Backup, Backup, Backup... Check your backups

We were recently robbed, I lost all my computers. The good news is, they didn't get my Time Machines. The bad news is, I found out that my Time Machine was corrupt and I've lost all the photos I've shot in 2013.

Check your backups folks, it's crushing to be stolen from, it's even more crushing to loose almost 6 months of photos and memories that can't be recovered.

JS

Oh my! I´m so sorry for you, JS!
I needed my Time Machine a few times and had nothing but good results from it. Saved my @ss more than once.
Though I trust it, I still make 2 more copies in different HDDs, just in case one of them decide to die on me.
All of your Time Machines got corrupted? Perhaps you could take them to an IT professional and try to recover with some professional recovery data software? I know there are some very powerful ones not available to regular people...

No, it was completely my fault, not the fault of the hardware. I purchased a new computer at the beginning of the year and that was my main editing computer. It never got added to my backup schema. I know better, and thought that it was added. It was just an oversight that I will never miss again. I got everything backed up but my actual pictures...

JS

Once again, I feel sorry for you, man. My best wishes that the Police can get your stuff back!
On the subject, one very good practice some people forget to do is (from time to time) to right click the Time Machine icon and click "Verify Backup". Doing this a few times a year might ensure your backups are in order in case you need it. Just a hint that might help people reaching this thread

Thanks Alex. That's EXACTLY what I didn't do. My environment is two Time Machines, one to backup the computer and another to backup my Lightroom libraries and photos....

Hey, I do make a third copy during import to Lightroom of the RAW files to another drive. Maybe there's hope yet! Now I've got to work through my day before I can rush home and see if that drive has the files from this year!

Jason

I keep one external back up off site in a safety deposit box at the bank and update once a month so the most I could loose is a month.

Confirming the integrity of backups is something that should be done on a regular basis, but sadly it is something that even professionals in data services industry can goof up with from time to time.

I'm going to be over hauling both my work flow and back up scheme here in the near future. Trying to come up with a solid plan that will work for having a desktop and laptop. Lost access to the server a friend had setup and were using for backups, thing caught fire after a close encounter with a cat, so now I am kind of in a tight spot as far as reliable off site backups go.

Whatever's in the cloud--POTN, Flickr, etc.--can be recovered. And anything you have on memory cards.

My photos aren't important enough to warrant elaborate backup schemes, but our house has a nice monitored alarm system.

That sucks to hear Jason, hopefully you're able to find a third copy like you said.

That's horrible. And a good reminder to make a third backup to keep at my office. Though for me, this only effects my RAW files. All my exported "keepers" are on dropbox, about 5 computers linked to dropbox, my Time Machine and all my iDevices.