Some intermittent PC problems, followed by a serious crash and some toasted devices, and work associated with reconfiguring a new PC have consumed more of my time lately than I care to admit. All the while, a pile of photography gear has been staring at me daily, crying out to be reviewed. Computers, in their various forms, have become rather ubiquitous. Most of us tend to take them for granted, at least when they are working properly. One cellphone provider recently advertised that upgrading our smartphones wasn’t just about improving technology, but rather an improvement to our very lives. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is fair to say that some of us indeed identify too much with our technological toys!
“A Little Neglect May Breed Great Mischief”
“For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.
For want of a horse, the rider was lost.
For want of a rider, the battle was lost.
For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”- Ben Franklin
Poor Richard’s Almanac
When things go awry, however, we are reminded just how important technology can be to both our professional and personal pursuits. The following post details my recent experience and some insights that may help you prepare for the worst.
Attempting To Resurrect The Dead
Having had every model of PC since the original IBM PC produced in 1981, including a few I custom-built, and a number of Macintoshes along the way, I am pretty comfortable dealing with all manner of both software and hardware issues. I have successfully brought a few PCs back from the proverbial “dead.” As such, I have a healthy sense of paranoia regarding PC technology and realize that if anything can go wrong, eventually it will!
Over the past few years, I have been relying on Acronis to backup my various drives. When my PC crashed, I was fairly confident that I could eventually retrieve all my data. But when I attempted to restore my C: drive back to the original drive, I ran into a brick wall. I don’t know that it was Acronis but rather my PC that was at fault. My backup and restore disks had failed too. I finally got an old trial version of the 32 bit version of Windows 7, but a number of my USB-connected devices didn’t seem to work. These included an iPod, a Spyder 3 calibration unit, a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse, and a Delkin SD/CF card reader. The devices wouldn’t work on my wife’s PC either. Unfortunately, each of them was “fried.” Yikes! A number of the PC’s USB ports were also inoperative.
I began to have the sinking feeling that Mr. PC was not going to successfully recover from life support. Although it was hobbling along, enabling me to get to the internet and access some of my external hard drives, I knew that a power problem within the motherboard circuitry would likely to be fatal. It had already proved to be expensive.
“Hello, B&H?”
After calculating the cost of my fried equipment, I quickly realized that I wasn’t thrilled about taking a chance of attaching more expensive PC add-ons to this PC only to find them toasted as well. And I knew all too well that it made little sense to haul my PC into the Geek Squad or other repair service and start an expensive diagnostic and repair job that would likely prove to be expensive as buying a new PC. Decision made.
I began considering the usual suspects – Dell and HP. I narrowed it down to two configurations from each company’s website. Before placing an order however, I decided to do a bit more investigation into PC reliability ratings. I was pleasantly surprised at how well Asus polled relative to the others, landing second only to Apple in a well-respected review. I decided to look at B&H to see if they carried Asus. Sure enough, they did. I have long-considered B&H for photography-related purchases, but never for buying a PC – until now.
I wanted to get a PC with Windows 7, since I have not quite warmed up to Windows 8… yet. I contacted B&H and spoke to a very sharp sales associate. It is not often that I am impressed with a PC sales or customer service representative, as most are used to dealing with novices and know little more than their customers. But this young man listened patiently to my concerns and questions, and provided some excellent insights regarding the models I was considering.
He suggested buying a slightly less expensive model than I was considering, and using some of the savings to purchase a solid state drive (SSD) to get better performance. He even recommended a different monitor than the one I had selected, and had some very solid technical reasons to back up his choice. After approximately 15 minutes on the phone, I was sold on both buying an Asus PC from B&H. Since all the items were in stock, I would have my new PC and components within 3 days. Soon my wandering in the technology desert would be over!
Dealing With PWS – Photoshop Withdrawal Syndrome
I have always found photo processing to be rather therapeutic. There is something magical about taking a rather bland looking RAW file, determining what you can do to enhance it, experimenting for a bit, and seeing it transform into its final version. When my PC problems kicked into high gear last month, I found myself a bit lost without my daily Photoshop “fix.” It first began with a bit of mild “twitch,” but I soon found my hands shaking uncontrollably.
I thought about loading an older copy of Photoshop Elements, but reconsidered lest I stray too far away from the task at hand – determining what to do with my crippled PC and getting my data back. After I was able to load a version of Windows 7 onto the PC and at least get it to boot-up, I decided to download a copy of Google’s Picasa and tinker with its various options. Picasa is not Photoshop C6 – not by a longshot! And it doesn’t even do a good Lightroom or Photoshop Elements imitation either. But all things considered, Picasa is not a bad tool for storing photos by date and providing some rudimentary processing tools. Surprisingly, it was able to read my Nikon D800’s RAW files. And the price is right – free. For those not quite as obsessed with photography as some of us, Picasa might be as much as they ever need relative to storage and post-processing capabilities.
