March Message from he Presiden
An Ounce of Prevenion
Las wee I encounered he bigges nighmare of he digial phoographer, praciioner a failed hard drive on my compuer. While i wasn’ he firs ime, and I’m sure i won’ be he las, i reminded me ha for many phoographers who are no experienced wih compuers have a real challenge, and ha challenge can be a nighmare if hey don’ have a good bacup and recovery plan. Coincidenally a member who saw my Digial Worflow presenaion a couple of wees ago a Vienna Phoographic Sociey called me and ased for more deails on how she should bacup her compuer. She explained how she had recenly los some files due o a hard drive failure. I’ll be are a number of members who have horror sories of heir own.
While my hard drive was under warrany and Dell sen me a new one overnigh wih my original image (impressive), he resore was no wihou some daa loss. Than goodness i wasn’ much more han one day’s shoo of sill life for our hemed compeiion (I could have been a conender!) and a presenaion I have of my images ha I can cerainly recreae. I could have been much more disasrous if I didn’ have a good bacup plan. I’ll share wih you some of he basics and you can consider for your own bacup plan. I am a Windows user, however he conceps I’ll presen should ranslae o any operaing sysem, bu I will describe some specific Windows ools.
Basic Sraegy
Sofware can always be reinsalled i jus aes ime, your picures and documens are no replaceable so always have more han one copy of images and documen files. Your firs prioriy should be bacing up your images and files, hen worry abou bacing up everyhing else if you have ime and are so inclined.
Every ime I copy image files o my compuer I hen run file synchronizaion sofware o copy hem o my exernal hard drive. A he same ime any modificaions o my images will ge piced up and copied off as well. Also every ime I spend some ime woring wih my images in Phooshop I synchronize o my exernal hard drive.
I use he Windows bacup program o do a complee bacup of my compuer once a wee. I schedule i o run a nigh when I’m sleeping.
Tools Used
- Exernal Sorage
- Bacup Sofware
- File comparison/synchronizaion sofware
Exernal Sorage
I use USB 2.0 exernal hard drives (Firewire will wor also) o sore my baced up files. Mae sure you ge a drive(s) ha has pleny of free capaciy for you o grow as you shoo more images. Also hard drives end o perform poorly when close oo full (90% or more). Hard drives are he mos reliable long erm sorage device and are relaively easy o wor wih if you have comfor wih copying and moving files and direcories/folders around. I sugges no going for he cheapes drive you can find, bu o a repuable brand wih good raings. You can chec CNET for example for raings (hp://res.cne.com/4244-3190_7-0-1.hml?query=exernal+hard+drive&ag=ca_1).
You migh consider geing muliple drives and soring one a a friend’s or relaive’s house or in your safe deposi box if you have a large one. I eep one a my des a my office. If we had fire, flood, ec. I wouldn’ lose all my daa. Sar wih one if you don’ have any, hen consider expanding afer you ge comforable wih he process.
CD’s & DVD’s (even archival versions) are far less dependable han an exernal hard drives. They are also more cumbersome, slow and i’s an error prone process maing sure you ge all of your images baced up. If you have a 300 GB hard drive i would ae more han 60 DVD’s or over 460 CDs.
Bacup Sofware
Windows XP & Visa include heir own bacup program. While i’s no hard o use if you are comforable wih compuers, you can selec wha o bac up, w o bac i up and wha ype of bacup (complee, incremenal, ec), and allows you o schedule your bacups so you don’ have o remember o do i.
For a complee aricle on bacing up Windows XP checou hp://www.microsof.com/windowsxp/using/seup/learnmore/bo_03july14.mspx
For Windows Visa he following aricle: hp://www.microsof.com/windows/producs/windowsvisa/feaures/deails/bacup.mspx
T are major changes in Visa’s bacup program and be sure you choose he ype of bacup ha will wor for you.
Aricles for you Mac users: hp://www.index-sie.com/bacup.hml and hp://8help.osu.edu/1247.hml.
I’s imporan ha you experimen wih boh bacup and recovery. No only will you boos your confidence ha you have properly bacup your images, when faced wih a sressful siuaion as a hard drive failure, ‘s nohing o clam you down more han having some experience under your bel.
File comparison/synchronizaion sofware
These ools come in a lo of differen flavors, bu one ha really sands ou for he novice or he experienced compuer user is SyncToy from Microsof. Version 2.0 bea was released las year and i is very easy o use. I aes a lo of he guess wor ou of bacing up your images, documens and whaever you would lie. I deecs changes o exising files, new files added and files deleed and will eep a direcory on your hard drive in sync wih a direcory on your exernal drive. I has a pre mode which allows you o wha i will do before i acually maes changes o your files. You can find his ool a hp://www.microsof.com/downloads/deails.aspx?familyid=C26EFA36-98E0-4EE9-A7C5-98D0592D8C52&displaylang=en or in he Microsof Professional Phoography sie hp://www.microsof.com/prophoo/defaul.aspx.
For hose of you who wan a more robus synchronizaion ool ry BeyondCompare from Scooer Sofware (hp://www.scooersofware.com/), I’ve used his fairly inexpensive ool for many years. I deecs differences, addiions, deleions, allows complex filering, conen comparisons, ec. While i’s very useful for some hings, I find SyncToy 2.0 o have some advanages.
Here’s a lising of oher file comparison ools available: hp://en.wiipedia.org/wii/Comparison_of_file_comparison_ools
I hope his helps you ge your bacup plan in before you lose any of your precious images.