Hard drive CRASH

[larann78]

:(
My hard drive crashed last week and I just got the report back today. It's totally unrecoverable. The head damaged the disks...
My question. What's next for me? Where do I start? I had 8 weddings on there and 50-60 portrait sessions. Of course I have all the raw files, but do you know how long it takes me to retouch even one senior session or one wedding? I don't know what to do. I have soooo much current business, to start going back and retouching past business is overwhelming. I need some moral support here and some suggestions. Yes, I am a full time studio. No, I didn't have a back up because I didn't know how. Where do I start or do I shut my doors?

[Vascilli]

Make backups immediately of all the RAW files you have now.

[qtfsniper]

Create a RAID array, and you shouldn't have to retouch all the past photos again unless they reorder prints.

[CyberDyneSystems]

RAID 1 array is a good addition to a thorough back up, but use it in ADDITION to a separate back up system.

I don't mean to rub salt in your wounds, I know this is a devastating set back, but the reality is "I don't know how" is a really lame excuse.

It does not take ANY expertise to buy an external hard drive for barely $100.00 and simply plug it in to a USB port and install the included back up software.
$100.00 and ten minutes time,. what a tiny investment you had to make to protect your HUGE investment in time and money for your data.

Now, stop everything, run to the local Staples or Office Depot, buy two External Seagate "freeagent" drives, bring them home, plug them in and set up your back ups.

ie:
Take two of theses;
http://techgage.com/reviews/seagate/freeagent_pro/seagate_freeagent_02.jpghttp://techgage.com/reviews/seagate/freeagent_pro/seagate_freeagent_02.jpg

.....Then call me in the morning.

[heycow]

I shoot for myself and not as a business, and my computer has a RAID5 array for the primary stuff and a separate drive for scratch disk/temp files. Every night I backup my whole "My Documents" folder onto the separate drive, and also onto an external drive on my desk. Every week or so I also backup the whole thing to a Seagate FreeAgent drive (the portable version of what CDS posted above).

If you make any money off of your photos, do the same. If I have a crash I have all the side-car files, all the RAW files and all the final photos. Just need to re-install LR and PS and I'll be good to go.

So, for you, it's too late, but take this as a learning experience and have an on-site AND off-site backup starting tomorrow. (And don't get the one on sale at Best Buy, get something quality like the Seagate.)

[CyberDyneSystems]

We had a thread last month asking about the best recomendations for a simple external hard drive.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=551002

though we rambled off topic in the end, I think there was a strong consensus and argument for the Seagates.
Advantages over most other externals are;
1. Dead silent, no noise at all
2. Easy to use (decent included software)
3. Cool running.
4 FIVE YEAR WARRANTY **
5. "Sexy" ;)

** Most other drives have only 1 year, some have 3.

[turbo212003]

We had a thread last month asking about the best recomendations for a simple external hard drive.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=551002

though we rambled off topic in the end, I think there was a strong consensus and argument for the Seagates.
Advantages over most other externals are;
1. Dead silent, no noise at all
2. Easy to use (decent included software)
3. Cool running.
4 FIVE YEAR WARRANTY **
5. "Sexy" ;)

** Most other drives have only 1 year, some have 3.

I have the same drive and yes, it's sexy.
I backup all my photo shoots on the seagate, then upload the main ones to my website's ftp server, then burn a dvd. 3 backups.

[Digger]

I feel your pain I had this happen to me a few months ago. I did have it all backed up online though. Now I have a 3rd internal drive for on site backup of my working HD and the backup gets backed up online with daily updates on both.

[tim]

You only need to rework what people order. To get you through this time outsource the retouching work. Hire a local geek to recommend backup equipment, install everything, and set up semi-automatic backup routines. Once you get a quote post it here so we can check you're not being ripped off.

[bildeb0rg]

In case a few here don't know, the Seagates come with back up software that automatically suck everything out of "My Pictures" once a month, or you can configure a custom backup yourself.
Or at least my two 1 TB drives did. :cool:
£120 each from Maplins if UK viewrs are interested...