Picasa helped me deal with my PWS until I could get Photoshop and Lightroom, along with my Nik, Imagenomic, and Topaz plugins, up and running. I can imagine Google adding a few more bells and whistles to Picasa in the future (e.g. leveraging their Nik Software purchase) and making it a great all round program that would meet the needs of many photographers that don’t feel compelled to invest in and master Photoshop. And in a pinch, it may even help tide you over should your PC crash and you need a bit of a “fix” for your post processing habit. ;)
Backup Preparations – Something We Put Off Until…
It is too late. Having learned this lesson a time or two, I was well prepared with my Acronis backups. But as prepared as I thought I was, I failed to consider a few things that would have made the recovery process go a bit smoother:
Organize Your Program Disks
Make sure your major program disks located in a safe place. This may sound rather straight-forward, but I found that I had to do a bit of hunting, as I had put some of my program disks on a common storage area, and had forgotten that I squirreled a few of my photography-related programs on a bookshelf behind some of my photography magazines and books. Putting these disks in a place you can easily remember and access will make the process go a bit smoother should you need them.
Software Purchase Confirmation
Many of us now purchase software online. Storing email confirmations of our purchases along with license key information in a common email folder may help in the event of a PC crash. Most software vendors also provide the opportunity for you to sign up for an account on their website. If such an option is available, take advantage of it. In addition to your email, you may also manage your subscriptions/purchases from the vendor’s site. In a worst case scenario and everything is lost, you can always log onto the vendor’s site, download your software applications, and access your license key information.
Fortunately, I had emails with this information and had signed on to some of the software vendors’ websites. But some of my information was scattered in my email folders, and even with email search capabilities, I had to do quite a bit of hunting and pecking to get everything I needed.
Plugin Configuration
When I originally installed Photoshop and loaded my various plugins from Nik, Imagenomic, and Topaz, and customized my menus, brushes, actions, colors, and fonts, I knew where everything was located, and what I had to do to have everything work correctly. With the passage of time, I forgot how all the pieces fit together and which directories held which information.
Take some time to jot down some notes regarding your configuration and where you have each of these plugins and customized items stored. You may be surprised at how much you forget when you don’t access such configuration information on a regular basis. A page or two of notes may help you quickly reinstall your programs and waste less time later on when you have long since forgotten such information.
Run – Don’t Walk – And Buy A Good Backup Program
If you get nothing out of this article, make sure you purchase a good backup program that takes incremental snapshots of your operating system and program information, personal correspondence, business and financial records, music, and of course, your photos. There are many solid programs on the market. I happen to like Acronis, as it is an acknowledged leader, is feature rich, and is very reasonably priced.
Can you go the shareware route? Absolutely. Of course, if you run into an issue (and you will always run into an issue!), it is nice to be able to reach out to a customer support organization that can help you resolve problems. Acronis charges $9.95 per incident – pretty reasonable for a program that cost $39.95. Sure enough, I ran into an issue that I needed some assistance to resolve. I spent a good 5 hours on the phone with Vineet, my Acronis representative, as my issue proved to be rather difficult to resolve. Vineet, was very professional and determined to make sure the issue was completely resolved to my satisfaction. He even followed up with me on two occasions to ensure that there were no further complications and my PC was operating as expected.
When a company shows that type of willingness to work with me and resolve an issue, I am not going to attempt to save a few bucks and go with a cheaper solution. Trust me – when you need assistance getting your data back, the pleasure of saving a few bucks on a freebie program will soon be lost when you find out that there is no one to call for help. Acquaint yourself with the various options of your backup program and make it a practice to review the reports it provides regarding its scheduled operations and alerts.
3 Internal Drive System
It pays to have another internal drive that is an exact mirror of your primary drive and stores your operating system and programs. My configuration now includes a solid state device (SSD) as my main drive. I added another high speed internal drive that is a copy of the SSD in case it should fail. Every few months, I will schedule another snapshot of the SSD to ensure that, in the event of a crash, I can boot my PC from the secondary drive with all my programs intact.
I have my personal data on the original hard drive. I store my photographs and associated information such as Lightroom catalogs on external USB-attached hard drives. Each drive has a corresponding backup drive with a differential Acronis backup scheduled nightly.
RAID, Anyone?
Although I have long-been familiar with RAID (redundant array of independent disks) technology in my professional pursuits, I considered such configurations to be overkill for my personal needs and too expensive. Given the size of the digital files produced by my D800, lower prices for hard drives, and the number of external USB hard drives I have accumulated, I am reconsidering my thinking. Each external hard drive seemed to be a minor expense on its own, but when considered together, my 7 external drives easily approximate the cost of a RAID controller and some internal drives. Multiple USB drives also present other issues given limitations of the number of USB devices that can be reliably attached to each PC.
Netgear, Drobo, Western Digital (WD), and Buffalo make quality RAID units, have solid reputations, and offer a variety of configuration options. You can’t go wrong with any of them. If you are shooting RAW, accumulating tens of thousands of images, and relying heavily on post processing software that can significantly increase file sizes, you should at least consider the cost of a RAID solution relative to purchasing a series of independent external hard drives.
Into The Cloud?
The infamous “Era of Cloud Computing” has been ushered in more times than Microsoft and other companies care to admit. Each of these predictions has turned out to be premature. 2012 was different. Rapidly falling prices of hardware, proliferation of the Internet, new software applications, and changing perspectives regarding information systems infrastructure have finally made the Cloud a reality.
Many of us rely on Gmail, Hotmail, and a myriad of other programs that we access via the internet. Most of us don’t store emails locally, but rely almost entirely on being able to access them from our desktops, laptops, iPads, and smartphones from anywhere where we have an internet connection. Likewise, many of us are used to using a variety of other web-based applications such as facebook, twitter, and others which simply require a browser and an internet connection. Apple, Amazon, Google, and others now offer the ability to have all your content stored in the Cloud and accessible anytime from any device. Such innovations free us from having to be in front of our home computers to enjoy our various forms of media and content.
