I have long had a second, identical, internal hard drive to store a
complete copy of the primary drive. Backup is not run automatically but
only about once a week or whenever I feel I've added enough stuff that
I'd be uncomfortable losing it. If I install or remove something I also
wait awhile before backing up just in case I have to go backwards. The
exception to the no immediate backup rule is adding new image folders.
Those are backed up immediately.
However, the second internal drive isn't really enough insurance so I am
adding one or two USB external drives and a DVD burner. Backup done
with these drives will only be images and a few other important file
types such as my email files, etc.
I bought two EIDE to USB external drive enclosure kits from CompUSA for
$29 each on a special sale. Nice ones with ball bearing fans. I also
bought a 160GB EIDE drive to go into one of the enclosures for $40 after
three separate rebates. I will probably buy a second drive soon for the
other enclosure but I've not quite gotten that far yet.
Important: The reason for having two enclosures is reduncancy on a
dieing technology. Note that the enclosures convert EIDE to USB.
However, EIDE appears to me to be on a rapid path to obsolescence in
favor of SATA drives. SATA has better performance than EIDE and saves
the computer manufacturer some cabling headaches. I expect USB to be
around for quite awhile yet but, if the enclosure's conversion
electronics fail 5 years from now, it may be difficult to find a
computer to read the EIDE drive that's inside. If I have two enclosures
I can just exchange drives into the working enclosure to be able to copy
off to more current technology. That said, I think failure is actually
unlikely since, being external drives, they only need to be powered up
during backup or retrieval and should have a long, long life. I also
made a special point of buying EIDE to USB enclosure kits instead of
ready made external USB drives. It's cheaper and makes sure that I know
exactly what technology is inside.
The DVD drive is for making tertiary backups of images. They should
really be stored off site but I have yet to figure out where I'm
actually going to put them.
Eventually the image files will no longer fit on the internal drives and
older stuff will have to come off. However, when the backup USB
drives become full they will never be erased. They'll simply be retired
to wait in the corner until someone wants an image there and a new USB
drive will take its place. The hard drives will provide much faster
access than the DVD's which (if I do it right) may be off site.
If the price of hard drives keeps going down we may find them to be
cheaper than DVD's. $40 net for the 160GB drive is only 25 cents per GB
or $1.25 for the equivalent space on a 5GB DVD.
Chuck Norcutt
NSURIT@xxxxxxx wrote:
> This dang e-1 camera is challenging my ability to catalogue stuff, to throw
> cr*p away and also the capacity of my hard drive. True confessions: I don't
> back up anything. Goal: To mend my ways. I've about decided the best way
> to
> treat my files safely is to get an external hard drive or two. Remember
> this is Mr. Techno-challenged speaking. So tell me if I'm headed in the
> right
> direction. 1) Store all my digital photo files that I intend to keep on a
> separate external hard drive. 2) Have a second external hard drive of the
> same
> capacity to back up these files. or I could have external drive one be
> larger,
> have it partitioned in such a way as to store all my photo files in one
> partition and back up my other files in the other partition and then use the
> second external drive to only back up my photo files. Please lend your
> advice on
> this subject as I am not sleeping worrying about my image files. Comp USA
> has their Lacie 250 Gig drives selling for about $190 and the 160 Gig for
> about $120. Any opinions about the best way to do this and/or equipment?
> Bill
> Barber
>
>
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