Storage Options

[mark s]

What does everyone here use to store their pictures – just your computer hard drive, an external drive, online hosting option?

[Corey Kruitbosch]

I’m curious about this one also… Not sure if i am going far enough with my backup solutions. I store on my main system drive, I backup new shots on a monthly basis to DVD, and I also mirror everything to a portable HD.

[dusty montgomery]

I’ve been considering this little wireless guy:

http://www.apple.com/timecapsule/

It backs up daily, and comes in 500Gb or 1 TB options

D.

[Neal Osborn]

Sams Club is having a smoking deal on 1 Terabyte external drives (USB 2.0 only) for $109.  I use external drives.

[olle bulder]

I use a 1T windows home server as a backup now but i’m also keeping an eye out for a portable storage tank (with touch screen). The portable would be perfect for week(end) trips so i’ll keep watching this thread.

[John Bennett]

currently Iback up my hdd to an external periodically and then once a year back the external up to dvd. Am considering scrapping the dvd in favor of more external.

[Neal Osborn]

At first I was skeptical of simply using an external HD and then just buying another HD and storing the 1st (if that makes sense).  However, External HDs have gotten so cheap that I now simply fill one up with Mac Time Machine and then put in away and go get another.  I am now on my third HD and plan to finally delete the 1st/original and rotate it back in the 3-way scheme. The slight increase in money is worth every penny in convenience.

[matt boutet]

I store everything on my desktop, with weekly backups going to an on-site external hard drive and monthly backups going to another external HD that lives in the fireproof safe in my office at work.

I used to back up to DVD, but I’ve found that unless you’re buying high end media, problems are far too frequent to consider it a viable backup solution.

If you keep your eyes peeled you can usually find great deals on external HD’s at places like Staples/Sam’s/Costco.

[Zach Matthews]

If you get an external drive, spring for a NAS (Network Attached Storage) system.

[Richard Bernabe]

This is the best thing going right now, and one of the best purchases I made in 2008.

http://www.drobo.com/products/drobo.php

It’s got built-in redundancy features, expandable to 16TB (mine is currently 4TB), fan cooled enclosure, and USB 2.0 and firewire 800. I only wished it was available in e-SATA, but that might be coming with the next version.

Here is a video explaining how it works:

http://www.drobo.com/resources/drobodemo.php

[Douglas Barnes]

I use external HDs as well (I’m filling my 10th Lacie 250gb). You guys who store multiple TB on one drive; do you worry about putting all your eggs in on basket?

[al mcb]

I use a 1TD WD Studio and it runs well of a MAC …I also have 1 500gig lacie at home and 2 at work …..all three have died and wont power up anymore

[Morsie]

Al they’re probably overfilled and just need a specialist to do a recovery job on them.

Morsie

[olle bulder]

As long as the hdd didn’t fall the chance of really destroyed data is not that big. A defect cirquit can always be replaced.

[Chad Simcox]

I back up to multiple hard drives and sometimes do an extra DVD back up.

http://society6.com/grainfarmer Fly Fishing and Landscape open edition Photography prints.

http://grainfarmer.vsco.co/ iPhone photos
http://instagram.com/chad_simcox Instagram

[mark s]

Would you all recommend reformatting the drive to NTFS before using it?

[olle bulder]

fat 32 lacks support for files larger than 4Gig and any compresion.

[travis_reynolds]

I don’t have work near the quality as a bunch of you guys, but I also was curious about this recently.

I asked a computer buddy and another guy at a local store, and they both had the same response.

[david king]

DROBO is a great option if you seriously into photography. If your really serious you need to mirror your files in more than one location. You can put them in the “cloud” like your Apple MobileMe storage area.

[Shannon Drawe]

I skimmed the entire thread, and I can say that single externals ala. Lacie are much more expensive than what is common with pros I know. Here’s what we do:
1) buy a cabinet that holds as many hard drives as you want – mine holds four.
2) each of the drives runs an independent sata to sata card connection
3) internal drives slide in and out on their own holders – 4 screws and you put another on the tray and slide it in
4) format the new drive and you are on

Caveats –
1 – don’t buy a cabinet without a fan – unless it’s a single
2 – you have to have a slot for a sata card
3 – sata cables aren’t cheap
4 – no matter what you do, you will always want to spin up your removed (full) drives on an annual basis to keep them lubricated and spinning

I too, am beginning to wonder about the wisdom of putting a terabyte of information on one drive, but they are hard to resist at 120. per drive!
I will read the photo instructions and post an image of my case. As I recall it’s a Sonnet. The upfront costs are more than offset by the long term savings.

shannon

ps – each of these slots could hold a 1tb drive – the math is undeniable

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