Backup Workflow

[Doughman]

[Brian]

The easiest way to backup your images, is to first figure out a Folder & File Structure that makes sense to you. Treat your backup devices as large file cabinets, each containing separate "Drawers" and Folders, etc. Organize the crap out of your existing files if you haven't done so already. Cull-Cull-Cull!! You do not need 75 Raw Photos of your Lunch from 5 years ago. When that's complete, we can talk about hardware. Remember, we need to approach things logically.

A 1TB external and a 5TB External is a good place to start. Creating a "Pool" of Hard Drives is something called RAID, which stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. In a nutshell, a RAID consists of two or more IDENTICAL Hard Drives working towards a common goal. Each of these "goals" are known as Levels.

I will warn you RAID is expensive, no matter how you slice it, since you are purchasing multiple identical hard drives, and not just your basic run-of-the-mill External HDs either. Buying hardware that is designed for RAID and the software to run it makes more sense. Usually people buy a RAID NAS (Network Attached Storage) or an External HD that has two or more HDs in it. For the majority of folks, there are three common types of RAID:

• RAID Level 0 or RAID0: Multiple HDs act as one big Hard Drive. This is the fastest RAID of the bunch. Downside, no redundancy. If one HD fails, the whole RAID0 setup fails. RAID0 is great to be used as a cache drive when editing video, due to the performance of RAID0. Bear in mind, there is no performance boost when using SSD / Flashed Based Media. If you want a performance boost from a RAID 0, you are using traditional spinning hds.
   
• RAID Level 1 or RAID1: Drive Mirroring. When a file or any bit of data is written / removed from one HD, it is instantaneously copied / deleted from the other HD. For the majority of folks, they usually go with this option as it's pretty simple to setup. The downside to this setup, if any bit of data is corrupted or deleted on one HD,  that corruption is carried over to the 2nd HD immediately. So if you screwed up and deleted the wrong folder, you are SOL and are looking at extreme data recovery, which is expensive. Good news with RAID1 is if one HD fails, you have the other to retrieve your data from. That's the original intent of RAID1.
  
  Again, RAID1 is REDUNDANCY, not a backup method. All you are doing is preparing for one of the Hard Drives to physically fail, not to cover your arse if something were to get corrupted or deleted.
   
• RAID Level 5 or RAID5: This is the most common in servers with my commercial clients. There are others, like RAID6 and RAID10, but to keep things simple we will stick with RAID5. RAID5 is kinda like the combination of RAID0 and RAID1; which is three or more hard drives act in unison as one big HD. If one drive fails, the other two pick up the slack and keep going. If TWO hard drives fail in a RAID5, the RAID fails. RAID5 is really meant for businesses, with Servers that have large Database Files that need to be accessed. Most of your basic computers only do RAID 0 or RAID 1 and going beyond this level is just a waste of time for me to type out.  

When it comes to a backup strategy, the 3-2-1 Method is standard practice and has been around for decades.

Three copies of your data files...

...on Two Different Storage Mediums...

...One of these Mediums is to be kept off-site.

What two different Mediums? It could be Two Separate HDs, or a HD and a Cloud Backup, or a Tape and HD, etc. I wouldn't bother with DVDs as Digital Rot is a very real thing. So unless you are buying Archival Grade DVDs, you are really playing with fire. What is Digital Rot?

The layers on the Disc Media that house your data, all the 1's and 0's that make up the little bits of data, which make up the files themselves, start to degrade over time. In essence, your data files go "Poof." This process usually doesn't happen for a few years, maybe a decade or more, but this isn't a 100% thing. I've seen DVDs that people store their precious memories on, only to discover that the discs wont read in a few years. Others, have no issues trying to read something that is 15 years old. It's all a crap-shoot, with no real predictability. In any case, I don't recommend using DVDs to backup anything long-term.

