Safest way of storing photos?

-Mike-

-Mike-

-Mike-

Soldato
Joined
22 Dec 2002
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Location
Minehead
Hey all,

I currently have all the photos of my little man from birth to current stored on a raid array. I'm wondering if I'm missing something as to how to better protect these files which if I lost- basically are irreplaceable. I have other important documents and pictures of family members who are now deceased in the same drive space.

If anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate them

Thank you.
 
Rule #1 - redundant RAID is not the same as backup.

You need them backed up on another drive or tape or other storage medium, preferably one which is stored elsewhere. I also have a lot of irreplaceable pictures and other stuff, all of which are backed up off my machine to a server on a daily basis and then again to a removable drive every couple of weeks which I leave in the office, just in case the worst happens.
 
I use dropbox for stuff like that. Its easy enough to gain 10gb capacity and that more then covers my collections :/
 
Online storage is definitely handy but I'd still want my own local backups tbh. Also depends how much data we're talking about - my photos directory stands at roughly 300GB :)
 
I currently have 31gb + of photos and video which I could do with backing up.

I thought about a bluray writer to burn them to BD but the comes the problem that I can't read them in as many machines as with DVD's.

I was tempted to purchase a NAS and have a raid setup in there but honestly, I don't know which way to go with this!
 
Heres a thought. have you considered a usb Sata2 laptop hd? Or a USB 64gb stick?

This plus This should sort you out. More then enough storage and completely portable. Keep it where you like.
 
Ahh mate, I have a 250GB WD external hdd already - I'm just copying the folder onto that also!

I didn't think USB pendrives were all that reliable?!
 
Its mainly that their connectors wear out cause of constant use. Ok change of tactics. Hows about a couple of THESE beauties. A lot cheeper, a lot smaller, Buy 4 of em and stuff all your pics on, then hide them around the house!
 
To be honest I'd just get a large USB3 external hard drive and copy the files onto that at regular intervals, then store it offsite.

You can either just manually copy the files over, or use something like SyncToy to manage the synchronisation for you. Even a batch file using something like Robocopy with the mirror switch will do the job.
 
alternative you could try to buy Data Tresor DVD's and burn the pictures on them...they should last a while...main challenge will be to find a place to buy them and their webpage looks utter pants.
Also once you burned them on disc you need a good place to store them....

More details under the link below:
http://www.storagenewsletter.com/news/optical/datatresordisc-northern-star-essilex

Extract:
It's a standard 12cm 4.7GB DVD+R but with a completely different recording layer. It's not organic substances from the group AZO, cyanine and phthalocyanine. "The disadvantages of the organic materials are the crystallic structure that absorbs humidity and the material properties change with time due to the impact of light," said Northern Star. DataTresorDisc is based on on metal-ceramic and semi-metal recording layer. "Compared to standard DVD+R, none of the recording layer materials is subjected to natural aging process nor does it corrode," adds Northern Star. The two substrates of 0,6mm thickness are produced from polycarbonate resin but the company is exploring glass, offering higher longevity.

This new optical disc is guaranteed for more than 100 years and the Czech engineers speak about 160 years following their own testing.

Price is acceptable: €4.10 per disc sold in a 10 or 25 cake for a small quantity ordering, wrote MOS Magazine.

Relatively small inconvenience: to write on this DataTresorDisc you cannot use all the DVD writers and all the burning software but the company give the list of the recommended products that are available on the market. For the software, there are only two: CDBurner XP and Ahampo Burning Studio 10 for Windows with no more than 4X speed because the media probably needs a powerful laser. Several models of Asus, LG, Lite-On, Plextor and Samsung are able to burn the discs. MOS Magazine has even burned few media using two LG and Lite-On drives with CDBurner XP, and then tests them with Nero DiscSpeed 5 and Opti Drive Control, to finally getting good results.
 
I added 100GB to my Google drive which gives you 105GB total, they offer more space if required, and I have 12TB on my unraid server.

so for me I back my pictures up unraid and every night my pictures taken on my phone back up to my Google Drive, and or my unraid.
 
I use Crashplan.

Even if you don't want to subscribe to the online backups (although I do - only US$12 per month for a 'household' account covering up to 10 PCs), you can use it to backup between different PCs/laptops you own (or even those of friends - all data is encrypted).

So, I have a local backup on a separate drive in my PC, another copy on one of the kids PCs, and an online backup at 'Crashplan Central'.
 
mechanical are still the safest, even if they screw up most can be recovered

you could zip/winrar them and add a recovery record to it, that will offer a bit more,or even add a par/par2 recovery(this will increase their size though)

but in general nothing is completely safe
 
I also have pictures I could not replace. I have them backed up to 2 external drives. I leave one hidden upstairs and one is left at my sisters house..
 
I use the following to backup
NAS (RAID)
Server (WHS)
External HDD
Online (Crashplan)

I convert the photos to JPG from RAW to store online.
 
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