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Thread: Photo Backup

  1. #1

    Photo Backup

    What's everyones favorite method of backing up photos?

    I tend to just keep all my photos in the 'My Pictures' area of my Windows machine..and try to burn to DVDr or copy to a flash drive ever so often. The problem is keeping track of what's already backed up. At one point I was adding a 'backed up to dvd-r' tag to the photos I've backed up, but after one session of forgetting to do that.. that got derailed. Also, that I can't tag the movies from the camera in the same fashion.

    I've been pondering the idea of using something like Dropbox, paying for extra space, and just let it keep my Pictures folder synced.. but that relies on a monthly payment which would exceed the cost of me doing DVDr or flash drive backups. It has the advantage of being off site, but has the disadvantage that if my account ever got hacked then all that stuff could go bye-bye.

    I'm thinking about starting from scratch. Find a system (method) that works, and start burning to DVDr again so that I can accurately and consistently name the DVDr's for ease of cataloging.. and finding a method of doing the same on my PC so I know what's already on disc. I was just curious if you guys have a favorite software for helping with this?

  2. #2

    Re: Photo Backup

    I'd like to hear what other people do too. Currently, I manually back things up but would like to find out more about auto backup.

    All my photos are cataloged according to year, then within each "Year" folder are folders titled according to the event and date. For example, "Nephew's graduation 5-1-12" or "Rim Camping 5-20-12", etc.

    This way, all I have to do is find the last folder that was copied to my backup and start from there.

    Everything gets backed up to 2 external hard drives. One lives in my fireproof office safe which is inside a larger fireproof gun safe. The other lives on my desk and is sometimes plugged into the computer and sometimes not.
    -------------------------
    Steve
    1993 4runner, SAS, 3.0L, Auto Tranny
    2007 4runner, stock. For now.

  3. #3

    Re: Photo Backup

    I use Picasa. Not really for back up but just to store pictures. I've got an Android app that makes it really easy to add or make new albums. This makes it really easy to "back up" images. My Picasa account has about 12 gb of images but it uses some type of compression so I don't know the number of images.

    Currently I pay very little for the Picasa and it allows me to upload full size images and I can buy, download or share any picture or album I want even from my phone or while away from home.

    I used to take most of my pictures with one of 3 digital cameras. Downloading to the PC was a chore and didn't get done all the time. Now most of my pictures are taken with my phone so it's easy. I still put stuff on the computer and burn to a cd but it's not as often as I feel good with what I've got. Like Robinhood, CD's go in the fireproof safe in the gun safe.

    FWIW I don't use thumbdrives or external hard drives for back up photo storage. Actually I'd don't really use my PC for it either.

  4. #4

    Re: Photo Backup

    I name all of my folders similar to Steve, only with the date first so it puts the most recent pictures at the top of the list. (Ex: 2012-09 - Pismo Trip).

    I backup my pictures to an external hard drive about twice a year and I'm currently looking for a better method. I have enough monthly expenses so I will probably avoid paying for storage and instead put the 2 hard-disk NAS that was loaned to me into action. Then perhaps once a year I will sync it with an external hard drive and keep it at a friend's house in case I burn my house down.

  5. #5

    Re: Photo Backup

    I was also considering some time of NAS solution. Part of my wanting to do that is just my nerdy side though.

    I think for the time being I'm going to give Picasa another shot. I've, briefly, used it in the past just as a picture manager, but didn't give enough time to really get a feel for it. It has a backup feature that keeps track of which files have been backed up: http://support.google.com/picasa/bin...n&answer=11068 Just found that via a Google search.

  6. #6

    Re: Photo Backup

    Quote Originally Posted by paddlenbike
    (Ex: 2012-09 - Pismo Trip).

    Then perhaps once a year I will sync it with an external hard drive and keep it at a friend's house in case I burn my house down.
    2012-09 - Pismo Trip? Does this mean you're going to Pismo?

