Garry McNamara
Snr Tutor/Bongo Banjo
Reged: 16/08/2006
Posts: 2079
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Hello Everyone,
Once again an SPI student has written to say that they have lost all their work after a computer problem – all their pictures since going digital in this case. Some I have found keep their course work solely on the pen drive (for digital students) or their PC. Teaching an evening class two weeks ago I asked a group of fourteen ‘Who had a back-up routine?’ and one hand went up – amazing. I’m sure they think I am a profit of doom when I say their hard drive will fail, they will get a killer virus and they will lose all their pictures, email, addresses and work but computers are presented as easy things to run and like anything else they are not!
This is my personal solution –
A weekly back-up to a separate hard drive using Window’s in built Backup programme
I synchronise with a second laptop weekly
Once a month I write back-up DVDs that are kept two hundred miles from my office
Even a good back-up schedule is useless if the back-ups are kept with your main computer – they can catch fire or be stolen and then you lose both! A burglar is very unlikely, when stealing your computer, to think – ‘Oh I better leave that nice portable hard-drive as they probably have all their back ups on it’!
Even if you can recover your files it will be a frustrating and expensive process. Act now please I have heard from too many students with this problem,
Garry
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Paul_R
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 16/06/2006
Posts: 1963
Loc: Middlesbrough, England.
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Good advice and something, I bet, a lot of people on here could take note of.....me included! Having said that, I do backup to an external HD but this is kept alongside my pc. I fully intend to make seperate backups to CD/DVD too and keep these in my desk draw at work. One of my New Year resolutions was to get all my images sorted on my pc and backed up properly. Its on going 
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Regards, Paul CRIPN
http://www.pbase.com/exposethelight
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Almark
addict
Reged: 15/11/2006
Posts: 492
Loc: Northern Ireland
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Garry, I have found that you only consider back-ups as important when you have lost something important. For me it was the final chapter of a thesis. Although I was able to rewrite it, I was always convinced that it was sub standard to the lost one!
I convert my raw files to DNG and have a DNG folder on an external Hard disk. I make back ups of the new DNG's every week to DVD. For other folders within 'my documents' - I use the Grandfather, Father, Son approach with RW DVDs. And every week, normally on a Saturday morning, I rewite one of the 3 backups. I don't have them 200 hundred miles away, but I have them in a fire proof floor safe. This makes it easy to update the media on a weekly basis.
I have recently set up a small wireless network and with at least two older computers lying about, either of these could be used as synced and auto back up's.
Once you get in the rhythmn of making back ups, the next stage is to make sure that you are backing up everything that you really need. For example I don't back up any OS's or applications. These can be downloaded. I back up usernames and passwords, serials and registered email addresses, and so on.
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All the best
Mark
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APchris
veteran
Reged: 06/05/2006
Posts: 1574
Loc: Lincolnshire
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Having lost all my early digital files some years ago  , I do now backup my data onto an external hard drive. I dont backup to CD/DVD though  , but your comments about the thief are thought provoking so I'll certainly start doing that now.
Thanks for the reminder Gary.
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Chris 
Better a bad day on the water than a good day at the office 
My Flickr sets
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lisadb
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/09/2006
Posts: 1657
Loc: Staffs
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I've got all my SPI stuff in quadruplicate - on my PC at home and at work, on my external hard drive and on CDs. I use Nero and seem to have trouble with DVDs as I can't add more to a DVD I've already written too, even though choosing multi session before the 1st burn. Anyone any idea where I'm going wrong? My little fire-proof safe is getting full and I could do with backing everything to double layer DVD. Lisa.
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wollemi - 'look around you, keep your eyes open and watch out' (Australian aboriginal word)
My Flickr page
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Fozzy
newbie
Reged: 04/08/2006
Posts: 12
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As an IT specialist I would like to add a few thoughts.
Firstly always check that you backup actually has readable data on it by trying to read it, especially if it is a CD or DVD. Secondly nobody really knows how long a CD or DVD will last because they were not invented that long ago, so their life is theoretical, it may be a good plan to check or to make further copies in a few years time. A word of caution, do not store your CD /DVD backups anywhere the sun could shine on them.
Finally, if you ever have the opportunity, try and restore a sample backup to another hard drive or partition (to avoid overwriting the original). The only ultimate test of a backup is when you actually need it only to find that the backup software did not work for you. If you use specialist backup software don't keep the only copy of it, which you downloaded from the Internet, on the hard disk that just failed in your PC.
