There are many different theories on backing up and archiving your priceless photographs. I have chimed in on a few message boards and also taken some information from others compiling a list of ways to do so. Here are some of the ways I have heard and seen done. I will also go into detail on what I do.

As for these backup strategies #1 has probably been out the longest. Considering CD’s have been out a while and DVD’s are pretty much standard now as well. CD’s are probably not the best way to do it now as with the file sizes of newer cameras you can’t fit as much as you once could like when using a Nikon D1x or even a D2H. Especially if you are a RAW shooter where the files can be anywhere from 25mb-100mb. There are some disadvantages with this as there are multiple brands, and lots of different pricing. How do you know what brands are good and what are bad, it can be tough to tell. I have run into a website that can help with that, its more for DVD and videographers but it is still relevant for us photographers. digitalFAQ.com posts a nice large list of DVD media, I have followed this list and have not been disappointed yet,  digitalFAQ Media List. I have personally used the Taiyo Yuden TYG002 discs for backup as well as video slideshows and they have had no problem working in any DVD player. Also I have tested the Ritek in the 2nd class media and have had some issues for video playback on certain DVD drives. Now granted I know that this article is about archiving but I do know that some of us do end of year slideshows or also do video so this is relevant. I have since moved on from the TYG002 discs and have purchased Verbatim discs I will highly recommend them for our purposes. The 2 models I have are the DVD+R 16x 4.7GB AZO  discs and the DVD+R DL 2.4x 8.5GB AZO discs.

As for hard drive (HD) backup this is finally coming main stream as you can easily pick up a 500GB internal or external hard drive for under $100. I have heard many stories on failing drives and what to do with a failed drive with all of your important data on it. Well first of all if your data is that important you should at least be archiving to disc, if not backing up on another drive. If done correctly you will not need to salvage the old drive as all of the information you need will be on another drive.

Now there are multiple ways to work with hard drive storage all depends on your needs.

Internal HDs – your computer normally dictates what you can do with it for internal HDs, the interface can either be ATA, sometimes referred to as Ultra-ATA or PATA or SATA or sometimes SCSI (not standard on consumer computers). Many newer computers in the last year have changed over from the old standard ATA to SATA for the improved speed capabilities. I will not go into detail as this could be a separate post but I will do my best to keep it short. Different computer companies allow for different configurations of sizes and amounts of HDs allowed internally. My MacPro from Apple for example can hold 4 SATA HDs internally maxing out at 4 Terrabytes (TB) of storage. Many other computers are starting to follow suit and allow for more than 2 HDs in a computer as storage needs are growing. Although you generally can’t find these computers in a chain store.

External HDs – can be great, especially if done correctly. You can get sizes ranging from 80GB to 4TBs all in different cases and sizes. As for pricing you normally pay a little bit more to a whole lot more as you are also buying a case that controls the HD’s. External HDs are a perfect way to protect data as you can easily remove it from your computer and store it in an off-site place or in a safe. These are a good option for fire protection, yeah you might have homeowners/business insurance but will the insurance get your files back for you? External HD’s are a good solution if you want to be in control of your work, and don’t trust others with it. With external HD’s there are a few different interfaces they use.

Network Attached Storage – These can be some expensive systems, and if you are on a wireless network not necessarily a secure one. They can hold upwards of 4TBs+ of storage needs. They can also handle mirroring of drives in a RAID configuration, therefore you have a backup of a backup. I can’t say I would recommend them as they can be slow and sometimes unreliable, at least from many reviews I have read.

Online backup – this is starting to become very popular in the consumer crowd. Many companies are starting online backup services. As for ones for us photographers there are a few decent places. Photoshelter being one of them, they not only host your images and allow sales, they will also hold your whole archive if you’d like. Granted you have to pay a monthly-yearly fee but in the end it could be worth it to you. They have plans that go up to 1TB+ of storage. Now who wants to upload on a slow DSL/Cable line 1TB of images? Not me, thats why they will take the images off your HD if you want to send it into them. Now for me I’m not always too sure of that I like to be careful of my own work, but then again, you should already have a backup of that HD, right? Anyways the online backup crowd is just coming into full force, so there could be some major advancements in the future.

Blu-Ray/HD-DVD – I could have bunched these in with the CD/DVDs but they are pretty much newer tech and wanted to give them their own space. As of right now these would not be the ideal way for backing up as the prices on these are astronomical. They are going for almost $1/GB. Compare that to DVDs which are going for 25¢/4.7GB and HDs are going for about 20¢/GB. Also HD-DVD is pretty much defunct, as many movie studios have adopted the BlueRay standard. So until media prices and recorder prices drop I wouldn’t recommend them at this time.

Well I have mentioned all of these different ways of making sure you don’t lose your precious images or data, I will now tell you how I do it. Now that I have been doing a lot of important work for multiple clients I have been backing up in triple. I have my main work drive on my MacPro a 1TB Seagate SATA drive that houses my Design and photography work, (including the backup to this blog). On my PowerMac G4 I have another 1TB Seagate SATA drive which is a backup to the main work drive. I purchased a SATA controller for this machine as it was originally an ATA HD only setup. I run backup software called ChronoSync to sync the 2 drives together, therefore it is always a mirror copy. It runs every night so it does not get in the way of me working. Also I have a 400GB HD in both machines that houses my photography. So basically I have 2 main photo drives and 2 backup. Well actually 1 main and 3 backup. 1 on my main machine, and 2 on my secondary machine.

Hope this helps out and is informative for you all!