    As for the friends house if you're looking at me you might as well ask someone else. I'm too likely to accidentally burn my junk down.

  7. #7

    Re: Photo Backup

    Quote Originally Posted by 4x4mike
    As for the friends house if you're looking at me you might as well ask someone else. I'm too likely to accidentally burn my junk down.
    But he'll still have his NAS and you guys probably won't burn your houses down at the same time...probably.
    -------------------------
    Steve
    1993 4runner, SAS, 3.0L, Auto Tranny
    2007 4runner, stock. For now.

  8. #8

    Re: Photo Backup

    In this thread we went over a little bit about backing up data. I'll reiterate here.

    I recommend SyncToy from Microsoft. It's free, and works wonders for me. The basic idea here is you setup "left" and "right" folders, these being your primary (left) and backup (right). You can use the "Synchronize" method, where when you change a file on either side, it effects the other side. Or you can use the "Echo" method; this is primarily for a backup. Basically anything you do on the primary will be mirrored on the backup. SyncToy is schduleable too, although I personally have never set this up. The how-to for scheduling is in the help files.

    Once you run SyncToy, it scans both designated drives/folders and looks for changes. It presents you with a list of pending changes, and once you give it the OK, it will do it's thing.

    I use this in several ways:
    1. I backup my entire user folder (C:\users\Jason) with some exclusions like the hidden "AppData" folder and all "dat" files (these always cause an error, it's a system file which can't be copied). This backup goes from my primary hard drive to a 2TB WD external HD.

    2. iTunes backup. My primary folder for my iTunes media is on the aforementioned 2TB external HD. I back that folder up to a second 160GB WD Passport drive.

    3. Parent's pictures backup. This one is tricky. I setup a shared folder on my parent's computer and mapped it as a network drive on my PC. Over the network I backup their pictures folder on to my 2TB external.

    My final recommendation would be to find an offsite storage solution. Finding one with enough space can be tricky, but Picasa may be a good route, or even 4Shared offers 15 free gigs. If you go the 4Shared route, you could probably sign up for multiple accounts, and make zip files of each folder you have (Pismo 2012, Pismo 2011, etc) and upload those until you hit 15 gigs on each.

    I hope this helps! If you do go with this route, make sure you download the correct SyncToy for your version of windows... 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64).
    2012 Tacoma 4x4 6spd TRD, e-locker, LT265/75R16E Michelin LTX A/T2s, Stubbs HD-SKOs
    2003 Taco-was K.I.A. 4/31/12-RIP

  9. #9

    Re: Photo Backup

    SyncToy sounds like the same type of thing as WinMerge. I used WinMerge yesterday to do exactly that... compare my cameras SD card contents with that of what I'd already copied over to the PC. We also use a program called 'Beyond Compare' at work, which sounds like both of these as well (I haven't personally used it).

    I think CrashPlan is in my future. 12$/month for unlimited backup for up to 10 devices. My friend at work uses it, and loves it. He had Carbonite before, but didn't like it very much. I still need to double check to see if it counts cell phones as those devices, or if it only backs up files on PC. I know youcan access your files from a phone, I just don't know that it will backup your phone FROM the phone.

  10. #10

    Re: Photo Backup

    I keep a set of recent photos on my laptop, these are automatically backed up daily at my office using Time Machine. Because my laptop only has 250gb of space (SSD) the majority of my photos are on an external drive at my office. For backup I burn them on to DVDs and keep those copies at my house, this way if either location burns down or if I loose a drive I still have a backup copy.

    It would be great if I could back them up online, but when hundreds of Gb of images are involved it gets pretty expensive. For people on PCs you might want to look into Jungle Disk, it will sync your files to either Rackspace's cloud or Amazon S3.

    - Matt
    2000 4Runner Sport / 4x4 / 5spd / E-locker / SS 1.2 / 265x75x16 Bighorns / ARB Prado / HD-SKO

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