Posts tagged backup

Online storage shopping…

Don't Panik

The problem about ever increasing mega-pixel camera counts and media (including HD video) is that the disk space is getting smaller and smaller each day. The added complication is when you have more than one user trying to work on the same set of images at the same time. This becomes an issue with local storage hence the need for networked storage so that you have less issues with trying to sync two or more working sets of raw, tagged, marked-up or processed images. So, the result is that my dual-drive network storage is running out of space and expandability.

Before I go further, “online” storage in my terminology means always-on, but it’s on the local network, not in the cloud or on the internet. Keeping a large server or PC is not cost effective (not to mention power, heating and noise issues) for home users or even home-office users where the number of users or devices is fewer than 5.

So, what do I need in my online storage? Considering it’s not going to be primary backup (my backup machine is a dedicated PC with 2.5TB of storage), I think a RAID setup is fine. You can read here where it says smart SOHO people don’t do raid. Anyways, I’m also looking for a 4-drive unit. It also needs to serve iTunes as well as provide network and iSCSI fileshares. In addition, I’ll need it to able to handle the small number (and growing slowly) of IP cameras I have littered around the house. This limits me to several NAS models but right now, I’m looking specifically at a QNAP unit.

More soon…

Travel Photography – Card to Disk

Photography

I think it’s safe to say that most people would like to travel. Most people would also love to travel abroad. If you love traveling and photography means that you’ll definitely bring along a camera. If you really enjoy traveling and really are into photography, you will probably end up taking a lot of photos. You’ll also wake up earlier and stay out longer.


Back in the old days where photos (not images) were captured on chemicals, the average storage capacity was thirty-six photos. If you lucked-out, you could sometimes get 37 before the rewind kicks in. Rewind? WTF? I remember lugging forty rolls of film to Spain. It was estimated at that time that I’ll shoot on average 2 rolls a day. This is to negate out time spent traveling between destinations (we almost always self-drive), chilling out (hey, you need to take a break and enjoy your time too), recovering from jet-lag and so on. I digress. Fast forward ten years and I can now have 630, yup, over six-hundred photos (21-megapixel RAW images) on my 16Gb CF card. Only that I tend to shoot a lot more and more little things get shot, food, street signs, mundane things, etc. Then came HD video. So unless you’re super rich, buying twenty 16Gb CF cards is not the solution.

My travel buddy has always been Breeze Systems Downloader Pro (DLPro). I also use it for wedding and other large shoots coupled with several card readers. Today’s multi-core computers can handle quite a bit of simultaneous downloads. So far, I average 16MB/sec per CF (8Gb SanDisk Extreme III) with five SanDisk All-in-one USB card readers downloading simultaneously into a striped disk array. Not very fast, but very convienent. I can go shower, have lunch, nap while the download is running. I’ve tried those image tanks or similar devices. Never worked out for me. Some were horribly slow, others just had poor UI and with the costs of today’s disks drives and netbooks, it makes sense to go with that route. For trips where I’m with a rental car (i.e. Australia or the US), I’ll normally take my full-size (14″) notebook but trains, backpacks and mountains don’t really agree with heavy notebooks.

For travel, I’m using DLPro to download from a card reader into two hard drives. Here’s my typical desktop configuration (Quad-core, 8Gb RAM, etc) so I won’t be configuring it to show thumbnails on my Mini9 for example.

Downloader Pro basic job-code, download preferences, IPTC keywords, etc.

Downloader Pro Back-up Plugin allows downloads to be replicated onto a second or even third storage location. My Wedding shoots get backed up immediately to a NAS this way. So here, mine goes to the NAS drive immediately. For my Mini9, I’ll configure it to go to the second hard drive.

You can launch multiple instances of DLPro, hence the beauty of this solution. My Atom powered Mini9 is going to choke on multiple card readers so I stick with one reader for now. I can’t wait for the dual-cores though. For now, weight is the main factor so have to make do with the tools at hand. More to come.

Seagate Free Agents

Safe-storage

Photography

With the explosion of Digital cameras, digital video recorders, iTunes, MP3 players, Youtube and more, storage of digital media is going to be very important, if not downright critical. How many people do you know who really backup what digital media files they have? It doesn’t need to be photos or videos. I know this entry is filed under Photography but digital media can mean documents and spreadsheets as much as photos and video. It can also be your digital audio collection.

Primarily, the backup we’re talking about is just a second copy of your information somewhere else. Where? Well, anywhere other than your PC is good. I don’t agree much with same PC backup (and generally, many users can’t tell the difference between physical drives and partitions, etc). So the question is where and how to store the backup.

WHERE?
The most simple location is probably very ubiquitous, the USB drive (aka thumb drive, usb stick, etc, etc). With drive capacities at 32Gb and beyond, and at affordable prices, it makes is ideal for users with limited amount of information. My parents for one can do with a 4gb USB drive. If you have more stuff to backup, get a portable or external hard drive. Here are some that I know of that users have had good experiences with: Western Digital MyBook Essentials or Seagate FreeAgent Go if you want something portable. For larger disk capacity, Western Digital Essential, Home or Studio or Seagate’s FreeAgent Xtreme make good buys. For heavier disk storage and on a networked environment (like me), you can go with a Network Storage Appliance (NAS). I recommend QNAP’s TS-209 or Synology’s DS-207. Those on a tighter budget can opt for DLink’s DS-323 or single drive versions of the QNAP and Synology models I mention previously. However, those require a bit more know-how to setup and manage. Me, I run a custom built NAS which is actually a dual-core box (speed doesn’t matter) with 8-SATA disk ports (these matter, RAID is not required) and 4GB RAM (this also matters). Read the full entry to see how it is setup.

HOW
This is as important as where because if you don’t store your backup properly, you’d find yourself in trouble when you need the backup. Generally, most people can get by with weekly or even monthly backups. We aren’t large corporations needing daily or hourly backups so a week or so is good for 99% of home users. Some probably can get by with once a month. If using a portable hard drive, make sure you keep that in a safe place. I’m not going into backup software but because I don’t use them myself — primarily, my goal is to mirror (copy all) the data across to another disk. I use Acronis TruImage to backup the system drive but applications can be re-installed, data can’t so my focus here is on data. Firstly, ensure your data is stored logically and in an organized drive. This makes backing up easy. My favorite tool is robocopy. It works very reliably, and the ability to monitor folders for changes is invaluable. I use robocopy to copy from my network PCs directly to the backup server regularly. If you want a prettier utility, there’s Allways Sync.
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Long term memory loss

Photography

In research independently commissioned, 63% of digital camera owners risk losing a lifetime of memories as they opt for saving images on a computer or printing images using an inkjet printer at the expense of obtaining true quality prints. For the 39% of those surveyed who rely on storing images on a PC there comes a strong warning from computer experts who pinpoint the potential risk of hardware failure and data loss. Computer consultant Adam Olliffe says: “The hard drive is a mechanical device prone to failure. Technology over recent years has concentrated on squeezing more and more data onto the same disk surface area.”
Adam Olliffe added: “When it does fail all data is then lost with no chance of retrieval. Businesses will always consider data backup as a crucial part of their IT infrastructure, however most home users will not address this issue until it is too late.” Alarmingly, 81% of those who regularly saved images on a PC did not have any form of back-up. A further concern is for the 24% of those surveyed who print images using an inkjet printer.
So, backup, backup, backup!

River