[Tigershark]

Send me a PM, I own an IT company that specializes in Data Recovery. I would be happy to take a look at it for free and tell you if there is anything I can do to help you out. I have done some serious recovery jobs even platter transfers and recovered the data. I'm not going to spam my company on here so shoot me a PM and we can talk. I am always willing to help out a member in need

Brian

[robgr85]

:(
My hard drive crashed last week and I just got the report back today. It's totally unrecoverable. The head damaged the disks...
My question. What's next for me? Where do I start? I had 8 weddings on there and 50-60 portrait sessions.

there is not such a thing as unrecoverable hdd damage. The data can be restored even after breaking it with a hammer or flame thrower (there would be a need for sophisticated equipment, but it is still possible!). If the electric (or mechanical) part of hdd is broken, it can be replaced by another one. Two years back my PC burnt (because of ligtning strike, which hit electric stuff hundreds meters from my house) i replaced the 'hdd motherboard' from working disk, and got my data back.

Find company which specialize in data recovery. It will cost You less money/time than retouching the files again.

Some of the files may be unreadable, but I do not believe it will happen to all of the files. If the hdd starts and is recognized in bios and You know someone familiar with IT let him chceck manuals of dd_rhelp tool.

Cheers,
Robert

[cory1848]

I use Windows Home Server for my back ups...5 drives all share the same data...

[estisdal]

Send me a PM, I own an IT company that specializes in Data Recovery. I would be happy to take a look at it for free and tell you if there is anything I can do to help you out. I have done some serious recovery jobs even platter transfers and recovered the data. I'm not going to spam my company on here so shoot me a PM and we can talk. I am always willing to help out a member in need

Brian

Depending on the recovery tactic, this could be best way to get your data back if you're even thinking about re-processing old pictures.

As for the future, backups are key!

[OdiN1701]

I have heard some bad things about those external Seagates. I don't know if they fixed them or not.

I ONLY use Western Digital hard drives now. They have served me well, and I have had excellent support from a drive I did have to send back.

I recommend getting two identical western digital hard drives, of whatever size you need. And then get one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822102006

No, not cheap, but there are two advantages. One is the RAID which means you will always have 2 hard drives with all your data. It is unlikely that both will fail at the same time.

Second, use it as a backup, not as an always-on type thing. Less wear on the drives this way as they aren't running all the time when your computer is.

Finally, you want some sort of other off-site backup. Maybe another identical sized hard drive in an external enclosure. Keep it in a safe deposit box or something. If your house burns down, you still have your photos at least.

[larann78]

thank you so much everyone...I am shipping it off to tigershark today. I hope he can help! And yes, I am hooking up an external hard drive today!

[gregpphoto]

What's next for me? Where do I start? I had 8 weddings on there and 50-60 portrait sessions. Of course I have all the raw files...

You had better be joking. I lost something like 25,000 images, when I shot only JPEG, and that was from my first year of photography. All those formative memories gone. At least you have the RAWs.

[12mnkys]

I would agree whole heartedly with the external HDD...If you are a windows user, the "briefcase" has been available for years... I have setup to mirror all of my important documents...whenever I add a new photo, document, or whatever, the briefcase updates and I have my backup. I t will also update any file that you change...so lets say you have a picture saved and 2 days later you do a little more PS work on it. You dont have to resave the image in both places...as long as the file name stays the same, the changes will be updated in your briefcase...

I don't kno whwy more people dont use this?

Mike

[gregpphoto]

I don't know either, and I'm one of those people. I back up stuff religiously, but never automatically. Same with my iPod, I don't sync it. Don't ask me why, I couldn't tell you. So stupid.

[Lonnie]

I'm curious to know how this turns out. Please let us know if you were able to recover you data.

[breal101]

thank you so much everyone...I am shipping it off to tigershark today. I hope he can help! And yes, I am hooking up an external hard drive today!

It sucks to learn the hard way, we had backups for everything in our studio. The kink in the plan came when the studio burned and all the drives, DVDs and CDs were in the studio. Some of the data was recovered but much was lost. Just sharing to let you know you aren't alone and to let you consider a backup plan which includes off site storage of some kind.

[johndeerrm]

I ended up with one of these, has 2 drives within a single case and uses RAID 1 (mirroring).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136282

[Balliolman]

In case a few here don't know, the Seagates come with back up software that automatically suck everything out of "My Pictures" once a month, or you can configure a custom backup yourself.
Or at least my two 1 TB drives did. :cool:
£120 each from Maplins if UK viewrs are interested...