Many companies are also providing Cloud or online storage for your personal data at reasonable rates. Online storage represents a significant opportunity to reduce the risk of a hardware failure, particularly a more catastrophic one such as a flood or fire that destroys all your computer equipment. While I have been considering a Cloud-based storage system for backing up some portion of my files, my recent PC crash convinced me that it is time to take the leap. I will likely be a bit selective regarding what I backup to the Cloud. Even with online storage prices plummeting, backing up a terabyte of RAW and processed photos can be a bit costly if you select a reputable firm.
Cloud-based storage alternatives are all over the map relative to pricing. I would suggest reputation and the financial stability of the firm – not price – be your major considerations when selecting a storage vendor. The last thing you wish to find is that you have entrusted your data with “Big Bob’s Discount House of Cloud Storage,” only to find that Bob has closed-up shop unexpectedly or worse, failed to safeguard your information. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the companies offering dirt cheap online storage options bite the dust in the next few years. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. As the saying goes, “Buyer beware!”
Rather than rehash the various online storage vendors and their services, I would refer you to a summary provided by Tom Fisher on about.com. Nasim also wrote an article last year on “Cloud Storage for Photographers” – give it a read.
Summary
Take some time to reflect on how well you are positioned to weather a serious PC problem, what additional steps you might wish to consider to safeguard your information, and how you can better equip yourself to quickly restore your data and programs if called upon. Despite having a few devices toasted and needing to purchase a new PC, I did not fare too badly – no personal records or photography-related data was lost. I realized, however, that with a little better planning, I could have saved quite a bit of time and avoided a few headaches along the way.
What about you? If you have any other tips and insights that you believe would benefit our readers, please feel free to pass them along.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2013!
About Bob Vishneski
Hi,
Merry Xmas. I do have a MAC, so backups are scheduled automatically. As for a RAID system, a “cheap” alternative is a LACIE 5BIG drive (get it naked and install up to 5 hard drives as needed). I import & post process my images on my local hard drive, keep the ones I like or need locally and export the rest as LR Catalog to the RAID system. Depending on RAID configuration (5, 6) this can be rather slow. For larger libraries to process I use a RAID 1 2Big Lacie with Firewire 800 – not much of difference as compared to my local SSD drive while using LR and large D800 files (my computer power is the bottle neck).
Cheers
Chris
My routine is extremely strict after loosing a hard disk 5 years ago, although I had a little backup. A little, yes, but not all. I have now and a very, very strict routine.
I have two internal hard drives, one for my docs and program’s only, the second which replicates my documents including all My Pictures. I then have three 1TB external drives, one is a my documents backup without my pictures, the second is My Pictures only the third is the My Documents inc. My Pictures. My routine is that the internal second drive backs up on shutdown to the second internal drive. This is replicated on the external drives weekly and are kept in separate location for safety. The backup program I use is “Goodsync” which I’ve used faultlessly for years.
The PC OS mirror is held on CD-R’s at a separate location.
I have software both on disk and downloaded. The downloaded software is copied onto DVD’s and updated for the latest version about every 6 months. All serial number keys are held on a word document and USB pen in a separate location.
Over the top, yep. I am not a slave to my PC, but after a catastrophic loss I never want to go through that torture again. Neither do I want to have CF and SD cards from my D800, D7000 and V1 waiting in the wings while I try to restore my system. I thought it would never happen to me, it did and now I work hard to simplify restoration in the quickest time possible.
Richard
PS, a Very happy Christmas to everyone on the forum and especially to Nasim and the team. Great work during 2012 which makes it my first stop for everything related to photography.
Richard
Thanks, Richard, Same to you and yours. It certainly seems as if you learned a few lessons along the way and could have written this article!
Bob
I’m sorry for your recent computer difficulties. I belong to Mac Group Detroit(macgroup.org). Our President is Terry White, who is also a speaker, trainer, Director with Adobe. He always stresses backup at every meeting. Since he archives the Mac Group, personal files, corporate files and maintains a network for Macgroup members to post on he uses multiple levels of backup. He uses Drobo products as a physical back up, with two rotating systems. One is in a Bank Safety Deposit, the other is on his network. They are rotated weekly. He also uses a Cloud system as a redundant backup. When he is on Lecture tour, he caries a clone of his computer on a small external drive. If something happens to his laptop he can plug the external into a borrowed, purchased or rented Mac and still make his presentation. He has written about some of his back up measures on his Tech Blog, which may be found here FYI: http://terrywhite.com/techblog/
Thanks for writing, Paul. I will check out Terry’s blog. I have considered putting a drive in a safety deposit box (literally!). In this day and age, you can’t underestimate the need to take proper precautions with your personal information.
Bob
What boggles me is how could you go to a “full of bugs PC” from a Mac which is bug free. I have an AS degree in CIS and used to be a computer programer and from my knowledge and experience in operating systems and even home use I was driven to a Mac and have used nothing but a Mac for the simple reason of I could not deal and did not want to deal with an operating system that was constantly open to viruses/malware and constantly losing it’s brain.
