Saving an image file simultaneously to two hard drives...

I now have two LaCie HD's tied to my iMac and am wondering if there is a simple solution to saving finished (edited) images to a group of identical file folders maintained on each drive, as a backup safety precaution? Specifically, I have a "Finished" folder with a subset of folders (topic specific), maintained within.

It would be nice that when I finished editing a butterfly image (for example) I could save it to my Finished/Insects folder and know that the image is safely filed to both HDs, without having to do the save function twice.

Thoughts? Suggestions? FIY: I opted to not use Lacie's file management app, instead formatting both for the IMac's use, leaving me to manage file storage. One drive is older than the other and already has a well-stocked "Finished" folder.

Thanks!

Its called RAID1.... google it

(NB You'll have to format the drives to set it up).

Don't try to reinvent the wheel in any other way unless your photo software has some sort of built-in redundant backup functionality (e.g. Phase One's Capture One / Media Pro have such a thing.... and yes, that software can be used with files from non Phase One cameras).

twostopsdown wrote in post #15434732
Its called RAID1.... google it

(NB You'll have to format the drives to set it up).

Don't try to reinvent the wheel in any other way unless your photo software has some sort of built-in redundant backup functionality (e.g. Phase One's Capture One / Media Pro have such a thing.... and yes, that software can be used with files from non Phase One cameras).

raid is NOT a backup solution!
raid 1 is for high availability, NOT backup!

you can use a file copy/sync/backup tool such as syncback to backup your finished files. Run that job as soon as you're done with your edits.

Charlie wrote in post #15434894
raid is NOT a backup solution!

You're somewhat teaching granny to suck eggs here.

Had I spent more time wording my post, I would have said RAID 1 + an additional backup somewhere else (preferably offsite).

Even your suggestion of syncing a backup between two drives at the same site isn't really a viable solution.

You should keep anything critical in at least triplicate copies, and preferably on different backup mediums (i.e. not everything on USB Flash, not everything on the same hard drive manufacturer), and one copy offsite.

twostopsdown wrote in post #15434958
You're somewhat teaching granny to suck eggs here.

Had I spent more time wording my post, I would have said RAID 1 + an additional backup somewhere else (preferably offsite).

Even your suggestion of syncing a backup between two drives at the same site isn't really a viable solution.

You should keep anything critical in at least triplicate copies, and preferably on different backup mediums (i.e. not everything on USB Flash, not everything on the same hard drive manufacturer), and one copy offsite.

well it's a much better solution than raid 1. I understand the offsite angle, but raid 1 isnt even an answer ever. It's just bad advice... besides, he lists his hardware, mac + 2 lacies, he might have the offsite angle covered (moving one of the lacies offsite after backup).

to answer the TS: http://download.cnet.c​om …3000-2242_4-10413802.html
you can setup jobs to make backup copies on multiple hd's

it might not be the best software nowadays, but works for me.

Charlie wrote in post #15434986
well it's a much better solution than raid 1.

I'm not sure I'd consider some hacked together sync script that you have to remember to run manually after each workflow as a "much better solution".

twostopsdown wrote in post #15434995
I'm not sure I'd consider some hacked together sync script that you have to remember to run manually after each workflow as a "much better solution".

right, so what happens if he accidentally deletes a folder/file on the raid 1 setup?

what happens if he gets a virus and takes down his system?

what happens if he gets data corruption?

oh right, you've got raid 1!

ask a sys admin to recover from yesterday's raid 1 and see the reaction in his face.

Could this also be done with rsync and the cron scheduler? Helps to know the CLI a bit.
Hasn't skipped a beat for me on my Linux fileserver.

Edit: Maybe not.. just read the need for immediate sync. But if you have a dedicated fileserver and want a scheduled backup, rsync and cron should do the job.

Charlie,

Did you bother reading my second reply ? Did you not see I said RAID 1 in conjunction with at least one additional form of backup ?

Mine would smile and say "sure, where do you want it" prior to copying it back from a snapshot elsewhere on the SAN.

in fairness raid is protection against single hard drive failure. but often not the best solution if you dont understand it or know how to rebuild the array and all forms of backup need to be tested that includes rebuilding your raid array.

For me I have a mac laptop and a windows desktop. the laptop runs two ssd's and the desktop runs several hardrives all raid. I use rsync on the mac to sync to a network share on my desktop. then I use windows 7 backup to backup to an external hard drive daily and that hard drive is switched weekly and stored at the office.

so long story short to the op raid 1 will technically do what you want. it duplicates two drives but you as the user will only see one copy. if you delete a needed file it is "gone" from both drives.

if you are looking for an easy sync option rsync is a terminal app already on your mac that will do what you want.

if your not familiar with rsync you can type "man rsync" in terminal.

Thanks, everyone, for your commentary. Much what has been discussed so far is a tad (as in a lot) over my head, but not completely new to me.

My prior searching did mention RAID 1, but I was hoping there was possibly an easier approach, maybe then it's the rsync Jeff mentions. Anyway, you have given me ideas and it's time for me to explore further these options and see what else someone else might suggest here.

As for offsite storage, I've been using Flickr mostly. Not a perfect solution, granted (file compression), but a pretty easy one to manage.

Thanks and please keep the 2¢ flying...

Guys, he is using a iMac. Syncback won't work.

Kevan:
http://forums.macrumor​s.com/showthread.php?t​=529219

started reading but got distracted... I thought an app could do that for you like Super Duper... check out the thread and see if that was what you were looking for.

if you like the rsync option you can crete a bash script to run it with the options you have selected you can google it or post here if you want help

For those of you who are struggling to keep up with this commentary, as I am, here's a link outlining how to perform the rsync function: http://www.maclife.com …a_single_termin​al_command

Does having nested file folders complicate the copying effort? In my "finished" folder there are probably 2, maybe 3, sub-tiered folders holding specific topic image files. If I was to perform the rsync I would rather do it simply at the "finished" level and leave it to the computer to find the new files to copy-duplicate. I hope that make sense.

if i understand what your asking use -r to do all directories within the folder you specify.

so if you have in your pictures folder for example a folder called "edited" and a folder called "to edit" and you used -r with rysnc to sync your pictures folder it would take all the files in pictures as well as all the folders and subfolders