I was reading the thread when the question was forming in my mind and then your comment answered it: thanks! :D

[Colorblinded]

I don't shoot in high enough volume to be highly concerned about an automatic backup system. I have a removable drive approach for making periodic backups (depends on volume of shooting, usually every couple weeks to a month) of my RAID 1 array storage drive. I take that removable drive and keep it in my desk away from home. I also have an external dual drive enclosure for copying other data as I choose. It's currently in JBOD mode but I may swap my 400 giggers in there, make it RAID 1, and put some bigger drives in my desktop RAID 1.

We had a thread last month asking about the best recomendations for a simple external hard drive.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=551002

though we rambled off topic in the end, I think there was a strong consensus and argument for the Seagates.
Advantages over most other externals are;
1. Dead silent, no noise at all
2. Easy to use (decent included software)
3. Cool running.
4 FIVE YEAR WARRANTY **
5. "Sexy" ;)

** Most other drives have only 1 year, some have 3.
How is their performance though? Some of the past Seagate externals were much slower than other brands. I've never bought a "prebuilt" external though, but if it offers a 5 year warranty and the performance on the new ones are good I may be looking at one of these for at home more frequent backups.

[ChrisRabior]

I lost like four events worth of shots to a drive failure, I can't even imagine losing what some of you guys did.

I now make it a practice (more or less added right into my workflow) to upload everything to my smugmug account before I clear the CF card.. of course that's in addition to DVD and a separate external drive backup. The cost of the smugmug account was less than what I was spending per year on multiple external hard drives, and I love the fact that I can direct people there to buy prints.

[T2000]

If you're that busy just farm out the retouching to someone else.

I don't use this but it can keep you up and running when a drive crashes. www.Drobo.com
I back up to external drives. One on site. One off site.

[Box Brownie]

For the record - I currently use WD Passport(s) for making my 'backup' (manually copied all my originals.

I have ordered a Zyxel NSA-220 RAID box and will put a pair of either 750GB or 1TB drives into it under RAID1 (Mirroring) but also the reason for the Zyxel box was that it has two USB ports that can be used for copy function to the box OR to mount my WD Passport (or any other simliar USB powered drive) and make backups from the RAID to the WD drive. This arrangement means that I should be able to rotate a pair of external drives always taking one with me offsite ~ granted the max of these smaller drives is 320GB but heh I am a long way off that level at the moment but when I get in excess of 320GB on the RAID I would think I will have many images that need to be archived i.e. copied a couple of times and stored offsite :)

[keyx]

invest in a Drobo (http://www.drobo.com)

[Billo78]

Over the course of about 4 weeks last year the following happened to me:
1. Memory card become corrupted on holiday and lost a full day of precious holiday shots with my parents (who live in another country)

2. Camera bag was stolen from the boot of a car on a holiday in Spain and lost irreplaceable photos from the previous 8 days (along with my wallet and passport!)

3. External HD crashed and I lost most of the photos I'd taken over the previous 18 months. I had some low res version of some of them on the net, and various other copies of a handful of shots around the place, but 95% were gone for good.

Fair play, I learned the hard way. I now have all my photos backed up on 2 hard drives at home plus a third one kept at a mate's place (he keeps his backups at mine). One thing to remember is if you use lightroom it's crucial to have your catalogues backed up off site as well, no use having the RAWs but without the PP that goes with them.

[tim]

That sucks you had to learn the hard way Simon. You could send your crashed external drive to a firm specialising in recovery, they should be able to recover the data for you, but I don't know what it'd cost.

[Captured Moments]

One thing to remember is if you use lightroom it's crucial to have your catalogues backed up off site as well, no use having the RAWs but without the PP that goes with them.

Could be wrong, but I just have lightroom right an XMP file with each RAW file. THen when I'm across country and I start editing, I can just load all of the files onto a drive load them into my computer at home and lightroom knew exactly what I did to the files. So I just back up the RAW with the xmp attached.

Please tell me if I'm wrong in doing this.

I'm so sorry your drive crashed. Mine wouldn't start up yesterday until I shook it a little. I have all of my stuff backed up 2X plus the original already, but since one of the backups is failing on me I have a third external on the way just to be safe.

