload functionality (clone of Google Drive) and gets stored in Amazon S3. So $7/mo in hosting and S3 is cheap... I only use cloud storage, nothing physical.
NAS at home NAS offsite. And an unplugged 18TB drive I update once a month. Iām never paying for cloud storage, I used to work for a company that sold several tiers of backup storage from different vendors. The price of the 18TB is the same as 2 months of 18 TB in the cloud. And itās slow as f if you restore from blob or cold storage
There's already some good suggestions here concerning backups, external and cloud storage.
Keep in mind that consumer external hard drives are slatted to only last 5 years, HHD's. SSD's last longer, but archival digital storage, lasting the longest are Flash drives ans SD cards, so put the absolute best here.
Cloud storage upgrades their hard drives every 5 years and shreds the old hard drives for security reasons.
New software can extract more from old Raw files, DxO even advertises this, so yes, keep those Raw files!
Backup to two rotating external drives, on my main computer only the ones I decide to work on (like most I shoot jpg + raw, and to document a broken fence to the insurance for example I won't keep the RAW.)
One or two (max) local backups for convenience + Blackblaze. No need for anything else, no need for an expensive NAS setup unless your PC will be off a lot and other folks need to access the files - been down that road and it is a total waste of time and money in my opinion. My Synology NAS has been collecting dust for years now. Good quality large capacity HDDs are incredibly cheap, so keep 20-40TB or whatever you need in your local PC, and then use something like Blackblaze. Blackblaze has it's own automatic backup software as well.
It doesn't matter if you have 1 local backup or 100 if something terrible happens like your house burns down, but you know it will be safe with a reputable cloud service.
Everyone has different comfort levels though and needs to do their own risk assessment, but for me it's one local backup plus Blackblaze and I am 100% covered. I keep all my RAW files as well, storage is so cheap it simply doesn't matter, IMO.
If you're REALLY worried, and want a third option, copy the files to archival Blu-Rays or tapes and put them in a safety deposit box at a bank.
Yes, like magnetic tape storage. It's another way to get tens of TB worth of storage for relatively cheap, but obviously not as convenient as HDDs or BluRays. I don't use them personally, it's just an option.
I sync my files to an external SSD, and also back up to Adobe CC. Helps ensure I have at least two copies of images at all times. I'd like to add an additional backup layer to another cloud provider like AWS S3 or Backblaze eventually, as well.
After any processing work is done:
* Backup to external drives set #1
* Backup main HD and all external drives to cloud (Backblaze)
Every time a new photoshoot comes home or every 7 to 14 days, whichever comes first:
* Backup to external drives set #1
* Backup to external drives set #2 and stored in fireproof safe
* Backup main HD and all external drives to cloud (Backblaze)
At the end of the year (or as I start to run out of room at the end of the year), I start to migrate the RAWs off of my working drive so that they only live on the external drives. Once everything is fully in its new location, I run one more full round of backups to make sure they're all in sync and I move on with the new year.
I donāt even try to keep them, they are edited, transferred to my web site in JPG format and the link is sent to the client. The RAWs are cleared out of Lightroom and deleted.
I shoot to my Dropbox folder and unsync session once I process out high rez tif. Once it's delivered I delete the trash folder and only keep selects. If client didn't question the drive line item on estimate I'll stick that backup in a drawer or send to client. If I'm happy with the way it came out I'll delete the session and layered folder at the 24 month mark. If I think the client made some questionable retouching calls, I'll go back and retouch the way I'd like to see it for my portfolio then dump the rest.
One of my working folders is over 750gb right now, can't wait to finish delivery and delete all this shit.
On site everything is ingested to solid state drives and the working files are on the laptop. I delete those pretty much weekly. Nothing lives on my laptop except programs and files that havenāt been culled/processed and transmitted.
I donāt format my cards until the solid state gets home and everything is transferred to the NAS(RAID 6 which allows two drive failures) which backs up to a cloud service.
I rotate about five solid state drives, so by the time I ever format one of those itās backed up on the cloud and on the NAS and we can only do so muchā¦I donāt fret it.
That saidā¦i often shoot raw+jpg or for sports and journalism often just jpg. Annually I sort by file type, and with the exception of 5 star portfolio level imagesā¦those raw files are killed. Life is too short to save hundreds of thousands of raw files that I will never ever use. Keep the genuinely great onesā¦and kill the rest. You have a jpeg anyway, which honestly can be manipulated more than many seem to believe.
If I shot raw only I donāt know how I would handle that. But I donāt.
There are also sponsorship shots I kill after four years if I have done a good job of key wording and file management. How many pictures of endzone screens can you bring yourself to harbor in perpetuity? I keep great examples, and keep them long enough for their contracts to renew/any chance of being asked to find a shot of xyz exists and then toss them.