Bruce, the biggest problem with Apple is price. For a performance PC with a dual monitor configuration, SSD drives, 32 GB of RAM and the fastest Intel Core i7 processor, I would have to shell out $5K+ for a Mac. I built a PC for less than half the price and it flies…
Bruce,
I will second Nasim’s comments regarding price. I always liked Macs, but I would have paid at least 3X the cost of my Asus for this machine: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/871883-REG/Apple_MD772LL_A_MACPR_SERV_QC_XEON.html
I have considered a Mac each time I considered buying a new PC but could never could never justify the premium Apple wants for its equipment. Prior to my PC having issues, I had 3 solid years of good performance with Windows 7. I will grant you that Apple has a great ecosystem for applications on the iPhone and iPad, but Photoshop looks the same on either platform. I purchased an iPad and like it quite a bit.
With the $1,800 I saved on buying a PC vs. a Mac, I could buy the iPad, iPhone, and still have money left over for a nice Nikon lens. The reliability scores between Apple and Asus didn’t come close to warranting the 3X price multiple – regardless of any issues with the Windows O/S. And Norton 360 seems to do a solid job of keeping bugs and viruses from getting to my PC.
Bob
I too have the excellent iPad. However, I have restrained myself in becoming embroiled in the Mac v PC seemingly endless debate on prowess of the systems until June this year. I have been using MS software since 1993 and have never succumbed to a virus or bug which has compromised my system. Neither have I knowingly fallen victim to the worst cases of malware. In June I opened a debate on PC v Mac as I was about to upgrade my PC. I knew I would buy another PC, but wanted to see how others felt after the battle of the Computers had raged for years. I was surprised at the responses. A few absolute devotees to Mac, but the rest were split. Many we’re Mac users who freely admitted that they would now consider PC as Windows 7 had made a massive difference.
In the end I plumped for another Windows 7 PC, with quad core processor, 36Gb RAM, high quality NVIDIA graphics and a upgraded NEC monitor. It’s like lightning, does not have updates as regularly as previous PC’s. I keep it sqeaky clean running automatic malware etc. diagnostics daily in the background. I paid 60% of a MacPro. My wife begged me to buy a Mac, she however freely admits knowing nothing about computers, but thought it would look nicer in the office!
Richard
I think you are deluding yourselves on this one. I admire what you do. Price is not the issue here. Do actually make price the major factor when comparing lenses? I know you don’t. I think you are exaggerating the price differential for the same relative quality of components here, but that is for a different forum I think.
I wish you luck with you PC equipment, if that is the way you choose to go. It is entirely up to you to decide which system you like and enjoy. What you choose depends on your needs. In my case the 27″ iMac meets my needs perfectly. At home I want to spend as little time setting things up and configuring it as possible.
My 1TB iMac hard drive decided that Christmas morning was the day to refuse to boot. The disk utility said it was not able to repair the errors and suggested I back up what I could and erase it. I keep two full backups, one on site (a wireless time capsule) and a Seagate USB portable. I set the restore process going and headed off for Christmas Day to see the family. The restoration process from USB takes a long time (around 9 hours) but my total time getting it started was around 10 minutes. The machine happily rebooted on my return with all data and program’s fully restored and working.
I cannot say I like the Apple Time Machine backup system that much. It did do exactly what it should have done. It did exactly what it should have done with no fuss.
I’d like a raid setup but that is in the future. For a home setup they are starting to look more reasonable. I have used them on servers and consider them essential on networks. They do require more planning than the $140 portable backup option for a home computer. I did have a drive fail once on the small IBM server I was running (RAID 5). Fortunately I had an identical disk waiting and it rebuilt OK.
Thanks for the article. I recommend working on the theory that 3 copies is ESSENTIAL. The portable backup working properly was a welcome present this Christmas.
Don’t you love it when autocorrect adds apostrophes to programs?
Martin,
Thanks for sharing your story. I did not mean to indicate that my current backup system is ideal. As I mentioned, I am rethinking the concept of RAID given the rabbit-like population of USB connected hard drives I have accumulated! :)
Bob
Not to make this a Mac vs PC, but you get what you pay for. Sure, it may seem like you’re saving money on the front end by buying a PC, but once you buy and install virus and malware protection, plus other software used for basic things, plus the time spent fiddling and optimizing and defragmenting and figuring out umpteen problems you’d be better off with a Mac.
“Buy once or cry twice”. It seems like you’re crying twice now. I used PC all of my life until about 2007 when I bought my first Mac. What you get is a well-thought-out, problem-free, more pleasant-to-use OS, hardware that is top quality and will last, pretty decent software included, no need to clog your system with anti-virus or malware software, etc. The list goes on and on…
After using Macs since then, I find it hard to believe that Windows actually has like 90% market share because Macs are so much more pleasant to use. Actually, I can see why they have 90% market share and it’s because folks like you think that the PC is the better value.
$5000? Nonsense! I just bought a new iMac 27″ with 3.4 Ghz intel i7 processor with 1 TB HD and 32 GB of ram for about $2100. I will be set for the next 5-7 years with reliable, quality equipment that I enjoy using, works well, makes backing up easy, and is almost a piece of art on my desk.
Value is hard to define, but for me, value consists of both monetary and other factors and the other factors outweigh monetary.
So, stop crying and be happy – buy a Mac,
Yep. My last PC COMPUTER that crushed after a year was ASUS that brand that Nasim boasted about. My wife’ still demanded a pc and got an hp that promptly crushed after a while too. We have system of latest Dell Laptops (i work for the govt) which crush almost daily. Part of my workday is to call my IT dept
Until I switched to all Mac at home and surprise surprise all the problems went away forever. People think macs are much more expensive but they are not and the cost of keeping replacing pc plus a frustration associated with it does not.
