Lost 10+years of work, Need advice on next back up plan

To do it correctly you will need 2 of the Raid drives to back the NAS up to. One will need to be kept off-site and rotated on a regular basis with the one that is on-site.

So sorry to hear about your situation. Something similar happened to me last year. Lost about 10 years worth of photos/memories and other important documents. I now back all my data up to an external hard drive using Time Machine as well as online through Mozy. Mozy is very reasonably priced at $55/year for unlimited storage. Once you get it set up it backs up automatically so you don't even need to think about it. Depending on how much data you have the initial backup can be slow but after that I don't even notice it working.

Finally, I have a free 2gb dropbox account that I use to transfer documents between computers. Dropbox also has a really nice iphone application so I put stuff that I want to access on my iphone in there as well.

Here's an article that will help you assess some various online backup options: http://lifehacker.com …-best-online-backup-tools

Good luck!

Barso23 wrote in post #10050249
First off, I'm very sorry to hear about your situation...

Second, I'm totally uneducated about some of the methods of backup being discussed here. Can someone please provide a quick definition of RAID that is referenced as well as costs?

Also, a list of backup options - rated in terms of cost - would be helpful I'm sure.

Can't really help much with what all the costs are, but ...

RAID1 is two partitions in a mirrored array. When you write data to one partition it automatically is written to the other. An asyncronous mirror means you get your system back as soon as the first write is acknowledged, and don't have to wait for the 2nd to finish. I use the term "partition" as it's possible to make an aggregate partition out of more than one drive. Normally though, you'd think of raid 1 as two equal sized slices, each on a separate drive.

A full backup backs up everything on the drive/partition/slice (however you have the job configured).

A differential incremental backup backs up everything that's changed since the last backup.

A cumulative incremental backup backs up everything that's changed since the last _full_ backup.

ETA: The advantage to doing cumulative incrementals is that to do a full restore of a drive means you only need two backup images. The last full, and the last incremental. A full restore from differential backups means you need the last full as well as all incremental images taken afterwards. Actual best performance from cumulative and/or differential jobs depends on just how frequently the data on the partition being backed up changes.

Really sorry to hear about the disaster - terrible stuff. But I'm with Rob on this also. My best work is matted and framed - only about 40 pieces right now - and "backup prints" are in book folios.

I have a working hard drive for the current material which gets backed up to a second HD also on premise. This gets backed to a portable HD I carry with me. Key stuff is also burned to DVD.

None of this is a perfect solution, but it "spreads the seeds around."

Rob Wilkinson wrote in post #10048832
Make prints!

In all seriousness, I'm sorry that you lost all that work. Drive failure is all too common and I need to rethink my backup plan as well. I've always just maintained copies on 2+ drives, and every month or so I add to my DVD backups.

I'm working on the files on my computer hard drive. I'm storing them on my Raid5 NAS (Synology RS407). This NAS has an automatic backup to a friend's NAS in another state. He's also backinp up his to mine.

Once a month, I'm burning a DVD with the new files (with QuickPAR additional CRC to protect some data loss) and I'm dropping them to my bank safe.

sapearl wrote in post #10050421
Really sorry to hear about the disaster - terrible stuff. But I'm with Rob on this also. My best work is matted and framed - only about 40 pieces right now - and "backup prints" are in book folios.

I have a working hard drive for the current material which gets backed up to a second HD also on premise. This gets backed to a portable HD I carry with me. Key stuff is also burned to DVD.

None of this is a perfect solution, but it "spreads the seeds around."

another way is to "store" full resolution files of your best stuff on a paid service like smug mug or zenfolio.

ed rader

Hi Ed - yeah, I know a lot of folks do that and are quite happy with it..... for some reason though I never adopted that strategy.

Although I suppose that with all the free space I have with my hosting service, I could simpy ftp the full rez images to a buried directory for safe keeping.

ed rader wrote in post #10050917
another way is to "store" full resolution files of your best stuff on a paid service like smug mug or zenfolio.

ed rader

What works for me.

Local/Internal RAID-5 disks.
Local external USB drives.
Full continuous backups to Backblaze.

It took a while to get everything backed up to the cloud, but now all it has to do is the incrementals.

internal working drive
NAS device with 2 HDs
external HDs that are back-up monthly and kept off site.

and OP - i would bet you could get your stuff back. it will probably cost you 1k+ but very few hard drives are completely unrecoverable. and to have 2 HDs fail in 10 days tells me that one is likely recoverable.

For me to lose everything I would have to lose 5 physical drives.

I use an iMac -

500GB internal <--- OS and all Programs reside here
1TB External <--- All Media resides here
1.5 TB External ( Time Machine Backup ) Backs up the above two drives

2TB External ( Insurance Drive ) Hooked up once a month and the #1 and #2 drives contents get copied here - not that I do not trust the Time Machine Backup but they are all kept with the computer and this drive gets stored in a different location.

2TB External - copy of the above - kept on site but in a fireproof locked safe


Drives are cheap - loss of data can be expensive.


One other thing ... do not depend on optical media ( CD/DVD ) for long term storage.

I have some CD's burned over 7 years ago that I can no longer read.

Luckily I have all my negatives stored properly dating back to the early 1970's.

I know it's not the most elegant solution, but here is my strategy.

a.) I work on the images on my main workstation (ie desktop)
b.) I run SyncBack on that desktop, automatically copying any updates/addtions to my library to a separate file server I have at home
c.) Also using SyncBack on my main workstation, I update an external USB drive with any/all updates to my catalog. I usually do this every other week
d.) From my file server, again using Syncback, on a monthly basis, I updated another external USB drive. This drive is encrypted using TrueCrypt, and is kept in my desk drawer at work.
e.) Also on a monthly basis, I have been exporting the last months worth of images from my LR catalog on my desktop, and importing that catalog into my notebook.

I know this is a totally foolproof solution, but it does the job for now, and the cost isn't that prohibitive.

Also, regarding an earlier comment, I would love it if zenfolio would actually store raw files and sidecars. I'd easily pay double the hosting cost if they offered that.

If this is a business, I highly recommend a strong automated backup plan. In researching law firm backup plans, I've come across this which may give you some ideas:

http://blog.technolawy​er.com …gimen-for-law-firms-.html

Ross Kodner is a technology expert for lawyers. This article again, may be overkill, but it'll give you some ideas.

ocabj wrote in post #10051618

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I like to use a SATA to USB docking station and then buy SATA hard drives to use as backup 'cassettes'.

1TB drives can be had for cheap. They don't need to be fast either for writing to and then tossing into a drawer.

I do the same thing, though I have the one that holds two drives.

Have you had any issues with that one? Mine will randomly eject a disk ( just started doing that this week )

I have one drive with the OS installed on it and run it from that external drive base. The symptom was a 'total system lockup'.

I reverted to the internal drive for OS bootup and the external as data to see where the problem was and began getting those random " This drive was not properly ejected " messages. Tried a new cable and power supply - something is wrong with the unit itself I guess.