These are real life examples!!!
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David
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Azzi
member
Reged: 08/05/2006
Posts: 195
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OK folks, It`s time to put my hand up - I think I am the one who Garry is referring to as I recently submitted a hastily repeated module 6 for him to mark. Yes I lost everything that was on the pc, I only had a handful of cd`s containing family holiday shots.
I had put a lot of time into mod 6, and for the first time I was happy with most of my pictures - I was completing the text document when it all went wrong.
So now I have to start all over again, a years worth of pictures lost, however being pretty new to photography means that I didn`t lose any stunning shots.
The advice offered above has largely been put into practice now - however I am keen to listen to any further advice.
Chris
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisnj2008/
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Paul_R
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 16/06/2006
Posts: 1963
Loc: Middlesbrough, England.
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Quote:
OK folks, It`s time to put my hand up - I think I am the one who Garry is referring to as I recently submitted a hastily repeated module 6 for him to mark. Yes I lost everything that was on the pc, I only had a handful of cd`s containing family holiday shots.
I had put a lot of time into mod 6, and for the first time I was happy with most of my pictures - I was completing the text document when it all went wrong.
So now I have to start all over again, a years worth of pictures lost, however being pretty new to photography means that I didn`t lose any stunning shots.
The advice offered above has largely been put into practice now - however I am keen to listen to any further advice.
Chris
Hi Chris
Sorry to hear that. It must be awful to loose all that data.
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Regards, Paul CRIPN
http://www.pbase.com/exposethelight
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Paul_R
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 16/06/2006
Posts: 1963
Loc: Middlesbrough, England.
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Quote:
As an IT specialist I would like to add a few thoughts.
Firstly always check that you backup actually has readable data on it by trying to read it, especially if it is a CD or DVD. Secondly nobody really knows how long a CD or DVD will last because they were not invented that long ago, so their life is theoretical, it may be a good plan to check or to make further copies in a few years time. A word of caution, do not store your CD /DVD backups anywhere the sun could shine on them.
Finally, if you ever have the opportunity, try and restore a sample backup to another hard drive or partition (to avoid overwriting the original). The only ultimate test of a backup is when you actually need it only to find that the backup software did not work for you. If you use specialist backup software don't keep the only copy of it, which you downloaded from the Internet, on the hard disk that just failed in your PC.
These are real life examples!!!
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David
Hi David
What are your thoughts on the advice generally found on the web stating that you should only use CD-R for backing up as opposed to using CD-RW and DVD?
Apparently the latter two or not as reliable as CD-R but what are your experiences in the real world?
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Regards, Paul CRIPN
http://www.pbase.com/exposethelight
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Fozzy
newbie
Reged: 04/08/2006
Posts: 12
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Hi Paul,
I have found that RW material may be readable on the drive it was created on, but not always on another machines drive which I believe is influenced by the power or cleanliness of the laser being used and the number of RW cycles it has had. Personally I keep adding to a write only disk and close it when it is full.
My feeling is that this media is now so cheap and the cost of replacing any of your photos so high or impossible to repeat. RW disks cost more and any cost saving implied by using RW may never be realised as you are creating a backup to keep and probably will not want to rewrite the disk.
There is only one certainty, a hard disk is mechanical and will fail one day, and any backup is better than no backup.
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Regards
David
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Paul_R
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 16/06/2006
Posts: 1963
Loc: Middlesbrough, England.
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Quote:
Hi Paul,
I have found that RW material may be readable on the drive it was created on, but not always on another machines drive which I believe is influenced by the power or cleanliness of the laser being used and the number of RW cycles it has had. Personally I keep adding to a write only disk and close it when it is full.
My feeling is that this media is now so cheap and the cost of replacing any of your photos so high or impossible to repeat. RW disks cost more and any cost saving implied by using RW may never be realised as you are creating a backup to keep and probably will not want to rewrite the disk.
There is only one certainty, a hard disk is mechanical and will fail one day, and any backup is better than no backup.
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Regards
David
Hi David
So you use CD-R as opposed to CD-RW and DVD? That seems to back up (pardon the pun!) what I have read on the web.
It is tempting, of course, to use DVD because you can store so much more on it (but lose so much more, too!). However, the census seems to be that CD-R is more stable and therefore better for long term storage but as you say, any back up is better than nothing. I think I will using CD-R, too.
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Regards, Paul CRIPN
http://www.pbase.com/exposethelight
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