[breal101]

Tim, our bill for the recovery from the hard drives was $5000, paid for by insurance and since it was a one time event I have no way of knowing if that is a normal charge or not. The DVDs and CDs were, pardon the pun, toast.

[jft158]

I use two external seagate hard drives as well as Carbonite service. This is where you back up your files to their encrypted servers. Unlimited backup for $50 a year. Cannot beat that! The only draw back is that it took about a month to upload 200 gb worth of pics using FIOS highspeed.

[ErikM]

Can you please elaborate on this company? What is their website?


I use two external seagate hard drives as well as Carbonite service. This is where you back up your files to their encrypted servers. Unlimited backup for $50 a year. Can not beat that! The only draw back is that it took about a month to upload 200 gb worth of pics using FIOS highspeed.

[jjaenagle]

I would say the best setup for raid is a raid 5... Its only 1 extra hard drive and does the same as raid 0 (striping) and raid 1 (mirroring).

In mirroring, it takes twice as long because it is backing it up to 2 hard drives.
Striping just takes the data and seperates it to 2 different drives for speed and put those together, you have backup with speed!

if one goes bad, you can replace it and the software should restore the new hard drive with all old stuff!

-----------------------------------
I have never worked with seagate, but i would take their suggestions.

I like western digital hard drives, but thats for building computers.

[jft158]

Can you please elaborate on this company? What is their website?


http://carbonite.com/


free 15 day trial

[craiglee]

i prefer mozy. free 2gb no matter what.
http://mozy.com/

use my referral: ZX6AKA

[ErikM]

2gb ain't gonna cut it for me... ;)

I need a TB or two!

[jft158]

2gb ain't gonna cut it for me... ;)

I need a TB or two!


I think the 2gb is free and you pay more after that...although it might take you 6 months to upload 1TB! Figure it took me almost 30 days for 200 GB

[ErikM]

Yikes... think I'll pass then!

[Tigershark]

I would say the best setup for raid is a raid 5... Its only 1 extra hard drive and does the same as raid 0 (striping) and raid 1 (mirroring).

In mirroring, it takes twice as long because it is backing it up to 2 hard drives.
Striping just takes the data and seperates it to 2 different drives for speed and put those together, you have backup with speed!

if one goes bad, you can replace it and the software should restore the new hard drive with all old stuff!

-----------------------------------
I have never worked with seagate, but i would take their suggestions.

I like western digital hard drives, but thats for building computers.


Striping is the WORST form of RAID for Data, if one drive fails the data is completely unrecoverable because it is written across multiple drives and partition tables. Striping is for Speed only it is not a form of backup and should never be used with any critical data. A lot of people use it for speed with the OS but nothing critical. You do not have Backup with Speed you have Back up only

[ivicyrusivi]

i'll be the third person to say it, get a DROBO (http://www.drobo.com/index.html)!!!

Its basically a RAID5, but you can literally rip out a harddrive and replace it, without loss of data, AND it doesnt have to be replaced with same size or make or S/N like conventional raid arrays!!! - watch the intro video at least!

oh and theres a community for creating plugins for it such as a UPnP/DLNA server, for watching videos or displaying images through your network to your ps3/xbox!

i havn't got one yet, but its on my shopping list! currently i have a 1TB without any backup - VERY nerve racking

[jjaenagle]

YEA... i know about striping, and thats not what i was talking about... but when you combine it with mirroring, you have both.

kinda the same concept as 1+0 or 0+1 except that raid5 came first and is more business related than consumer.

Most consumer motherboards come with raids 0, 1/0, 0/1, and sometimes 5.

But raid cards are more reliable.... now getting back on subject... i would get someone to help me back them up... but thats just me.

[BBoi]

For what it's worth, new or old, a HDD can die at any time. Jon, a mod here visited me recently on a trip to the Uk, we took many photos, they went on the hard drive, and one night it kinda 'cut-out' a couple of times. I went and bought an external 1TB drive and left it all night backing up (ie: copying all the files from, no compression ratios or archives) the drive. 2 days later, it gave up the fight n' died.