David,
I priced an Asus and a Mac with the same hardware at B&H. Macs are fine, but simply not worth the premium IMHO. Obviously, many disagree with me for a variety of sound reasons.
Bob
I would advice against using hardware RAID in home environment: if the RAID controller fails one may end up having fully functional hard drives and no way to read them.
If one knows unix-like operating systems a bootable linux CD or DVD can be handy: I’ve been able to save data from several friends’ computers by simply booting the Windows PC with the CD and then copying the data to an external hard drive.
A third, and last, note: if a hard drive is having problems one should stop using it instead of torturing it. If the data cannot be copied immediately elsewhere one should take the power and data cables off the disk.
At this point, I’m recommending RAID1 as it’s easy to recover all of your data from; worst case, you can just take the one working drive, plug it in anywhere, and read your data off of it. That said, I also want to add a reminder that a RAID array isn’t the same as a backup.
Also, Bob, RAID = redundant array of independent disks, not a random array.
Scott,
Thanks for pointing out the “random” error on my part. I knew it, but was thinking of another favorite disk-related acronym – “JBOD” – just a bunch of disks! I may switch to a Raid system, as the number of USB drives is problematic for Windows 7.
Bob
OK – add me to the paranoid list. I have had that oh too familiar stomach sinking feeling too often over the past 25ish years with MS. My first was a HP 486 with Windows 1.0.1b. My sleep-at-night system now is an external 4-drive NAS RAID-5 using Acornis to back up data and an OS image to it. A 2-drive SSD RAID-0 is used only for the OS and programs with an internal 6-drive RAID-10 data drive for everything else. The price of reliable 2 TB drives has dropped to a reasonable point that this is, for me, doable. The challenge was to find a case large enough to hold all the stuff. I do not keep a backup copy off site as this is not my livelihood; if it was, I would. However, the NAS is on the household network and is located in a totally separate part of the house.
My data drive has a directory called “Download” which has all of my downloaded software purchases and their current updates plus a copy of the email with the registration codes saved together in a directory named for that software. The “Download” directory is scheduled for incremental backups once a week with a new full back up once every 3 months. In case of a major PC failure the only DVDs needed are the OS, and then only if the C-Drive image does not work (haven’t had to test it yet – sound of knocking on wood), and MS Office.
The simplest solution is an iMac as time machine and bootcamp for booting into windows are both built in. Add some external drives and an SSD drive and the price does climb, so I understand why you went Windows….just as I did.
Here is how I tackled the situation as it throws in some cheap easy to setup storage. I have a big case with 7 drives but only 4 are relevant.
Drive 1: Boot drive is SSD. It’s a 64gb and too small really. Go for a 128gb at least.
2nd & 3rd drives are 2TB each and mirrored with a software mirror, the one built into Windows. It is not much slower than a hardware RAID, a lot easier to configure, and enables you to access the files while the RAID is rebuilding, something a hardware RAID doesn’t. if you have ever rebuilt a big hardware RAID you will know the pain of wondering if you will ever see your files again as they can take days, Additionally you can break a Windows software mirror easily and both drives have all the same data on board. If one drive fails the other will hopefully stay working long enough for me to replace it as sometimes drives from the same batch can fail close to each other! This drive is for my apps, and where my working files are.
Drive 4: A 2TB drive where I off load RAW from my camera.
My work flow is offload from my camera to drive 4, then copy the files to drive 2. Drive 3 is invisible due to the mirror.
Once I have output the finished photos I then send to a networked Synology. I use the 413J with the 4 drive RAID but you can easily do this with their one drive units. It has an excellent feature set and here is the best part…as I have another Synology, and the two do magic together. The Synology software enables you to set up boot up and shut down times, and schedule backups. The main unit is scheduled to start up when I come to work, and shut down when I close shop. But in the middle of the night both units boot, and a back up is done while I am asleep, then it emails me the results as to whether it was successful or not. The cheapest synology’s are about $150 on amazon and have the same feature set. Just add your own hard drive.
This may sound extreme to some but consider how much it would cost to get your data back and the price works out to be a bargain.
Btw I do not recommend working off the synology’s across the network as you would a normal server as the entry level ones i am using aren’t speed kings. The hire level models are better at this.
Read “higher level models” in the last line please. The joys of the iPad autocorrect
Hi Bob,
I think we are all a long way from where we would like to be in securing our data and our systems. Perhaps you could also do an article on ways to organise and trim the number of image files we keep. The accumulation of multiple copies of similar shots is an issue. Surely one way to manage data is to acquire less of it.
I used to keep thousands of images. I now delete images that do not quite work. My D800 generates largish files. I try to edit and remove as I go now. I shoot both RAW and JPG. The RAW go on the CF and the jpg goes on SD. I copy only the RAW files to the computer, the jpgs go on the iPad. I wish Nikon had better ways to manage files on cards. I delete files far more than I did, looking for images which would make the best of list.
