Which long term storage method do you all use?

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paul_b

Senior Member
I'm asking because i have lots of pictures and videos that i have collected of my family for the last few years. They are stored on my PC, & also on an external hard drive and backup DVD's.

After doing some research I'm horrified to learn than those storage options are quite unsafe over time. I.e The magnetic information on a hard drive will fade in just a few years (as little as 3) unless it is re-written. The DVD's are not much better as the dye that's burnt into to store the information on the discs also fades over time and is not much better than the magnetic disc in a hard drive. So I'm quite worried about data loss now.

So, does anybody else here share the same concerns and have particular strategies for backing up the media that they don't want to loose?
 
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paul_b

Senior Member
sonicbuffalo said:
flickr and photobucket i guess....i use an external hard drive like you....
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Yes, unfortunately i've amassed over 60gb of picture & video data of my child in just 4 years. Backing up online and downloading would take ages and a hassle to sync. Yes, the external hard drive is a good option, but hard drive magnetic data fades in only a very few years unless rewritten. Hard drives also fail mechanically too. What worries me is if the data on my Pc's hard drive becomes corrupted and then in turn is copied over onto the external backup drive too.
 
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mikeh32217

Senior Member
There's a real problem with the way information is presently stored see, we used to use stone, paper, etc. and it lasted many centuries is not millennia but the real concern now is long term storage of all our important information. There's no real way other than traditional means for you and I to store our data. As fast as web giants come and go I'm afraid Flickr and some of the others may not last.
 
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Eyelight

Senior Member
I looked at this a few months ago.

There are what are considered better quality discs (CD, DVD, etc) that are better than others. Snag is there is no way to tell as most do not label their product, I'm guessing because even though it may be better, they don't want people coming back with issues.

Paid online storage like Amazon AWS or DropBox is probably the way to go as, theoretically, there is redundant storage involved. Kicker is that even then an individual file can still be corrupted.

Meanwhile, I use three portable drives.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
paul_b said:
I'm asking because i have lots of pictures and videos that i have collected of my family for the last few years. They are stored on my PC, & also on an external hard drive and backup DVD's.

After doing some research I'm horrified to learn than those storage options are quite unsafe over time. I.e The magnetic information on a hard drive will fade in just a few years (as little as 3) unless it is re-written. The DVD's are not much better as the dye that's burnt into to store the information on the discs also fades over time and is not much better than the magnetic disc in a hard drive. So I'm quite worried about data loss now.

So, does anybody else here share the same concerns and have particular strategies for backing up the media that they don't want to loose?
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Well, the first thing I think we all need to get over is the fact there IS NO perfect solution. There just isn't...

The best option, at this point in time, is a Solid State Drive (SSD) followed by a traditional (platter-type), external hard-drives. That, in short, is your answer. For long-term stability and capacity, right now, nothing beats them. My solution, at present, is having an internal "slave" drive (E:) which holds nothing but data. Not just a partition on the C: this is totally separate hard-drive from the one containing the operating system (the critical difference). The internal slave-drive is backed up to an external hard-drive every month and three months worth of backups are kept. It's external and USB-connected so in a pinch I can grab it and go and take all my data with me in my pocket.

Yes, data on hard-drives can become corrupted but by keeping our "data drives", and the data they contain, separate from the Operating System you significantly reduce the possibility of that occurring. As has already been said, there are no perfect solutions. Every storage solution has its potential drawbacks and risks associated with it. It's a "pick your poison" sort of scenario.

As I see it, the possibility of data-corruption is one of the risks we assume in exchange for the overall convenience of digital photography.

....
 
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DraganDL

Senior Member
The only - ONLY - way to secure the data is to store it in at least 3 storage devices, either 3 HDDs or combo of 2 HDDs and an online storage like Google disk or mega.nz etc. . And, every four years replace at least one of those HDDs - sync your HDDs and replace them. DVDs? No way - "burnt optical disks" are the MOST unreliable storage devices ever - not just susceptible to humidity, temperature changes, scratches, strong light... but also tend to "die" with no obvious reason (the photo layer falls off of the substrate etc.).
 
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paul_b

Senior Member
Blade Canyon said:
The Friedman Archives Blog: Preventing Data Decay

That's the best thing I've read about data decay and ways to beat it. Scroll down past the ads to "Data Decay."

BTW, I also own a Sony RX100 and Friedman's online book about that camera was by far the best resource for that camera I ever read.
Click to expand...

Interesting read. Will also read the book he recommends there called "Data Protection for Photographers by Patrick Corrigan"

Thanks all for some interesting replies :)
 
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paul_b

Senior Member
I've decided on this for my storage options (not sure if its final yet, as still giving it some thought):

Each year of my child's life has its own folder on my pc, and this includes original & edited pictures and a movie of the year. These are primarily stored in a backup partition on my PC's hard drive. They are also backed up onto a portable HDD once a week too that stays at the same location. I also sync that portable drive onto another pc at another location at the same time too. Once the year is over i checksum the years' folder with a free program called exactfile. This places an md5 checksum digest file in the year folder. It's linked to all the files inside the folder (where the folder is placed doesn't matter as they are not full paths, i.e can place on a new pc in the future or burn onto Blu-ray etc). This means i can always check the folder in years to come to make sure the contents is bit for bit perfect.

I then do 3 things at the end of each year (her birthday). I make a checksum for the finished year folder for that year. I also check all the other checksums are still correct for all of the year folders on my pc. If the checksums are all still correct then i copy all the year folders onto a new solid state drive (will need a bigger one each year), and retire it for storage (stored along with any others from previous year/s). At the same time i will burn new Blu-rays for all of the years too (1 for each year), starting from scratch (i.e year 1), so i end up with a complete fresh collection of burnt Blu-rays too.

If a year ever comes where the checksums no longer add up, i will have the option to search inside any of the solid states drives for a working 'bit for bit' correct copy of the folder/s. If that doesn't work then I'd fall back on to the Blu-rays that i have burnt too, looking for uncorrupted versions of my year folders.

That should work, lol

The beauty of the checksum method is i can be sure that any files or folders are as 'bit for bit' perfect as the day they were created.
 
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RocketCowboy

Senior Member
My primary computers (desktop/laptop) both use SSD drives for initial storage. Once back home, pictures are moved to an external spinning disk. Both the home computer and laptop back up to a Time Capsule at the house, but then also backup via CrashPlan to a 3rd computer at home (with an external disk for backups) as well as to the cloud. My 4th option (manual) is a NAS at the house which also gets backed up to CrashPlan.

I probably upgrade drives regularly enough to keep data re-written often enough. I got burned by a desktop HDD crash a few years ago which cost me lots of older photos, so I try not to repeat that.
 
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sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
I have 2 - 1 TB external hard drives, which I use to back up on location....then, when I get home, I dl those files into a 3TB external hard drive. I need to find a spot to keep an external hard drive backup out of the house. I hate spending the money for a PO box. Any suggestions that will cost me less?
 
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