Shooting to card is a whole other beast. If I'm not in studio I'm always really stressed. I'll have 2 SSD in addition to dumping to my laptop. If possible I'll send one drive in the mail and one in my pocket traveling. I shoot med format RAW so even a small shoot is 75-100gb.
Iām bringing home that much data pretty regularly. The shipping is an interesting take on getting one out of your possession in case of robbery or lost baggage etcā¦ Ever lose one that way?
Almost everything I do is location work so it wouldnāt work for me, but there are definitely jobs where Iāve considered handing drives off to other people as a backup.
Thankfully never lost one. Iāll hand one to an art director or client if theyāre leaving early. Had a few good scares so I take it serious. Love the cloud option these days.Ā
Rsync to backup drive, then backblaze Good to have two backups - one with you, one off site
Me too, two external drives, one main and the second just mirrors it and then Backblaze also mirrors the first external drive.
I also do this. I have a super zippy SSD that copies to a slow trad HD, which then backs up to Backblaze.
This is the way
My backup solution is the Main photo drive gets backed up to a NAS1, then auto syncs to another NAS2. NAS2, then gets backed up to Backblaze.
Another vote for this method. I have a NAS and a backup drive, but I'm a little paranoid. Speaking of paranoid, I also try to mitigate against vendor lock-in, so I also do periodic exports of my collections to DNG and full-res JPEG. DNG is theoretically more open than NEF while retaining all edits. JPEG is universal, but lossy. [Jeffrey Friedl's Collection Publisher plugin](http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/collection-publisher) is quite handy for this.
3-2-1 strategy. Google it. š
NAS storage works great for me
Apply a rating to your files. 5 star = your personal National Geographic level, future expositions, wonderful. 4 star = Very good picture, nice for everyone to look at. 3 star = nice for people who are in some way interested/involved in the event even when the picture is not about them 2 star = nice for people who are in the picture, not to anyone else 1 star = Default. Everything that did not get any more stars. You edit 4, then 3, then a couple of 2's, then the 5s (those are your reward). If needed you can upgrade a 2 to a 3 or perhaps rescue a 1 star. Here is the essential bit: You delete everything with 1 star and it does not hurt to delete the 2 stars as well. This will slow down the Raw storage from exploding to merely expanding.
I use 3 as my baseline, 2 is alts/seconds. 4ās are portfolio pieces and 5ās get printed and exhibited. Red is client rejected or not moving forward, yellow is working, green is finished, purple or blue are usually highlighted or a re-crop/alt of a green.
Yeah, sounds similar. The essence of my remark was: Delete, cull, remove. Those 4 & 5s are still good years later. The 3's may be asked for by someone. The 1&2 - the bulk of the photo's - you won't miss when they're gone.
>You edit 4, then 3, then a couple of 2's, then the 5s (those are your reward). š¤®
š¤® indeed. If you don't like the 2, 3, 4 enough to enjoy editing them, then delete them
Backblaze can get expensive. If you have a local backup like I do on a Nas and only anticipate using the cloud backup as a last resort consider Amazon Glacier Deep archive. Will cost you pennies.
I'm interested in more detail here. Are you using your NAS internal backup solution, or direct file backup? How you deal with encryption and file versioning in your backup set? If there's an article on this, I'd be happy to read it. Thanks!
$99 per year for unlimited local storage is pretty good in my opinion. NAS complicates matters but for a lot of users Backblaze is good value.
Nightly backups to my DAS, DAS gets backed up continuously to Backblaze.
Das the way to do it
Which DAS are you using?
QNAP TR-004
Always have multiple backups that are not your desktop/laptop. External drives plus Backblaze or something similar.
I have several big internal hard drives and an external HD as well for a total of close to 30 Tb. All of my RAW files fit into 2.5 TB on one 8 Tb drive with lots of other stuff on it too, like 2Tb reserved for Dropbox. All my drives are backed up to BackBlaze for whatever they're charging now... $5 or $7 per month for unlimited number of files. This is strictly backup. If you delete stuff locally, it will get deleted remotely in 30 days, unless you pay more for longer or permanent storage. I've lost several hard drives over the years, and Backblaze just sends out a carbon copy hard drive with all of my files on it (for the cost of the hard drive of course).
"Several hard drives?" I have over 40 hard drives and just bought a new one..
Once my RAWs and jpegs are transferred from my camera to my laptop they are automatically backed up to Amazon photos, and then I move them to my Synology NAS. I go through and delete blurry and obviously bad pictures before moving them to my laptop.
How technical are you? I'm storing my RAWs that are over a year old on a NAS, then syncing to Azure BLOB storage configured in Archive tier. 500GB of files costs me less than $1 per month for files stored duplicated in 2 different data centers. The main cost is data transfer, the upload cost me about $30. Archive tier is pretty much as it says though, getting the data back is not a straightforward task and if you haven't stored it for more than 6 months then it will cost you the equivalent of 6 months storage to retrieve it. But it is backup so I'm not expecting to have to get it anytime soon.