Martin,
If you find the term, “pack rat” in the dictionary, you will likely see a picture of me! Deleting images is something I haven’t done a very good job of. In particular, I have some .PSD files that have a number of layers, some of which are copies of the base layer. Some of these can are upwards of 500MB! This wasn’t so bad when my I had 12MP files. With the D800, however, such multi-layered files can easily top 1GB. I need to weed more of my photos and collapse those multiple layers. Someday… :)
Bob
I have a PC with 24GB RAM and a fast i7 chip. It has a 120GB SSD as the boot drive, a 1TBx4 RAID 5 drive array and an extra 1TB drive. I use Acronis for backup to a Drobo 5. All my images are on the RAID array. All my configuration files, documents, spreadsheets, downloads and Outlook files (including registration info) are on the “extra” drive.
I am running out of space on the RAID (12% free) and have recently acquired a D800. I tried going through and deleting files but it takes too long and won’t make that much difference, so I have ordered some 3TB disks to replace the RAID array and the “extra” disk. I am currently tossing up whether to go with a RAID 10 array or stay with a RAID 5.
This will leave me with quite a few spare disks. One alternative that strikes me to deal with another buildup of file volume would be first to ensure my star ratings in Lightroom are consistent and then copy all images under say 3 stars to external drives from Lightroom (plus backups to other drives). The images would still then be available as Lightroom previews and accessible if required.
Murray,
The D800 does tend to create some monstrous file sizes in Photoshop. As I mentioned above, I, and I suspect many others, should probably be better regarding being better critics of our own files and getting rid of those that don’t pass the sniff test for being something worth keeping.
Bob
Bob
I’ve noticed the file sizes. They start off about 45MB. I saved one as a TIFF and got 200MB. I saved another as a TIFF after running a Photokit Sharpener action in Photoshop and got 700MB. It’s like processing 5×4 scans except the computers have improved out of sight since seven years ago. So I don’t think I’ll be keeping many files with layers – or else maybe create an action to flatten and save all files when I’ve finished with them.
I’ve been doing a lot of bracketing with the D3s with an eye to realistic HDR but with the increased dynamic range of the D800 I may no longer need to. I’m starting to use RawDigger to analyse for optimal exposure to help with this.
I’ve tried deleting existing files and don’t think I’m prepared to delete enough to make it worthwhile. But I’m expecting to do less bracketing, to delete much more after import & examination and only use Lightroom if possible to just keep the files as RAW. I’m hoping therefore that I won’t use more disk space with the D800 than I have been doing with the D3s. I’ll need to keep it under control when travelling, anyway.
Murray,
Since I got my D800, I have been a bit better at deleting the “non-keepers,” but still not as disciplined as I should be. I will be better at it in 2013! ;)
Bob
Nasim / Bob and to all photographers, Merry Christmas and happy and prosperous new year.
I saw good discussion about Mac Vs Windows in comments section which is not much related to backups or disk space in this article. Taking this opportunity, I would like to let you know my experience with different OS.
Mac’s are high performance with bug free but at higher cost. No need to mention about Windows OS used by masses with excellent MicroSoft support. With Windows, need to compromise with on-line virus (high when compared to IOS), too many companies, models and configurations to choose which is confusion to non IT professional.
Due to above cost factor and windows performance factor and confusion, I ended up with Ubuntu OS which is backed by Linux (Gnome) which is not much different than Apple’s IOS except it is open source and free. Following is some notes on Ubuntu.
1) Can be installed along with Windows as dual booting system (Even along with recent Windows 8)
2) Also, can be installed as application on top of windows but it is not real Ubuntu or Linux power.
3) Before installation, can try form CD itself without installation.
Current version is 12.10. 12.04 comes with LTS (long term support) but most stable as of today is 10.04 LTS. For photographers, Ubuntu comes with F-spot(10.04) or ShotWell (12.04) with Raw support and basic to intermediate enhancement but not for professionals Like photographylife.com’s team. Alternative to Photoshop is the most famous GIMP which is free again. Alternative to MS Office is google docs or Libre office or Oracle’s Open Office. When it comes to browsers, FireFox and Chrome runs excellent on top of Ubuntu (better than in windows in terms of presentation and resolution and startup time). Booting time → Beats windows and on par with IOS.
In summary,
Advantages –> In terms of performance as good as Apples IOS with same hardware configuration. Will definitely beat any high end windows configuration with reasonable configuration like I3 and 4 GB RAM. Highly secure for PC on-line attacks (as it is not windows file architecture). Runs along with windows (not loosing your favorite OS). And free. Different themes like unity, cinnamon etc (12.04 only). No need to mention, Linux is known for Graphics performance.
Disadvantages –> Got miscellaneous issues like any other open source(I think one can buy from Canonical who is guardian of Ubuntu). Light room and Photoshop has not released their bundle to Linux based open source OS.
Some quick links
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/install-desktop-long-term-support
http://www.ubuntu.com/support
various forums like http://ubuntuforums.org/. Just google your linux question for sure you will find your answer.
Estimated installation time –> less then 30 minutes if everything goes fine (90% of time, it will be clean install)
Note
1) if you are installing Ubuntu, please try it on your backup or secondary PC. Till your first try, I request not to install on your primary.
2) Recently Dell XPS is selling linux based laptop with Ubuntu as OS which costs around $1400. No need to invest this much money. Any decent PC with $500 worth is as good as any other configuration.
Bob, as you are IT guy, definitely worth to try on your new PC particularly backed by Solid State Drive.
There were other good Linux distributions like Fedora (From RedHat) or Linux Mint. However, Ubuntu has gained more popularity particularly with user interface, support and community.
