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Showing content with the highest reputation since 08/04/2026 in Posts
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Wow! You must be reading really old threads. Things have changed. That's fine. Carbon Copy / Back Blaze is also "fine." The issue that I have with Cloud Services is people need to read the fine print. At it's core, the "Cloud" is just someone else's computer. They handle A LOT of data, and aren't meant to be dumping grounds. So they tend to "Mirror" what is on your internal HD, and if you go deleting files to make room on your computer, the Cloud Services tend to give you 30 days to copy the files they have on their Server back to your computer. IF you go past that 30 day window, and leave the files deleted, the Cloud Service WILL delete the file(s) on their Servers, and that's what trips people up. Some Cloud Backups can be treated as dumping grounds, you just need to pay for it. The problem is, not all of them do...so you have to shop around. Also, just like the PBS Station lost access to 50TB of data from the last 70-something years, all because the Cloud Service went out of business, so there's that. Nothing is completely Bullet-Proof. Having a Cloud Service should be part of an overall plan, not your sole place to keep everything in a "single proverbial basket." It has it's place. If you have a software package that dumps one EHD to the other, it's fine. Just as long as you do it on a regular basis. Or you can drag-and-drop the files. It's really the same thing. Some software packages will only copy over files that have changed within a certain time-frame, after the 1st full backup / clone. Again, it's paying attention...which people often fail to do. You need to read the instructions. You need to know what is being Mirrored and all the things that go with it. You need to be aware of ALL your settings and not assume anything. If you want instantaneous Mirroring, I'd recommend investing in a 2-Bay NAS, in a RAID 1 Configuration (or ZFS Equivalent.) Better yet, buy a 4 or 5 bay NAS and populate it. But that is expensive to do since HDs and RAM these days are not cheap due to all the stupid Data Center / AI Craze. The downside to RAID 1 is if you delete the file, the "Mirrored" copy on the 2nd HD is also deleted instantaneously. A Hardware RAID1 protects you from a single failed hard drive. Replace the failed drive, rebuild the RAID1 and it's like it never happened. A RAID 1 doesn't protect you from yourself, if the file is deleted or somehow corrupted, it's the exact same way on the "other" HD. Mostly Automation. It also needs to be configured correctly, and you have to know what it's doing, where the files are going and what time-frame it does things. Yep. Out of all the hard drives I've replaced as a IT Professional for the last 33+ years, Seagates are the Hard Drives I've replaced the most. They are also pretty cheap, so manufacturers LOVE using them. I've had Seagate HDs die on me, and one even physically SMOKED in front of my eyes. That goodness I didn't have anything important on that drive. So in a nutshell...yeah, I really do not recommend Seagate HDs. As to what I recommend and use? Western Digital 7200 RPM "Black" Drives for the traditional spinning HDs. Samsung SSD Drives for the other side of the fence. The problem with SSD Drives is the cost per megabyte vs traditional spinning Hard Drives. They also can't be used once and then stored in a closet for a few years. The cells that hold the data NEED an electric charge in order to keep the data intact. Otherwise your data can go "Poof!" People love buying a bunch of EHDs, backing stuff up to them / cloning them, then putting them in a drawer somewhere for years. You can do that with Traditional Spinning HDs, NOT SSD DRIVES or other Flash Media Based Drives. So if you are "Archiving," it's better to go with your typical EHD. But for usage inside your computer or a EHD that is always hooked up? Sure, I love SSD drives, especially the 1TB or 2TB variety, which are affordable. Transferring data is SO much faster. But 4TB and 8TB versions? I have better things to blow my money on. That's what I do. Damien and I have a different opinion about this. He likes working from his internal drive, then backing up, I'm in a similar situation where I like keeping my 1TB in my iMac no more than 75% full, otherwise performance takes a huge hit. Whether that's a Internal HD OR External HD. Macs do not differentiate between the two. If you have a EHD that's 90% full (or more,) your Mac is going to run slower. Now, I am also not the type of person to buy Hard Drives that are the $79.99 Special at some box store. I also DO NOT RECOMMEND ANY "GREEN" OR "ECO FRIENDLY" DRIVES. PERIOD! Those drives drop-like-flies ALL OF THE TIME. Seriously, you aren't saving the planet by buying one, because if it dies, which it will, and it's not recycled properly, it's just going to end up in a damn landfill anyway, polluting what you were trying to protect. I had a customer that had a set of Western Digital Green Drives that were used for backup: They had 7 WD Green External HDs. The five you see in that photo ALL DIED and the remaining two died about 2-3 weeks later. 