How to Back Up Photo and Video Files
It’s National Data Back Up Day!
Have you ever had a freak out moment when you couldn’t find a file anywhere on your computer? I have, it happened to be an anniversary, I was looking for our wedding photos and I couldn’t find them anywhere. I searched on my computer, back up drives, looked on google drive, dropbox… nothing. I panicked. I looked everywhere. Finally I found a DVD with the files on it, and let me tell you the relief I had in that moment helped me realize that my back up system had failed me. This is the moment I made changes to make sure this never happened. Again.
So, how did I find myself in this position?
Over the years I had been working with many external drives with no long term data back up plan. You see I had always worked with large files and stored them on external drives, which is still something I do to this day. The flaw in my execution of this was that I worked off of a drive until it was full then store it assuming it would be my forever archive.
The Problem
All mechanical and electronic devices wear out or break over time, thats a fact. I stored my files on devices expecting them to last forever. This was a huge flaw in my thinking. I have had several drives wear out, or malfunction over time, but another thing to think about is connectivity and compatibility. I had hard drives formatted for PCs when I switched to Mac computers back in the day and vice versa, how was I supposed to get those files from one to the other? I have had several external hard drives that took firewire 400 or firewire 800 cables, they were fast for their time, but didn’t last as long as USB. How am I supposed to get the files off of those drives?
The Solution
So far we have talked a lot about the negatives of both hardware, software, and human components of a data back up system. But what are some good practices for saving your data files for a long period of time?
I have been in the habit of having a working external drive everywhere I go. And when I say working, I mean working. I store all of my photos, videos, and a back up of important documents on this drive so that I can take it anywhere and work off of any computer if something fails in my current computer. I regularly dump the files from this drive to my larger archive drives, and have it back up to another time machine drive on a regular basis.
Speaking of time machine, on a Mac Computer you already have a great tool in the Time Machine application. Use an external drive, set it up solely for time machine and let it run on a regular basis. Try once a week, or if you have important projects you are working on run time machine at night after finishing or reaching a stopping point. You don’t want to wake up to work on a project to find that it’s gone in the morning. I recommend getting an external drive about 4x the size of your internal drives you are backing up to it, so if you have a 500gb internal drive, get a 2TB drive, or 1TB internal = 4TB time machine drive.
Archive drives. I use a working drive, and time machine outlined above. But, as I mentioned I also dump those files to an archive drive. For me that is a large desktop, external hard drive that stays unplugged on my desk until I need to use it. I keep it unplugged so that it won’t be affected by any outside cyber attacks or power surges. I also feel that the less I use them, the longer they will last. But that could be totally wrong. I buy a new 4TB drive every 1-2 years depending on how many photos and videos I have shot in that amount of time, and I would recommend never exceeding 80% capacity. This allows for some wiggle room if you later find files that should be on that drive and helps with the speed that the data is transferred to the computer.
The last thing that I do to maintain a good back up of my data is cloud based storage. There are a lot of great options out there, including Google Drive, Dropbox, Back Blaze, ect. I use all of these to some degree, but my main data archive for my computer and all 20TB of backup hard drives is Back Blaze. They have a great, affordable plan that will automatically back up the computer and any drive you have connected to the computer. Back Blaze stores the data on their servers, and if you loose anything you can either download individual files from their site, or they can even send you a brand new drive with your data on it for basically the price of a new drive!
A few other dos and don’ts
Do:
Find the right option that works for you, there are plenty of other options including RAID drive systems or build your own data server at home. But the key is building a system that works and that you will use regularly.
Consider purchasing an SSD or solid state drive to use as a working drive. They are much smaller and much faster than traditional portable external hard drives. They are built with no moving parts which is good if your take it on the go!
Regularity is key. If you have ever lost part of a document and you have had to recreate part of it, you know that the recreation is never as good as the original. Back up regularly!
If you have old drives with old connections, there are adapters or even hard drive mounts to connect old drives to new computers. You may have a nice walk down memory lane, looking through old files.
If a drive starts to give you trouble stop using it immediately, buy a new one, transfer the data over. Don’t rely on a drive that is telling you it will fail.
Purchase reliable drives. Do your homework, read reviews, buy name brand. Storing your legacy data is not the place to be a cheapskate.
Don’t:
Again don’t buy cheap drives, but also never purchase a used drive. It may be tempting to buy the used or “never been used” drive on Facebook marketplace or craigslist, but you don’t know if it is authentic or repackaged. Save yourself the hassle, buy a new drive.
Don’t store your drives (archive or working) in direct sunlight, in a closed cabinet with no airflow, or in any other location that could compromise the drives in anyway.
Don’t keep archive drives plugged into the computer or electricity when they are not being used.
Don’t exceed 80% of the dive’s capacity. This will help it work faster and last longer.
Don’t throw old drives in the trash, thats a good way for thieves to get your data. Find an electronics recycling center like Best Buy to have them properly dispose of the drives. Thats good for you and the environment.
Don’t store data long term on a usb flash drive. The storage on a flash drive is made for flash data, something you use to move from one computer to another or for short term storage. They are not made to last for long periods of time. Plus, they are much smaller and could be easily lost.
I hope this short blog helps you think about your back up system and helps you develop a plan for your data. There are a lot of options out there, but the key is to find one that works for you (long term) and something you can use on a regular basis. Happy National Data Back Up Day!
