back when email was new and exciting, 2MP digital cameras cost $600 and the word google only meant a very large number (yes kids - google actually had another definition before) i had a handful of backup plans with girls i knew from school. you know - the kind where you'd say "if i'm not married by so and so time in the future, we should hook up and get married then." of course it was silly, but i think it gave each of us a false sense of security because even though you weren't good enough for each other at that time, you were convinced that the impending frustrations of dating and disappointment could lead you back to a pretty decent person later on when the time was right...you know, the "backup plan".
of course, that isn't the backup plan i'm referring to today. today, the back-up plan means file management outside of your computer. people ask me what i do with my digital photo files after a project is complete, how do i manage them before, during and after a shoot and what do i do to backup my photos.
in a time where external hard drives are affordable and where services such as "offsite" storage servers are easily available, there is no excuse why you shouldn't back-up your photos. it may take a little bit of work to maintain and go through it, but anyone who has ever crashed their hard drive can tell you that backing up your files is well worth the effort. trying to restore files (even if you could do it yourself) can be a headache and the realization of files permanently lost can be a huge disappointment.
so what do i do? for photoshoots, i currently go through the same 4 steps:
1. purchase a dedicated SD or CF card specifically for the shoot. don't add or overwrite an old card. and once the shoot is done, don't add or overwrite this card for the next shoot. by doing so, this acts as a first backup and will always be your storage of all straight out of camera original "master" files.
2. upload all files to my computer, where the original master files will be mixed with the retouched/edited images. both versions of the photos will be stored on the computer's hard drive.
3. once the project is complete, all master files along with the retouched/edited images are burned on DVD's as high res full sized jpeg files. this acts as the second backup of original master files but is essentially the one and only backup of the edited images. as USB memory sticks become less expensive, i may choose to use them instead of DVDs, but for the time being, DVDs are far more economical though burning files onto them can be time consuming.
4. DVD's are physically stored off site to ensure they are not damaged in case something happens at my home office.
when it comes to personal projects, i don't necessarily go through this much detail. i typically reuse cards or add onto them and i don't really concern myself with backing up photos that i know aren't good shots. of the selected photos, i'll be sure to have at least the edited version and their master file on some sort of external source (i.e. DVD or USB) that is separate from the computer's hard drive.
some may think that this is overkill and that this redundancy is a bit much for file management. i personally haven't had a problem with losing files from a crashed computer, but i have heard enough horror stories from friends and colleagues to scare me into making sure i don't lose any of my work. the steps above are purely my own personal method of storage backup of digital photos - in no way am i promoting this to be the "right way" of doing so. as mentioned earlier, there are a host of other ways to backup your work (even facebook or flickr are adequate) and all i really wanted to get across is to make sure you recognize the importance and do as the rappers tell the girls and "back that $h!t up".
de jesus heraus.
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