The Cloud could also be utilized as a different Storage Medium and also be the "Offsite" location. Bear in mind, the "Cloud" is just someone else's Computer/Server and things can go wrong. Also, when it comes to Cloud, you need to read the fine-print. Some Cloud Services will only store your files/folders if they are also on the source computer. If you try to free up space by deleting stuff, the Cloud Service will only keep those files for about 30 Days or so, and then they will be deleted from their Servers. This helps keeping them from becoming proverbial "Dumping Grounds" of files and data. So again, if you do sign up for a Cloud Service, read the fine print and fully understand on what you are signing up for.

Now if you have made it this far, I'm sure you are wondering on what to buy, right? Buying stuff is fun!! Organizing Files and Photos and deleting stuff is so BORING!!!

Remember how I said RAID is expensive? Here is a external HD that has beefy Enterprise-Grade HDs and would be one that I would purchase:

SanDisk Professional G-RAID 2 36TB 2-Bay RAID Array (2 x 18TB, Thunderbolt 3 / USB 3.2 Gen 1 ) - $1599

Synology 48TB DiskStation DS920+ 4-Bay NAS Enclosure Kit with WD NAS Drives (4 x 12TB) - $1709.95

Keep in mind, when you are buying a RAID type of setup, the advertised price and capacities are RAID0. So two 12TB HDs would give you 24TB of space if configured in a RAID0. But if you chose a RAID1, which would get you redundancy, one 12TB HD is automatically Mirrored to the other. So with two 12TB HDs, you'd only have 12TB to play with. Make sense?

Bottom Line: What would Brian do? I just have a Single 12TB Thunderbolt 3 Drive hooked up to my Mac. I have a second 12TB HD that I copy stuff over to and that's kept off-site. My data strategy is pretty simple. I'm also not really shooting a lot of client stuff these days and it's more of my Vacation Photos than anything.

 

 

 

[Brian]

Oh, one more thing, your laptop probably has an extra slot to add another HD in to either create a RAID0 or RAID1. As I mentioned above, you can't just simply "Link" external hard drives together. It doesn't work that way.

[Doughman]

Brian,

Thank you for the detailed response. I'm glad I asked as I certainly wasn't expecting pooling to be so complex or expensive! So my first order of business is to cull and organize what I already have. I'm guessing creating folders by year that contain folders by client name is the most logical way to go. If you have a better suggestion, please share. I'd much rather spend time getting it right the first time over spending countless hours repeatedly going back to refine a failing system.

 

Thank you,

Karen

 

[Brian]

Have 4-5 top level folders. Business, Personal, Client, Website, etc. these are the main “Drawers” in your file cabinet that is your HD. Then go by year. The trick is to be able to find something within 2 minutes at all times. Especially the Business Folder. Receipts, Model Releases, Contracts, stuff for the accountant, all need to be organized. 
 

But yes, cull-cull-cull!

[Sharon G]

Hi Brian

Your explanation above is great, thank you. I understand the Raid configurations, but at this stage I am just looking at Raid 1 with Windows 11.  Can you please help me decide between the 2 options below. Thank you

https://www.rubbermonkey.co.nz/Search?searchText=raid&brandIds=55&brandIds=116&MaxPrice=1500&MinPrice=1400.00

[Brian]

Sandisk bought Western Digital and G-Drive, so I’m a little biased to the G-Drive Model. (The silver one.) I own and use G-Drive for my data. RAID 1 is a good place to start, but keep in mind that a 12TB Model is two 6TB Drives that are mirrored. Keep in mind, you will lose a little space after formatting, so you don’t have a full 6TB to play with. When it comes to a RAID 1, but larger than what you think you’ll need and divide any advertised capacity by 1/2. 

[Brian]

As for the difference between the two models, the Black Model is Thunderbolt 3 only, and the Silver Model is Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.2. If you have a Windows Computer and no Thunderbolt Ports, it’s kinda silly to get the new Model. Get last year’s Silver Version. 
 

If you don’t have TB3 on your computer and it’s a Desktop, consider installing a TB3 card; it makes an External HD perform like an Internal Drive. TB3 is 40Mbps Throughput vs 5Mbps with USB 3.0.