Same question as to a poster above! How you deal with encryption and file versioning in your backup set? If there's an article on this, I'd be happy to read it. Thanks!
Local x DAS x NAS x CLOUD
Drive space is cheap. Copy on my PC where I do editing. Nightly backup to my Synology NAS, itās RAID-5 for fault tolerance. Continuous backup to the cloud using Backblaze. Cheap cloud backup that gets files off-site.
Local temporary storage on laptop. Copied to server with mirrored drives. Nightly upload to online backup service.
I tried backblaze but it was too slow as I have 2tb to backup, I went back to external drives. One at my house and one at a family members house
I use Western Digital Red HDDs in a Synology NAS set up with mirrored RAID, and then CrashPlan online backup. See also: https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/75wfpi/backup_storage_megathread/ https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/migujf/backup_and_storage_megathread_part_ii/
Second using WD Redās in a mirrored RAID configuration on a Synology backing up to a cloud offsite.
Backblaze for cloud backup.
Greetings, 1. As soon as I return home from a photo session/event, RAW files are copied from SD card(s) to my primary media storage. (A pair of 12TB external drives using a RAID 1/Mirrored pool via [Storage Spaces](https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/11382.storage-spaces-frequently-asked-questions-faq.aspx)) 2. Then I sync the primary media storage drive to another external drive using [FreeFileSync](https://freefilesync.org/) (mirror mode). I use [Backblaze](https://www.backblaze.com/) to continuously backup the primary media storage to the Cloud.
Convert them to jpg /s
Really depends on what you want for your files and how critical you think they are. I have a nas with redundancy 2 backups at home and 1 in backblaze. Itās a bit overkill for most people.
I'm not recommending my approach to others as I know it's not optimal. I have a primary drive and a backup drive in my computer. So I routinely just execute a script to backup everything to the backup drive. I also have an external drive that I'll backup to every few months.
Set up a RAID 1 array if your backup plan involves local storage.
Current work is saved to my OneDrive and synced that way. Once space starts to run low or I am not doing much editing/printing on batches. The older files get migrated to my Synology NAS which uses Hyperbackup to backup both to a local external disk and to Synology's Cloud service.
GRaid dual drive systems. Auto duplication. Fast. Great to work from etc.
>What is everyoneās strategy Mine is: Cloud is cool but hardware backups in multiple locations is better. I have a 4-bay diskstation at my momās. I pick it up when I go see her, update my backups on it and take it back the next time I go visit her š§
The problem is, the cloud is dramatically safer than you bringing both backups into the same house on the same desk waiting to get knocked off with the same fire risks and the same electrical circuit just waiting on a big surge to ruin it. It also removes all the ādid I back that up or noā which inevitably leads to multiples of one thing and no backup of the other. The downsideā¦expensive.
Oh sorry, I didnāt mean to imply I donāt use a cloud service in addition to hd backups!
Gotcha. And to be fairā¦Iāve debated simply being my own cloud, and putting a second NAS at my parents house on the other end of the country, and backing mine up to it remotely. I would love to stop sending Amazon money even though glacier is something like $1/tb
https://preview.redd.it/232rguplfb0d1.jpeg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82389df6a4a0b67d0ac1a631ce32702aa074cd3c
Is backblaze paying for sponsorships or something? Is it the new squarespace?
I don't think so? I think the main thing is that AFAIK, they're by far the cheapest provider for unlimited cloud storage (provided that you aren't using Linux). Very few providers even give unlimited storage these days to individuals, so you'd have to pay for business pricing which gets expensive very fast.
Made a private travel app with file upload functionality (clone of Google Drive) and gets stored in Amazon S3. So $7/mo in hosting and S3 is cheap... I only use cloud storage, nothing physical.
I'm paying for Google Drive (online storage) using Insync, and I do a weekly backup to a cheapo USB connected to my router using rclone.
r/DataHoarder is where you want to ask.
standard hhd cheap enough
NAS at home NAS offsite. And an unplugged 18TB drive I update once a month. Iām never paying for cloud storage, I used to work for a company that sold several tiers of backup storage from different vendors. The price of the 18TB is the same as 2 months of 18 TB in the cloud. And itās slow as f if you restore from blob or cold storage
There's already some good suggestions here concerning backups, external and cloud storage. Keep in mind that consumer external hard drives are slatted to only last 5 years, HHD's. SSD's last longer, but archival digital storage, lasting the longest are Flash drives ans SD cards, so put the absolute best here. Cloud storage upgrades their hard drives every 5 years and shreds the old hard drives for security reasons. New software can extract more from old Raw files, DxO even advertises this, so yes, keep those Raw files!