The solution was to buy another identical drive, swap out the controller card on the underside, bin the new drive and use the old one with the new card in it. Eh ? My first thought was, no more Seagate's because they routinely put out 'quality assured repaired' drives as new, which is what happened to mine. I changed manufacturer instead and duplicated the data back from the backup external.

Close call. Lesson learned.

The guys are right what they say about recovering data though, it's almost always possible, though some data recovery companies can charge as much as $2000 citing the comment ''well, how much IS your data worth to you ?'' - a bit mercenary, but they do have a point. I learned to do data recovery myself after that, but I don't go as far as taking the plater out in a vacuum or recovering physically damaged units; I jst cope with the simple things, like rebuilding the file table, replacing partitions, recovery of deleted files (which arent really deleted, just, neglected by the system till they are overwritten with more data), that kind of thing.

[tim]

You don't need to back up everything if you use an online service. A better scheme might be to keep a hard drive offsite with your RAW files, and keep decent sized JPG files online. Because I have my images on two hard drives I don't back up any images online, I have 500GB or so and that's way too much to put online.

[dekalbSTEEL]

The only problem with Carbonite is, they only back up your main hard drive, not external drives. So you have to keep all your important files on your C drive.
From the carbonite FAQs:

What happens if I delete a file from my PC?
We currently keep deleted files in your backup for 30 days. After that, we'll purge any files that are no longer on your PC.

Carbonite backs up all files except for:
Files on non-permanent disk drives (e.g., network and removable USB drives)

[ryant35]

The only problem with Carbonite is, they only back up your main hard drive, not external drives. So you have to keep all your important files on your C drive.
From the carbonite FAQs:

What happens if I delete a file from my PC?
We currently keep deleted files in your backup for 30 days. After that, we'll purge any files that are no longer on your PC.

Carbonite backs up all files except for:
Files on non-permanent disk drives (e.g., network and removable USB drives)

This is my I do not use Carbonite. I don't have anything on my C drive I really need backed up.

[CanonLaw]

I have one external hard drive on my desk, a 500GB one. I have another 250GB one which I keep in my car. If my main drive crashes, I go back to my 500gb. If the house burns down, I grab the one out of my car (which is parked on the street, not in a garage). If a mountain erupts and spews a huge lahar across the valley and destroys by my house and my car at once, well then, I will have bigger problems on my hands.

[MuelTek]

invest in a Drobo (http://www.drobo.com)

YES, YES, and YES!!!!!
all the redundancy you kneed in a small package that is interchangeable! finally now with fire wire:)

[tim]

I have one external hard drive on my desk, a 500GB one. I have another 250GB one which I keep in my car. If my main drive crashes, I go back to my 500gb. If the house burns down, I grab the one out of my car (which is parked on the street, not in a garage). If a mountain erupts and spews a huge lahar across the valley and destroys by my house and my car at once, well then, I will have bigger problems on my hands.

I'm fairly sure the constant vibration and changes in temperature make the car a terrible storage area for a disk drive. Leave it at someone's house.

YES, YES, and YES!!!!!
all the redundancy you kneed in a small package that is interchangeable! finally now with fire wire:)

It will burn like anything else in a house fire.

[airfrogusmc]

Back up on an external in house and get a safety deposite box at your bank and keep a back up external there that you bring home say once a week and back everything up. I do it once a month. That way if theres a fire or a breakin I don't loose EVERYTHING.

[ryant35]

Back up on an external in house and get a safety deposite box at your bank and keep a back up external there that you bring home say once a week and back everything up. I do it once a month. That way if theres a fire or a breakin I don't loose EVERYTHING.

The Wells Fargo by my office burned down about a year ago... :rolleyes:

[tim]

The Wells Fargo by my office burned down about a year ago... :rolleyes:

Unless you live in the bank it's unlikely your house will burn down at the same time as your bank!

[ryant35]

Unless you live in the bank it's unlikely your house will burn down at the same time as your bank!

Yeah but the only time your bank will burn down is the night your hard drive crashes.

Unless you post online where you keep your backup copies and your competition is reading...

[CanonLaw]

The Wells Fargo by my office burned down about a year ago... :rolleyes:

The building may have burned down, but I am fairly certain the safety deposit boxes are all in a large fire-proof safe. I think that's the whole point.