file management

[sojournerphoto]

After having another windows failure experience this weekend I came close to just ordering a new mac pro and laptop, but quickly realised that I couldn't afford to just throw away my PCs! I now have about 40Mb of data sat on a hard drive that I currently can't access (config\sys corruption so won't even boot into safe mode...) and the whole has got me round to thinking about my approach to 'asset management' and workflow. I have reached some conclusions and also have a few questions for anyone who can offer help!

1. I am going to switch to Lightroom as my main asset management software - I've used it over the last few weeks as a trial and really like the ability to 'sketch'. I need to spend some more time working on getting the best from the RAW converter but am hopeful that it can produce good results.

2. I still like DXo's lens correction and colour engine, so hope I can find a way to incorporate that into my Raw based workflow as and when it offers and advantage. However, in terms of de mosaicing my experience to date with ACR 4.1 is that it offers a significant improvement on 3.x, so I may not need to use the DXo raw engine as much.

3. CS2 will get upgraded to CS3 - I am very pleased with CS3s ability to stitch panorama's, plus it offers other useful stuff as well (plus another route in to ACR 4.1).

4. I am currently intending to store data away from my desktops hard drive, and will look to ensure that I can back up on the fly.

Questions:

1. Do people suggest using network storage or just usb hard drives for data storage and backup? What about raid?

2. DOes anyone archive on DVD, and how does it compares for stability against a HDD (it takes up more room these days).

3. What sort of HDDs are best - the laptop style or desktop? Speed and robustness as well as physical size are relevant.

4. Any other thoughts?


Thanks

Mike.

[john beardsworth]

If you only have one backup, then one assumes you won't mind losing your pictures.... Of course that isn't true, but it makes the point that the key is to focus on multiple backups - hard drives as well as DVD. "Multiple redundancy" is one catchphrase. Changing platform isn't the solution. But a lot does depend on the scale - is 40 gb the total or are we talking much more? With a relatively small (up to 40000 a year) archive then sequentially numbered DVDs matched to HD folders can work well, but with bigger volumes other solutions come into play.

Treat yourself to a copy of Peter Krogh's The Dam Book.

John

[sojournerphoto]

If you only have one backup, then one assumes you won't mind losing your pictures.... Of course that isn't true, but it makes the point that the key is to focus on multiple backups - hard drives as well as DVD. "Multiple redundancy" is one catchphrase. Changing platform isn't the solution. But a lot does depend on the scale - is 40 gb the total or are we talking much more? With a relatively small (up to 40000 a year) archive then sequentially numbered DVDs matched to HD folders can work well, but with bigger volumes other solutions come into play.

Treat yourself to a copy of Peter Krogh's The Dam Book.

John
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=137023\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks John

40Gb is only the stuff which I hadn't backed up before going on holiday. My current strategy has been to use a (slightly flaky) NAS drive and DVDs, travelling with a laptop and caddy.  

I'll get a copy of the book and spend a bit of time deciding on the best solution.

Thanks

Mike.

[Perrush]

I use mirrorfolder to take a backup from certain maps everytime I close down.  I that way at least protected again a failure of one HD.  But of course not when my whole computer should burn down.

As for definite backups I use (2) DVD's.  Yes it takes more space and yes you have to burn them every two years to make sure they wont go corrupt.  But I feel they are more secure than a HD which is completely magnetic.

[Hendrik]

I completely lost faith in CD and DVD as a backup medium. I have various CD's with gold dye, that are unreadable or contain many read errors (Kodak Gold and Mitsui Gold) and only 5 years old. Some DVD's also contain reading errors. I stored them at room temperature inside the dark.

In my opinion a far better solution are harddisks. They give the best value considereing the cost per gigabyte. They are very safe and very, very fast.

Of course you can get an HD crash and lose anything on that drive, therefore you need al least another drive.

My setup at home:
I have three harddisks inside my computer, two for my OS and working files and one backup drive. This 320 GB internal HD for quick backups stores the backups of my pictures, e-mail and other important files.

I also have two 320GB internal HDs enclosed in an external eSATA case. I make periodical backups of my files from my internal backup drive to the two external located drives. the data on the external located drives are indentical.

With this setup, I have my important data on at least three locations. It's safe, fast, easy and cheap. I use ViseVersa Pro backup software.