Expert: Sara Bella - 2/18/2009

Question
Hey I work in a photo studio where the photographers shoot with latest canons and nikons and they use sd or compact flash. Now we transfer everything to an external hdd and we then burn each wedding or w/e to dvds to back it up, this system though is very complicated, he ext. HDD is becoming full, im scared it will crash and etc. Is there a better choice, because we are always busy on jobs and can't afford to loose everything. Is it good to back up online or is it even more risky, do you have any recommendations? Thanks alot

Answer
This a really involved subject and is not really my area of expertise.  With that disclaimer out of the way, I can tell you what I know.

Using only one hard drive as backup is very dangerous.  As far as I know, the best way to backup your really important data is to utilize a stripe or RAID on your drives.   Essentially, you use a number of hard drives (for example, 4) and the data is broken up over those drives.  That way if one drive fails, the others will retain the data and there is always a backup.    You will need software to configure these drives.  

I have never used an online storage system, but I can see the advantages as long as the company is REPUTABLE and won't disappear overnight with all of your data.  You won't have to purchase and maintain all of the drives, or the RAID software.  If you can pay someone else to do it for you, it sounds very easy, but these services can be pricey.

I also feel that I should mention that DVD's are not great storage methods, unless you are using the  "archival gold" DVD's and even  these are not 100% safe.  The companies claim they are archival to 100 years, but they can still be corrupted...or go bad...without cause.  

I have been advised that you should have at least 3 backups.  For instance, 1 set of drives and 2 sets of archival DVD's.  That way if one system fails, you have 2 more to fall back on.  Is this overkill?  Maybe...but I would rather be safe with my data.  

Another thing you might not know...your hard drive should ALWAYS have at least 15% of it's capacity empty.  If it's a 100GB  hard drive, you should leave at least 15 GB free at all times.  This will help ward off a crash.

As I said, this is a really involved subject.  It may require further research on your part.   

Good luck
Sara