All of my comments or notes is based on my personal experience.
Thanks,
Shak
Ditto,
I use a licenced version of Corel AfterShot Pro… and its as close to LR4 as one gets on Linux.
Plus comes with Noise Ninja…
Shak,
Having a Linux PC is one of the items on my list. I am familiar with Linux, and may indeed give it a shot on one of my boxes. Thanks for the information.
Bob
Brilliant post Bob!
I have been thinking of backing up my data since a year and have procrastinating it. Your post will now make me ‘run’!
Tarun,
Thanks. The faster the better! :)
Bob
Good advice Bob. Lived through the same experience than you since 1981 and loved every minute of it.
My wife and I change computers every five years and we each have two working configurations with back up hard disks that we back up manualy (we are retired and have time on our hands).
Hardly ever had a breakdown or virus infection but we have always had Norton and are very careful about how we proceed. Keep photos to the minimun and regularly discard old ones.
Our pbase account makes for an additional backup where we also prune old files when needed.
Thanks for the good advice, Peter
You are welcome, Peter. Despite the advertised threats of viruses by some wanting to profit from the fear, my PCs have always been safe thanks to Norton.
Bob
I’ve experienced two hard disk failures at home over 25 years so have this as my backup system:
I have 4 Macs in my family and all are automatically backed up with Time Capsule to a 2 x 3TB RAID-based NAS (Network Addressable Storage) system called DS213 from Synology. This cost me about $900 including drives a year ago in Europe and would be cheaper today as the drives were expensive then, following price increases due to floods in Thailand.
I also do a regular vault backup of my Aperture library on a separate but older Synology NAS. Synology has a loyal customer base and a great support forum for different backup scenarios.
I use a simple to use inventory program called Home Inventory, (see http://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/home_inventory_review) for a warts and all review, to store all purchasing and serial number information including scanned receipts and photos of hardware and boxed items. I back this up automatically to Dropbox. Been burgled 4 times unfortunately over 30 years and moved recently where I had to list everything by value for insurance. I store all email receipts and authorization codes in mail folders by merchant as well. Incidentally, Dropbox or equivalent can also be very useful for storing passport scans, driving, travel docs, etc.
To cater for fire or other total household catastrophe, I have considered buying two extra portable drives so I could swap them out to an off-site location (work) but will probably use Backblaze, which allows unlimited and automated storage in the Cloud for multiple computers for $60 a year. Probably same price as the external drives over 3 years (storage drives need to be upgraded every 3 years in my experience, possibly faster if you are a new D800 owner ;) but much more practical and reliable than manually swapping portable drives, especially for multiple PCs.
The great thing is I don’t spend much time on this setup and system thought adding all my gear and household items to the inventory program took 4 days but subsequent updates are much swifter – about three minutes a transaction including photo, a bit more if I need to do a manual scan. The rest is either automated or a couple of mouse clicks. Once a cloud-based backup is in place – must be automated and unlimited storage to meet my criteria – I should have all bases covered. The system described is Mac specific but the NAS and the principles are not.
Time capsule should read Time Machine …
Hi Bob !
I would like to buy a computer, could you please tell me wich model of Asus computer did you buy, wich screen, and wich solid state drive (SSD) ? I live in Austria and I’m pretty much ignorant about computers, so I want to go to a store and ask for what you are using. Greetings, Jorge.
Recomended configuration for home storage:
1. Computer with SSD (intel is safest) plus second large min. 2T drive. Primary storage
2. NAS. Fast storage my favorite is Synology for example 4x2T raid 5.
Backup and online access for data.
3. External hard drives for tercial storage of important data (photos)
—-
PS. Do not use internal raid.
Hi Bob,
One name your did not mention in listing the various backup manufacturers is OWC. I’ve used their various products for years and finf their equipment to be the best in terms of both pricing and reliability. They have all of the products,internal drives, external drives,Raid drives, SSDs to 1 TB, as well as optical drives and more. I’ve been using their products for 15 years and NEVER have a complaint.
Gordon,
I should have mentioned them. Thanks for raising this point.
Bob
I’ve had my feet in both Apple and Windows camps; early on I was an Apple Store Genius guy and am also Microsoft Certified and work in corporate IT. Early on, Macs were for power users but all that has changed as Apple is now a “consumer” company. I have a new model MacBook Pro with 2 SSDs and all the trimmings but rarely use it. Most Apple software is bloated and proprietary (iTunes, iPhoto etc) and Apple is always a couple generations back on their hardware. iMacs used to be power machines but just look at the new thin iMac, low specs, upgrades are totally impossible (you have to use a heat gun and suction cups to open one), and they are basically a mid-grade notebook jammed into a thin monitor.
I always build my own PCs and would take a PC any day over a Mac. Latest Corsair SSDs, i7 Ivy Bridge high end processor (not mobile like the Macs), 32 GB RAM, etc. Believe me, I’m no friend of Microsoft (not happy with Windows 8) but Windows 7 Pro x64 runs like a Ferrari. I also teach at a film school and nearly every film/video school now uses Windows PCs. Apple lost most of the film pros when they re-designed Final Cut Pro.
To the Mac fanboys who cry about PC Spyware and viruses etc, my Windows machines have never had any viruses/spyware etc and you don’t have to install anti-virus anti spyware; just sandbox your web browser (when web surfing, unknown sites) and any vulnerable web programs and your done. Most of us in IT use Sandboxie.
