Best practice on archiving real estate images and saving space?

I shoot 5 image brackets and end up with a single working tiff file. I'm now stuck with tons of cr2 and large tiff files that take up an unimaginable amount of space. I want to archive all of my shoots and I need to keep some kind of original record of the images, but I need to start saving space.

For each final image I have the following files: 1 jpg, 5-7 cr2, and 1 tiff 150mb.

I'm thinking of keeping the tiff or jpg file and maybe a single cr2, but I want to get some feedback before I start deleting everything.

What do you do when archiving real estate photos?

CDs and DVDs are cheap. Places like zenfolio now offer raw storage (for a price). You could always get a big external hard drive since they are not that expensive either. I picked up a 4TB one about a yearl ago for $130.

With a DVD you are looking at about $0.05/GB and an external hard drive (4TB at $130) would be $0.03/GB. Storage has become SUPER cheap.

Actually, I'm already using external hard drives as my current solution, unfortunately I'm starting to build quite the collection of 2-3tb drives.

Instead I need a more efficient solution for storage than I currently have. If it's safe to delete some of these files before I pull them off my workstation, and I can delay the need for a new drive by quite a few months. I don't want to end up with 30 drives in a few years. That's the goal.

I realise that JPEGs don't take up much room (so it wont save you much space) but they should always be the first thing you delete. Put simply, you can recreate/export a jpeg any time you need one if you have the original RAW/TIFFs. You can never recreate a RAW/TIFF from a JPEG.

Obviously if you are 100% sure you are never going to revisit an image then deleting the RAWs will save space. Personally I find myself regularly revisiting as my post processing skills improve and the software I use improves.

I do not delete CR2s. I do delete exported images for final consumption in some cases.

Note that while hard disks are cheap unless you are using a filesystem that checksums EACH BLOCK (e.g. ZFS) you are at risk of errors. All media is also subject to bit rot.

Writable CD and DVD media is inexpensive but (1) of relatively low capacity in today's world of rotating rust and (2) has a relatively short archival life. DLTs have very long archival life but are hideously expensive and serial access only. Rotating rust (disk drives) are in the middle.

IMHO (1) is a bad choice due to the fact that you likely won't get what you want (archival stability) for that cheap price. #2 is the gold standard but is priced like it. For this reason I personally use rotating rust in a bank's safe deposit box for archival storage; the cost is reasonable and when coupled with a filesystem choice that checksums each block on writes so it knows its good before being committed I'm satisfied with the level of risk I'm accepting.

I have data going back to the early 1980s in both active and archival storage. I have yet to lose something that I intentionally archived, but I have several times wished I had something I deleted or did not transfer to archival storage back.

For what reason are you looking to archive? I would think that after some time all that you might want to keep are the finished jpegs. Are there any legal reasons to keep all of the intermediate images?

Persian-Rice wrote in post #16863946
... I need to keep some kind of original record of the images, but I need to start saving space.

First, I wonder why you need to save them.
Second, if they're just for record, why wouldn't a max jpg work for that?
Third, have you considered the Cloud as a cheap solution?

Thanks for the great feedback.

Is there any good reason to keep anything but a jpg file? I keep working files for 3 months before putting them away on backup drives. I haven't had any legal issues, but who knows what might arise in the future.
I'm running a photography business with a high volume of homes to shoot. Storing everything is becoming a noticeable overhead expense I'm trying to control.

The biggest issue right now are the number of raw files. I think if I keep one raw file, that's my exclusive proof of ownership, and that should cover most bases.
At the very least I can delete everything but the EV 0 cr2 and tiff. If a Jpeg file is sufficient I can get rid of the tiff file instead.

Thoughts?

3TB drives are currently about $100.

Do the math if you'd like; that's a very large number of CR2 files per disk!

If this is a business how is that too much to spend for that sort of archival capacity?

It's not only an issue of cost. I want to keep one 3tb external drive per year shot + one backup. It will only add up as time goes on. As it stands I have 3 drives per year shot + 3 backup. It's kind of a disaster as it is, dealing with 15,20,25 drives is unimaginable. $600 is $600, I can buy a pretty nice tripod with that.

Are you doing hi res commercial architectural work for large prints or residential real estate for web? Are you doing HDR or standard exposure blending?

Most of the benefits of exposure bracketing can be accomplished with jpgs or 3 exposure blends to save time and space for a low res final image. The 5D3 will even do HDR in camera far faster than any external process. Do you use lighting to compensate for exposure differences?

In my market, standard real estate shoots are $150 for houses under $500K, so I have to be very efficient and quick. I don't spend more than 2 hours on any job including just 30 min for PP and delivery. With good technique, I shoot most houses in jpeg with a tripod, level, and bounce flash. I spend more time fixing perspective than exposure in PS. With online backup of the finished edits, I have never needed to re-edit files.

I can understand your attention to detail for commercial architectural rates with a solid budget, but not for real estate. Efficiency is key to business success and long term growth for me.

-Scott

Scott, I'm shooting residential real estate and blending. I'm almost exclusively working with a higher end market which gives me a little more flexibility in terms of time. My workflow works for what I'm doing.

Although, I think your one comment answers it. I also never go back and re-edit after delivery, especially 3 months later. I don't think I really need all those raw files. My plan to keep a raw and a tiff will be enough to get everything on one, possibly two, drives. I also have 1080p jpeg files on the server for the virtual tours which I can always recover. I think I'm going with that.

Thanks everyone.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #16864654
First, I wonder why you need to save them.
Second, if they're just for record, why wouldn't a max jpg work for that?
Third, have you considered the Cloud as a cheap solution?

Was thinking along those lines myself. If raw how about mraw or sraw or if jpgs medium or small. If these are for realty companies they aren't making 36x24 prints I would presume. That way if you save originals much less space is taken.

ryanshoots wrote in post #16867367
Was thinking along those lines myself. If raw how about mraw or sraw or if jpgs medium or small. If these are for realty companies they aren't making 36x24 prints I would presume. That way if you save originals much less space is taken.

Actually this is a great idea to consider. Almost everything I shoot is being printed on 8.5x11 brochures. For the sake of colour quality, I need to shoot raw, but mraw might be sufficient as outside of perpective corrections, I'm not cropping anything additional. I'm going to test this option and see how much space I save. Thanks

How long do you plan on keeping the images. If you are sub-licensing them, then it makes sense to keep them longer, but after a year or two, especally if the house is sold, the images really no longer have any value (outside of sub-licensing..). Even if it comes back on the market with a new owner, you arent going to be re-using the older images.