So, at this stage let's talk about backing up. (You do back up don't you?)
My warning is always that EVERY hard drive WILL one day fail. It is a mechanical device and it will wear out or develop a malfunction. Many people are blase about backing up, right up to the day they lose thousands of irreplaceable images and other files. They always seem to set up a proper back up routine after suffering a catastrophic loss. It is not a nice experience. (I can just see my mate, Chris, rolling his eyes at this bit - he thinks I am obsessed with backing up and take it far too seriously - needless to say he has lost loads of valuable images over the years...)
So ask yourself ' "how many of my images am I prepared to lose?". The answer to that will tell you how often you have to back up.
Backing up is dead easy and very cheap these days. It baffles me that people don' do it.
So what is my routine? Here goes (and I admit, I do have a very thorough back up routine - you may well decide you can do without some of the things I do).
I do not back up to DVD's anymore. They are too slow and it takes too many to back up my files. External hard drives are so cheap now and work so well it makes sense to use them. (I use Western Digital 'My Book' external USB 2.0 drives which cost about £60 (GB Pounds) for a 750 gigabyte drive).
1. When on a shoot I use several 2gb memory cards so that not all the images are on one card, Memory cards fail so if one does, at least I haven't lost everything.
2. When downloading the images from my memory cards into Lightroom 2 I set the import tick box to make a copy of the images onto an external USB hard drive at the same time. So the master copy goes into the 'My Pictures' folder and a copy goes into a folder called 'Lightroom Import Backups' on the separate drive. I go into this folder on the external hard drive about once a month or so and delete a few weeks worth of downloads - as the originals will now have been sorted and worked on and backed up elsewhere. Is this backup necessary? Well in the last year I managed to delete crucial files twice from both 'My Pictures' folder and another backup so it was brilliant to be able to get the original RAW file from this backup so all was not lost.
3. I then run Microsoft's free tool called 'Synchtoy'. This backs up the images to two different external USB hard drives. I will describe how this software works a little later and link to where to download it for free.
4. As described in my earlier posts I sort and work on the images and delete all the files I don't need. I then run Synchtoy again. This alters my backup to reflect the changes I have made.
So this means I have my original files on my C: drive in my PC. I then have two identical copies of these images and my Lightroom database files - each on a separate external USB hard drive.
(I then can take one of these external drives with me when I am away and I then have all my files with me in case I need them for clients, it means I have a copy of my files away from the home in case of burglary or fire and I can use the drive to back up the images I am taking while on the trip which can then be imported back onto my home PC when I return.
Now on to Synchtoy. This is a superb piece of Microsoft free software that I have used for years. You can download it from here currently - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c26efa36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52
Please note this location changes so just visit the download centre on Microsoft.com and search for "Synchtoy" and you will get the most up to date version download page.
The great thing about synchtoy is that once you have set it up it only takes 2 clicks of the mouse to back up everything - it is fully automated and works like a dream. I would be lost without it.
The software is designed for you to set up to copy folders from one drive to another. I use the 'echo' option. This is designed so that any changes you make to your originals will be mirrored on the backup drive.
I have Synchtoy set up to do this for all my images, Lightroom database files, all my other documents, internet favorites, templates, music and so on. If I lose my C: drive I can just copy the back ups back over and I am back up and running in minutes.
You can set synchtoy to copy any changes you make on either your originals or the backups (for example if you take the backup drive away with you to work on files from your laptop) - so when you return the changes on the backup drive overwrite the originals on your PC, thus keeping both drives in sync. However, I prefer the echo option.
It uses a wizard to help you set up the back up - you set up one for each folder you want to backup (for example I have one for 'My Pictures' another for 'My Music' and so on.
You can then select just one folder link to run within Synchtoy and it will just update the backup for that folder pair or you can select 'all folder pairs' and they will all run.
The first backup takes a while if you have a lot of files but if in future you back up regularly it takes little time at all as it only needs to update files that have been added, deleted or changed since the last back up.
So there you have it. My back up routine. Over the top? Perhaps. Do I sleep at night? Oh, yes.
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