Also, Acronis is horrible and usually never works for backup. In IT we just use Future Systems Casper (cheap and powerful and can create the boot drive image from within Windows!), image our critical drives and the images work perfectly every time. You just have to remember to do the backups.
Apple could have been a great platform for the pros but by their own admission they are aiming for bubble gum chewing teens, seniors, music and app sales and people who don’t want to learn the correct way to use a PC. The Mac Pro has not been updated in years.
My two cents worth, if you are into high-level photography and video, Windows PC is the only way to go. I concur with Ivan above. If you go with a new PC (ASUS or your own build), I’d go with 32 GB RAM and disable the Windows swap file, SSD, tweak services and start-up programs, and make sure your new motherboard has onboard USB 3 and a Thunderbolt Port. Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. Bam.
Happy Holidays,
Thor
Hi. In my view, for a solid and stable windows environment one must consider these 3 areas of redundancy:
1. Physical Storage layer.
Here i would recommend a raidcontroller ala Areca or LSI Logic
Stick 3-4 256GB SSD drives in RAID5 for HW redundancy and good speed
2. Filesystem layer
For windows 7 i would just leave this as default, but make a automated backup of the image files/libraries to a Networked Attached Storage box on ure local LAN. Gigabit switches and a synology NAS box are really cheap today.
3. Application layer. Just skip backup of the system and OS. I never trust those backups anyway.. Just keep the ISO’s and serialnumbers on the NAS. Have a USB key with the OS on. Reinstall and 30mins later u have a brand new OS (besides the windows updates tho.. i wish there was a sp2 of w7…)
Merry C
Thor (Not the same Thor as the poster over ;)
Continued..
LSI Logic 9625 or Areca 1880 8 port Raid Controller
4xCrucial M4 256GB SSD @ RAID5
4x3TB HDD @ RAID5
Will give u ca. 700GB Fast storage with over a 800MB/s in semi-random IO performance +
9TB of fast Sequencial storage performance = DUMP drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148443
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118159
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108122
Thor:
“Have a USB key with the OS on. Reinstall and 30mins later u have a brand new OS.”
Yes, that takes care of the OS, but it is the reinstallation of all of the applications then their updates and personal working settings that takes days to get “right” again. That’s the real pain!
Cal
Cal: True and u have a good and valid point. Tho i dont use that many apps myself. I only use the office package, lightroom, photoshop ++. Ill take that pain anyday since this pc/os breakdown happenes that seldom anyway. I cannot take the chance that the backup will work (it never does ;))
br Thor B
As I mentioned, reloading and configuring my applications (after forgetting some of the finer points of where they store files) of having to get a new PC.
Good article Bob! PCs are a big part of digital photography and sometimes we tend to overlook this simple fact. I’ve seen photographers working with state-of-the-art optical equipments and junk Pentium machines – not the ideal working environment! The importance of having an up n running computer can’t be overstated just as the usefulness of keeping up with your back-up schedule. For me, regular monitoring of my HDD(s) for data integrity is also important. After the Thailand flood, things have never been the same as far as mechanical storage is concerned – too many faulty drives with high cost and limited warranty! Luckily it’s still possible to set-up a moderate NAS/file server for your important files within a reasonable budget. And with introduction of higher res camera sensors, 4K displays and so on – one thing is sure that your file size is only going larger!
Anyway, at the end of the day, digital photography and personal computing goes hand in hand sharing every improvement as well as shortcoming that comes through the common pipeline called technology! While we have D800s with monstrous high-res sensors, we also have PCs that can boot up with 3TB+ drives and tablets with 2048×1536(Pixels) display!
Keep up the good works guys and a happy new year :)
iFlame,
Indeed the link between a high end camera and a speedy, reliable processor and storage capabilities is becoming stronger all the time. And another reason for the growing popularity of online or Cloud-based storage options. Who wants to be out their entire collection of digital photos in the event of a house fire or other disaster?
Happy New Year,
Bob
Interesting read. I have been using two dedicated OS drives in the PC computer with Acronis doing “duplicate the disc” about once a month with no problems. Another OS disc is external and swapped in occasionally for a spare or if Acronis should fail me as I am attempting to duplicate my OS disc. If someone steals my computer, I will still have all of my documents, serials, etc. on the spare OS drive. As I build a new computer from time to time, the previous computer is fully functional, should I need it. I think raid arrays are silly. Have you not heard about Drobo going bad and ruining everything? What about a HD slowly going bad and corrupting individual pics? You would be spreading those corrupted pics to the other drive thru the raid array and not even know it until you wanted that pic again. I have about seven 500 GB HD’s in a shoebox, also the same thing is duplicated but accessible because each HD is in it’s own external HD enclosure. Also, I have a HD or two more in the computer with a running backup in a HD enclosure connected to a USB port. As I add pics in the computer, I add them to the connected backup. When the HD is full, one goes into the shoebox from out of the computer and a fresh HD is installed and a new enclosure with HD is connected. (All of those enclosures are readily available and can be connected vis USB as needed.) I wish I had a tall PC where I could put all of those drives to be always ready but not that important. The power supply would fry! I use 500GB drives. Yes. Less pics to lose when one goes away.
Thank you, I have just been looking for information approximately
this topic for a while and yours is the greatest I’ve found out so far. However, what about the bottom line? Are you certain in regards to the source?