100% failure rate with "Green" HDs for this former customer of mine. (New Office Manager, she brought in her own people, but I'm digressing...) My Main External HDs are Big / Beefy / Suck up Power and are "Enterprise Grade" which are Thunderbolt Based; my 2017 27" Intel iMac computer is 40Gbps, since my iMac has Thunderbolt 3. This way my 12TB External 7200 RPM G-Drive acts like an Internal HD. The drive NEVER moves on my Desk and it's powered off when not in use. I would never-ever-ever use a cheap USB 3.0 External Drive to work off of. Too risky. Oh, don't think you are saving THAT much power with "Green" HDs, that's just marketing. I do have a smaller 4TB G-Drive that is USB 3.0, which is dedicated for Time Machine Backups ONLY. Speaking of which... You do not want to share your Time Machine Drive with any other data. Keep your Data / Photos / .psd files, whatever on a SEPARATE LARGE EXTERNAL DRIVE. It is QUITE DANGEROUS to have a Time Machine Drive Backup files that are on itself, even if they are on another partition. Just don't do it. Here is what my computer looks like, well this is a VERY OLD Photo and I have a different desk at this point. But you get the idea. My 4TB USB 3.0 G-Drive that is used for Time Machine only is on the right, and the 12TB G-Drive is on the left. (They don't make my G-Drive any more, here is the modern G-DRIVE 12TB G-DRIVE PROJECT Thunderbolt 3 External Hard Drive equivalent.) Not pictured is the drive I dump stuff to from the 12TB. As to what I use, they don't make my drive anymore so here is the modern equivalent: WD 10TB Black Gaming Drive that I installed in an external case. They don't make my case anymore, but here is one that I would use if I were buying it today: Oyen Digital Novus USB Type-C Rugged 3.5" HDD Enclosure. See a theme here? They don't make the stuff I use anymore, and my stuff WORKS FINE all these years later. Why do I not just buy an off-the-shelf External HD? Because often, you have no idea what type of drive you are getting, and I'm a bit paranoid on what my data is stored on. So I build my own external drives. This way I'm guaranteed to know that I'm not buying a stupid cheap Green / Eco-friendly drive that's gonna die on me. It takes about 10 Minutes or so for me to open the external case, mount the hard drive, put everything back together, and then partition / format the drive on my iMac. Before you ask, why only 10TB with a 12TB Main Backup Drive? Because I only have about 6TBs of Data on that drive and if I do use more, I will just buy a 2nd 10TB Drive and split the main 12TB G-Drive in half. I have a "Business" Folder (For when I shot Weddings and such,) and a "Personal Folder" for my Vacation Photos and other "Personal Things." I've gotten over the whole "Photographer" thing and quite frankly, sick of cameras and editing the stupid photos. I HATE-HATE-HATE editing. So now I just photograph things while on Vacation, and my wife bugs me over the years to edit the damn photos so I can make her photo books each year for Christmas. Speaking of which, I really need to work on 2022's photos. (I think, or is it 2021?) The 3-2-1 Backup Method. 3 Copies of your important files on 2 different storage mediums and 1 kept off-site / cloud. The storage mediums can be two different hard drives. Basically, you want a data-loss situation being more of a time-suck and PITA than anything, NOT SOMETHING THAT IS EARTH-SHATTERING OR GETS YOU IN A LAWSUIT. If things were to go completely sideways / Ka-Plooey, you should be fully up and running within 24-48 hours. If you are losing months / years of data that you will never get back, or can't get a good working backup, you are screwed. Speaking of which, it is also EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO TEST YOUR BACKUPS!! I can't tell you how many times I've had to perform voodoo-chants and other incantations on customer's servers with backups that have failed and they didn't know about it. They just assumed that since they were getting "The Nightly Backup was Successful" messages that everything was good. Turns out it wasn't. One customer lost about a 10 months or so of data, maybe it was a year? Anyway, they had to re-input all their lost data by hand, which took months and they had to hire a temp to do it, which cost even more money. Talk about a nightmare. Other customers went out of business in this situation. Why? People / Business that you owe money to have no problem re-invoicing you. But if you can't do the same for clients that OWE YOU MONEY, well...you aren't getting paid. In addition, DIGITAL ROT IS A VERY REAL THING, and those CDs / DVDs that you made 20 years ago...the data could have gone "Poof" and there isn't anything there. Same thing with SSD Drives, you need to plug them in at least once a month, and use them, even if it's just poking around. Those data cells need power to keep retaining data.1 point
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I managed to double click one and that works. I worked for several hours yesterday trying to get it to work. I was thinking that after I selected my photo that the camera raw button became active. I'm currently going back through Bridge, I'm starting module 4, because I've been away from editing pics etc. for over a year and I was just getting started then. Hubby's health has taken up my time. If I double click a raw file now in the filmstrip, camera raw opens, so I'm apparently good. I made a few tweaks earlier to my device and unistalled and reinstalled Bridge. I have no idea what fixed it. Thanks for your time, i'ts appreciated.1 point