microcosm
Senior Member
You marrying an elephant? :think:
Storage Devices Poll and Discussions
- Thread starter microcosm
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You marrying an elephant? :think:
Somebody somehow bumped this old thread to the top and I thought it would be a useful discussion to revive. Things have changed a lot since the last entry to the thread in 2010. SSDs are approaching 1 USD/GB (or even lower) and are widely available. 1TB HDDs are commonplace and affordable even after the Thailand flood of yesteryear.
So where does that leave us photographers (and creative content producers in general)? Do we reinforce our existing backup and archival strategies with more of the same, or do we change completely?
Let me get the ball rolling. I currently have 3 desktop computers at home: one in the living room, one for my wife and one for myself. My wife and I back up our data to separate external 2.5" HDDs which are connected only when needed. However, my experience with these HDDs have not been too good. I have already had two failures over the past 8 years. Fortunately none of them coincided with a failure on my main computer HDD.
I am now considering a minimum-3-copies approach, i.e. every file will exist on 3 physically separate HDDs at any one time. For example, my files are on my computer and my external HDD, and I will copy them onto my wife's computer. My wife's files are on her computer, her external HDD and I will copy them onto the HTPC. (I am not using my computer as a backup location because the HDD has shown trouble signs after a recent motherboard / PSU issue.)
By the way, I have heard that archives and backups are best stored in low humidity (sure) and low temperature (myth or truth?). I will probably store them in the dry cabinet, but probably not the fridge. Anyone has a different take on this?
So where does that leave us photographers (and creative content producers in general)? Do we reinforce our existing backup and archival strategies with more of the same, or do we change completely?
Let me get the ball rolling. I currently have 3 desktop computers at home: one in the living room, one for my wife and one for myself. My wife and I back up our data to separate external 2.5" HDDs which are connected only when needed. However, my experience with these HDDs have not been too good. I have already had two failures over the past 8 years. Fortunately none of them coincided with a failure on my main computer HDD.
I am now considering a minimum-3-copies approach, i.e. every file will exist on 3 physically separate HDDs at any one time. For example, my files are on my computer and my external HDD, and I will copy them onto my wife's computer. My wife's files are on her computer, her external HDD and I will copy them onto the HTPC. (I am not using my computer as a backup location because the HDD has shown trouble signs after a recent motherboard / PSU issue.)
By the way, I have heard that archives and backups are best stored in low humidity (sure) and low temperature (myth or truth?). I will probably store them in the dry cabinet, but probably not the fridge. Anyone has a different take on this?
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low humidity and temperature applies only to real films.
HDD and SSD are built to run at different temperature.
Want to be kiasu? Try RAID 1 2TB as offline backup for both users. Each individual users has own RAID 1, ext 1 TB storage in addition to the computer main storage.
HDD and SSD are built to run at different temperature.
Want to be kiasu? Try RAID 1 2TB as offline backup for both users. Each individual users has own RAID 1, ext 1 TB storage in addition to the computer main storage.
jlim76 said:
I actually read about it in a few photography books: In the field at least two copies to avoid losing everything to a corrupted SD card; at home three copies to guard against the external HDD not working when the computer's HDD fails. You'll be surprised how easy it is for external HDDs to just stop working for no apparent reason.
Anyway I think it's a reasonable approach considering how cheap HDDs are. E.g. $210 for a 3GB WD Caviar Green. The photos from one vacation is worth more than that to me. I'm seriously considering picking one up during this COMEX. I already have two 16GB Cruzer Ultra to bring on vacations to dump my photos into whenever I have access to a computer.
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