Backup strategy

It was the external drive that had the guarentee.
I must re check it but unless I read it wrong it
said that if the drive failed due to a product fault
(obviously a power surge, fall or virus etc is not covered)
then they would recover the data as best they could.
Now I understand that there are some glaringly obvious issues here
and I really do need to have a better back up system.

Using the drives in the laptops is a bit of a pain as I have to
literally download new images from the camera into a folder
and then do all the work etc in Photoshop and then transfer the finished
work in the folder onto the external drive.
Then if I ever need to rework an image or pull it for printing / emailing
I take it off the External drive.

I think I need a new desktop PC that has storage and processing power
to work on stuff and then just use the external HD as the back up drive for that.
Boo...
This means spending money...
Either that or I just buy a second external drive - 1Tb or so,
seeing as they are very cheap now, and use that instead...
??

Barberskum wrote:

Either that or I just buy a second external drive - 1Tb or so,
seeing as they are very cheap now, and use that instead...
??

That sounds like the best strategy for you right now. And yes, they are cheap. However, if you really fancy saving even more dosh, have a look at buying an external enclosure and a 1 Tb drive seperately. That could be cheaper than just getting a 1Tb external drive.

Don't forget to copy on a daily basis!

I keep my backup system fairly simple:
My operating system is on the C drive while all other files are kept on another hard drive.
I have a 2.5" external drive and I backup my files every few weeks.
I make an image of the C drive and backup the other drive.
Both drives fit on to the same 2.5" external drive.
I then keep the backup drive at work.
This way, in the event of a theft or fire, at least I have a full backup elsewhere.

Michael.

If your working drive fails, does that mean you lose anything you created/edited since your last backup?

Just wondering... I do a daily backup. Its surprisingly quick since its incremental (just updates any updated or new files since the last backup...)

I transfer the backup persiodically to an external drive and stick it in the garden shed - for the same reasons you have an off-site copy. Actually, that's a good idea to take it into work...

I don't work from home too much and when I do I have a direct connection to our server at work so backup in that sense is nothing for me to worry about. Main thing to backup would be new images and with the weather we have these times, backup frequency isn't too much of an issue...