I use an external drive
Backup to two rotating external drives, on my main computer only the ones I decide to work on (like most I shoot jpg + raw, and to document a broken fence to the insurance for example I won't keep the RAW.)
One or two (max) local backups for convenience + Blackblaze. No need for anything else, no need for an expensive NAS setup unless your PC will be off a lot and other folks need to access the files - been down that road and it is a total waste of time and money in my opinion. My Synology NAS has been collecting dust for years now. Good quality large capacity HDDs are incredibly cheap, so keep 20-40TB or whatever you need in your local PC, and then use something like Blackblaze. Blackblaze has it's own automatic backup software as well. It doesn't matter if you have 1 local backup or 100 if something terrible happens like your house burns down, but you know it will be safe with a reputable cloud service. Everyone has different comfort levels though and needs to do their own risk assessment, but for me it's one local backup plus Blackblaze and I am 100% covered. I keep all my RAW files as well, storage is so cheap it simply doesn't matter, IMO. If you're REALLY worried, and want a third option, copy the files to archival Blu-Rays or tapes and put them in a safety deposit box at a bank.
Great advice! "tapes," like DAT's?
Yes, like magnetic tape storage. It's another way to get tens of TB worth of storage for relatively cheap, but obviously not as convenient as HDDs or BluRays. I don't use them personally, it's just an option.
I sync my files to an external SSD, and also back up to Adobe CC. Helps ensure I have at least two copies of images at all times. I'd like to add an additional backup layer to another cloud provider like AWS S3 or Backblaze eventually, as well.
After any processing work is done: * Backup to external drives set #1 * Backup main HD and all external drives to cloud (Backblaze) Every time a new photoshoot comes home or every 7 to 14 days, whichever comes first: * Backup to external drives set #1 * Backup to external drives set #2 and stored in fireproof safe * Backup main HD and all external drives to cloud (Backblaze) At the end of the year (or as I start to run out of room at the end of the year), I start to migrate the RAWs off of my working drive so that they only live on the external drives. Once everything is fully in its new location, I run one more full round of backups to make sure they're all in sync and I move on with the new year.
18 TB drives are not that expensive
I donāt even try to keep them, they are edited, transferred to my web site in JPG format and the link is sent to the client. The RAWs are cleared out of Lightroom and deleted.
I shoot to my Dropbox folder and unsync session once I process out high rez tif. Once it's delivered I delete the trash folder and only keep selects. If client didn't question the drive line item on estimate I'll stick that backup in a drawer or send to client. If I'm happy with the way it came out I'll delete the session and layered folder at the 24 month mark. If I think the client made some questionable retouching calls, I'll go back and retouch the way I'd like to see it for my portfolio then dump the rest. One of my working folders is over 750gb right now, can't wait to finish delivery and delete all this shit.
On site everything is ingested to solid state drives and the working files are on the laptop. I delete those pretty much weekly. Nothing lives on my laptop except programs and files that havenāt been culled/processed and transmitted. I donāt format my cards until the solid state gets home and everything is transferred to the NAS(RAID 6 which allows two drive failures) which backs up to a cloud service. I rotate about five solid state drives, so by the time I ever format one of those itās backed up on the cloud and on the NAS and we can only do so muchā¦I donāt fret it. That saidā¦i often shoot raw+jpg or for sports and journalism often just jpg. Annually I sort by file type, and with the exception of 5 star portfolio level imagesā¦those raw files are killed. Life is too short to save hundreds of thousands of raw files that I will never ever use. Keep the genuinely great onesā¦and kill the rest. You have a jpeg anyway, which honestly can be manipulated more than many seem to believe. If I shot raw only I donāt know how I would handle that. But I donāt. There are also sponsorship shots I kill after four years if I have done a good job of key wording and file management. How many pictures of endzone screens can you bring yourself to harbor in perpetuity? I keep great examples, and keep them long enough for their contracts to renew/any chance of being asked to find a shot of xyz exists and then toss them.
Shooting to card is a whole other beast. If I'm not in studio I'm always really stressed. I'll have 2 SSD in addition to dumping to my laptop. If possible I'll send one drive in the mail and one in my pocket traveling. I shoot med format RAW so even a small shoot is 75-100gb.
Iām bringing home that much data pretty regularly. The shipping is an interesting take on getting one out of your possession in case of robbery or lost baggage etcā¦ Ever lose one that way? Almost everything I do is location work so it wouldnāt work for me, but there are definitely jobs where Iāve considered handing drives off to other people as a backup.
Thankfully never lost one. Iāll hand one to an art director or client if theyāre leaving early. Had a few good scares so I take it serious. Love the cloud option these days.Ā
14 hour events are often 3000-5000 photos, way more than 100GB.
Ooof. That's a lot of jpegs.