Automated back-up solutions

chuckstarza

chuckstarza

chuckstarza

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23 Sep 2015
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4
I'm a photographer looking to automate the back-up process of my images

Currently I have a storage HDD, which is manually copied every week (folder structure is year>month>week>shoot) to two external drives and once a month just the JPG's to Zenfolio (online gallery system)

I'd like to automate the process to keep the two external drives as copies that update when the master HDD changes. It's easy enough to specify copies of the RAW files when importing via Lightroom to a a 2nd and 3rd HDD, but I'd like a system that automatically backs up monitored folders to external drives, and, ideally, a cloud based system too.

Each folder/shoot generally creates around 9GB worth of files - RAW's, PSD's and JPG's

Would I be right in thinking something like setting up a NAS or Drobo would solve the external drive scenario for automated back-ups?

Thanks.
 
I would look at writing a batch file to do it.


Robocopy /mir "c:\source folder" "x:\destination folder"

Put that into notepad, then save it as 'photos backup.bat' (not .bat.txt)

Now double click that file and it will backup any new/updated files to the destination and it will delete any removed files.

I prefer this option as just in case you or a child (or a virus) deletes your pictures folder, then this change won't be replicated until you run the bat file.

You can use scheduled tasks to automate the running of this file.
 
Personally I'd use Richcopy over Robocopy.
It's easier to use, just as easy to schedule and has a GUI.

The other option is SyncToy which is also a free Microsoft product which will scan for updates to folders and only copy those.


However as you look to get bigger as a photographer then it would probably make sense to get a NAS and use that as your storage location (especially if you're getting an assistant, as it makes the files easier to access for both of you)
 
Crashplan gets my vote.

Will do proper versioned backups to local drives + other PCs (e.g. home backup server or friend/family) via network/internet for free.

If you want a cloud backup then you can get unlimited for US$5.99 for 1 PC or US$13.99 for up to 10 PCs ('family' account).
 
CrashPlan for sure, with a minimum of 2 destinations:

- A local NAS
- CrashPlan online (not free, but very reasonably priced for unlimited storage)

The local copy gives you quick recovery. The online copy gives you the full disaster recovery (in case of fire, theft, etc).

As a professional relying on the integrity of those photos, you should have a 3rd copy, and I would make that copy independent of CrashPlan, just to rule it out as a source of any problems -- unlikely, but not impossible.

For this 3rd copy I would use Bvckup2, a tiny and very efficient executable running on your machine, that will keep a folder or set of folders mirrored to a remote destination. Here you have at least a couple of options for the destination:

- either the NAS (but now you have 2 copies on the NAS, which means if the NAS dies, you've lost both copies).
- a different drive, which could be either another NAS, or a USB3 drive you plugin.

Bvckup2 will handle the USB3 drive quite well, in that it will sit there waiting for you to plug it in, and as soon as you do, it will mirror everything across.

Instead of a NAS, I have an HP Microserver running Windows 2012 R2. I have it receiving both the CrashPlan copy (to CrashPlan's proprietary storage format), and the Bvckup2 copy (which is a straight file copy, to an NTFS drive). Because I am running Windows, I am confident that if the physical machine dies, I can pull the drives and mount them in any Windows machine (even e.g. Windows 10, doesn't have to be a server), and get to my data.
 
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