What to Backup?

I'm fighting a never ending storage issue, which is complicated by my online backup solution throttling if you go above a certain threshhold. All of my events are stored locally on two internal drives as well as an external drive as well as through Carbonite. (Yes, 4 storage locations, call me paranoid).

I currently export every event into a Large Print, Small Print, and Web format jpegs. I am backing up the RAW files, the Lightroom catalog (w/sidecars), the large print, small print, and web format.

Is this overkill? Should I ditch the RAWs once I've already done my post processing/editing? I guess my fear is that a couple could come back to me 2 years later and want a wall portrait done with some crazy edit. It would be nice to have the RAW file still.

I would never get rid of the RAW file -- but I'm a TOTAL packrat!

wdwpsu wrote in post #9571616
I'm fighting a never ending storage issue, which is complicated by my online backup solution throttling if you go above a certain threshhold. All of my events are stored locally on two internal drives as well as an external drive as well as through Carbonite. (Yes, 4 storage locations, call me paranoid).

I currently export every event into a Large Print, Small Print, and Web format jpegs. I am backing up the RAW files, the Lightroom catalog (w/sidecars), the large print, small print, and web format.

Is this overkill? Should I ditch the RAWs once I've already done my post processing/editing? I guess my fear is that a couple could come back to me 2 years later and want a wall portrait done with some crazy edit. It would be nice to have the RAW file still.

1TB Hard Drive is so cheap to buy these days, they will fit about 35,000 RAW images, so buying 2 at the time surely won't hurt..??

I keep all the RAWs for images the customer sees. Storage is cheap. You need offsite backups. Online backup of RAW files is excessive, if you really want that too back up a jpeg.

My RAW for only the images that my client sees stays on my hard drive and is backed up to an external HD for three months. That's more than enough time for my clients to place any orders for albums, etc., should I ever have need to go back to the original for some reason. It's hard to imagine a circumstance where I'd have to go back to the RAW after that.

I back up the jpgs they receive to an external HD as well as archived to a DVD. As others have said, disc space is cheap and the JPGS require very little. I could back up the RAW's, too, but just can't imagine the need so elect not to. Most "crazy edits" are just as easliy made with jpgs in PS. For me, the only reason I've ever had to go back to RAWs is to change how an image is cropped owing to a different aspect ratio.

No need to save/archive/backup ANY JPGs. If you have the raw files, the XMP files, and the LR Catalog, you can easily regenerate any the JPG files.

I keep my web-sized JPGs on my website for folks to view, but I don't keep them sitting on my hard drive.

i back up everything. 2 copies in the house 1 copy off site all on running servers. it currently totals about 12TB of total used space.

Interesting how everyone does everything just a little different. To me, the small cost of JPEG storage is worth it, to potentially alleviate LR Catalog upgrades (I do a Catalog per event method) and regeneration time.

I guess my biggest concern is that I use Carbonite for off site backup uses. They throttle your upload rate if you go above 200GB(which I have). At this point, I'm creating data faster than I'm uploading. So, I was considering removing RAW from my off-site backup strategy, in order to alleviate that concern. My other option could be to find another off site service, without said limits.

wdwpsu wrote in post #9573917
Interesting how everyone does everything just a little different. To me, the small cost of JPEG storage is worth it, to potentially alleviate LR Catalog upgrades (I do a Catalog per event method) and regeneration time.

I guess my biggest concern is that I use Carbonite for off site backup uses. They throttle your upload rate if you go above 200GB(which I have). At this point, I'm creating data faster than I'm uploading. So, I was considering removing RAW from my off-site backup strategy, in order to alleviate that concern. My other option could be to find another off site service, without said limits.

thats a defect in the service and i definitely would go to another company instead of not storing your most important file.

also carbonite is a terrible terrible service that you cant trust for anything. for anyone that doesnt believe me just read this http://www.mspalliance​.com …rds-affect-msp-businesses

wdwpsu wrote in post #9571616
I guess my fear is that a couple could come back to me 2 years later and want a wall portrait done with some crazy edit.

Why is this a, "fear"?

Backup or not, you're under no obligation to act on this request after 2 years.

And yes, I'd say you are paranoid.

RT McAllister wrote in post #9574209
Why is this a, "fear"?

Backup or not, you're under no obligation to act on this request after 2 years.

And yes, I'd say you are paranoid.

because then you lose money that you could of easily made

dovaka wrote in post #9574258
because then you lose money that you could of easily made

Money "easily made"?

How often does this happen and for the once in a blue moon opportunity is it worth all this archiving hassle?

RT McAllister wrote in post #9574826
Money "easily made"?

How often does this happen and for the once in a blue moon opportunity is it worth all this archiving hassle?

"Archiving Hassle" is worth it if a B&G call me in tears that their house burned down and they lost everything.

Yeah, it's once in a blue moon. But, I'd rather be the "one in a blue moon" photographer that cares that much about my clients instead of "Snap it and forget it".

The thing people will likely come back to you most for is when a relative dies. And weddings are the biggest gathering of relatives for nearly every family out there.

I've had it happen twice -- and I'm young, haven't been in business for ages, and shoot a pretty limited number of weddings (so people who shoot 3 or 4 times as much as I do will be even more likely to have this happen). Both times I was asked if I possibly had other photos that were culled out that had the person in them. Both times I was able to go through all the photos and give them literally every photo that even had their backside in them.

Was it hard? A bit. Did it take a while? Yep. Would I want that for me if a loved one died? Damn right.

I'd agree with RT on this. In my many years of doing weddings I've only had couples come back twice and ask for a "couple of prints." And with digital I predict the frequency will drop even more. My contract states that media is kept for a period of five years and then destroyed.

Typically, if I don't hear from a client within 6 months of the event, I never hear from them....except for those 2-3 exceptions over a 35 year period.

RT McAllister wrote in post #9574826
Money "easily made"?

How often does this happen and for the once in a blue moon opportunity is it worth all this archiving hassle?