by Alistair1967 » Sat May 03, 2014 11:25 am
SD and other photo cards, can become unreadable over time. Recovery software is not particularly cheap, and does not guarantee 100% results. Better (IMHO), to buy a USB drive - one specified as USB 2.0 is generally OK, unless your computer supports the slightly faster 3.0 spec as BM said, the Blue USB ports, in which case the extra expenditure is justified - though USB 2.0 drives should still work.
I work on the assumption that every hard drive I own, will one day fail and need to be replaced. As long, therefore, as all drives are backed up exactly, there should be few issues with data loss.
My image (photo) files are my main backup concern. As a Mac user, it's fairly easy to backup all my drives, and I have developed a reasonably robust backup scheme as follows:-
All my images (about 300GB worth at present) are on mirrored (duplicate) drives in a Network Attached Storage unit, which is attached to my router and is therefore accessible throughout my house, or over the internet if required. Also, the images are copied to a Firewire/USB drive as an extra backup.
I have two computers, both imaged (and in this case I mean 'copied', not photos) using software called SuperDuper!, to USB drives. I have the software set to make incremental backups, i.e., it only backs up whatever has changed on the computer since the last backup. These backups are bootable, meaning they can be used as a temporary replacement should the computer's drive fail. Or if the USB drive fails, I replace that and create a new image on it. Either way, Ma'at is restored! I don't know if this is possible under Windows, probably too many licensing issues to overcome.
Apple's Time Machine, which comes built into Mac OS, can also be handy if I'm re-installing or moving large amount of files around - if I make a mistake, I just correct it using the TM backup. Also worth having surge protected plugboards, so everything won't get fried in an electrical event.
All this may seem a bit paranoid, I suppose it depends on how much you value your files. It has meant some staged investment over the years, of course, although one of the USB drives is just one I removed from a PS3, which I thought had failed, but was actually OK. I speak as someone who regularly lost time/data/patience/blood/sweat/tears, during my Windows days, due to corruption, HD failure, viruses, etc. I now spend more time actually using my computers, as opposed to maintaining them and chasing 'lost' files.
SD and other photo cards, can become unreadable over time. Recovery software is not particularly cheap, and does not guarantee 100% results. Better (IMHO), to buy a USB drive - one specified as USB 2.0 is generally OK, unless your computer supports the slightly faster 3.0 spec as BM said, the Blue USB ports, in which case the extra expenditure is justified - though USB 2.0 drives should still work.
I work on the assumption that every hard drive I own, will one day fail and need to be replaced. As long, therefore, as all drives are backed up exactly, there should be few issues with data loss.
My image (photo) files are my main backup concern. As a Mac user, it's fairly easy to backup all my drives, and I have developed a reasonably robust backup scheme as follows:-
All my images (about 300GB worth at present) are on mirrored (duplicate) drives in a Network Attached Storage unit, which is attached to my router and is therefore accessible throughout my house, or over the internet if required. Also, the images are copied to a Firewire/USB drive as an extra backup.
I have two computers, both imaged (and in this case I mean 'copied', not photos) using software called SuperDuper!, to USB drives. I have the software set to make incremental backups, i.e., it only backs up whatever has changed on the computer since the last backup. These backups are bootable, meaning they can be used as a temporary replacement should the computer's drive fail. Or if the USB drive fails, I replace that and create a new image on it. Either way, Ma'at is restored! I don't know if this is possible under Windows, probably too many licensing issues to overcome.
Apple's Time Machine, which comes built into Mac OS, can also be handy if I'm re-installing or moving large amount of files around - if I make a mistake, I just correct it using the TM backup. Also worth having surge protected plugboards, so everything won't get fried in an electrical event.
All this may seem a bit paranoid, I suppose it depends on how much you value your files. It has meant some staged investment over the years, of course, although one of the USB drives is just one I removed from a PS3, which I thought had failed, but was actually OK. I speak as someone who regularly lost time/data/patience/blood/sweat/tears, during my Windows days, due to corruption, HD failure, viruses, etc. I now spend more time actually using my computers, as opposed to maintaining them and chasing 'lost' files.