How do you archive your images?

[FreeStar Houston]

I'm just curious how some of you archive your images.

I take probably 10,000+ shots a year. What I have been doing is burning my RAW images for each event onto a CD. Over the past several years, I've started to hear more and more that CDs aren't the great long-term storage solution they were always touted to be. The alternative is to leave them all on my hard drive or a portable hard drive, but they tend to take up a lot of space on the drive.

Is the status quo a good plan? How can it be improved?

[JMI]

I store my images on both CD/DVD and hard drive. In the past I use external drives but after I filled up a couple of them in short order I just got a drive tray for my machine. When that drive is full I just pull it out and pop in a new one. No muss, no fuss. What I have yet to come up with is a workable system to catalog the images so that I can search the catalog for the disk number the image is on.

[FreeStar Houston]

My new machine has a drive tray, but I'm waiting for the price of pocket drives to come down a bit.

[janetg]

currently - i've got all raw files on dvd - and backed to one 750gb drive. still looking for offsite raw storage - i have mozy - but that would take forever! my webserver changed their TOS and said you can't use webspace for personal storage, i did have them all backed up there, but had to remove them.

i'm thinking of zipping them up in smaller increments - and putting them back up there though..

[JMI]

Originally Posted by FreeStar Houston

My new machine has a drive tray, but I'm waiting for the price of pocket drives to come down a bit.

My drive tray takes the standard size drives so they're pretty cheap. Half a terabyte can be had for less than a hundred bucks nowadays.

[andyz]

I am not a pro, but my RAW and PSD images go on one DVD stored in a home fire-resistant safe, another DVD goes to a separate location (in-laws), and the final JPG images that are "keepers" are on a PC and a separate external drive not on my home network.

If I were a pro, the DVDs would also be on hard drives. The DVDs are reliable, but less so than a hard drive. And in a few years they should be copied over to whatever the current media of choice is.

FWIW the DVDs are currently is a cool, dark location, in sleeved inserts made for storage, and are vertical (not horizontal) as I have read that is the best way to preserve them. I also use only approved markers to label them.

[CobyPhoto]

Just an FYI: If you archive on a hard drive, and that drives isn't powered on for several months, you are asking for problems. The bearings will freeze and you will be out an expensive transfer of plates.

Power the drives up the at least monthly to insure they don't freeze up!

CJ

[Bartman01]

Things to consider:
It doesn't exist unless you have at least 2 copies.
It isn't a copy unless the copy has been validated to the original - this is ESPECIALLY true of CD/DVD ROM. I hear lots of stories of optical media becoming corrupt in a very short time, and I would bet that in most cases the copy was not good to begin with. If your CD/DVD burning software has the option to validate the copy - DO IT. If it does not, get better software. Every once in a while I will have a validation pass fail even with good media.
It isn't safe unless one of those copies is off-site.
If you are a pro, you should have a storage and secure backup system than can hold all of the images that you can't live without.
Consider using an online backup solution as a 'last resort' option (encrypt your files if you are concerned about a third party having that kind of access).

If I had a separate studio and house I would do the following:
Buy 2 Drobos (not the cheapest solution but easily expandable as larger drives become available with no downtime) and fill them with the biggest drives available.
Back up all of my critical data to both.
Take one home and set it up on my network (using droboshare) or hook it directly to a PC.
Use data synchronization tools (something like syncback) to keep the two drive backup arrays (one at studio and one at home) in sync nightly and then check every day to make sure this is still working.
I would also put my critical personal data at home (encrypted in case of theft) in to this scenario as well.

Any solution that requires user intervention (carrying drives back and forth, moving data from one format to another, hooking up drives every x number of days to validate they still work and the data is still ok) is prone to failure or lapses at critical times.

[STP Images]

.

[Rson]

NEVER USE DVD OR CD for archiving. Here is why, the data is stored on a dye covered foil layer. We all know that dye's fade over time. Once the dye fades the data is lost. YES cd's are warrantied for 100 years but your data isn't. I always recommend a magnetic backup solution (Hard Drives, MO, Tape)

I personally use the Buffalo LinkStation and i love it. It is Mirrored internally and shows up as another harddrive. It took about 2 minutes to configure. Plus I can access it from any internet location in the world.

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/...ation-pro-duo/

[Photographer557]

"The DAM Book" by Peter Krogh

Great book on Data Asset Management for pictures. It will answer a lot of questions and give you some new ideas for how to label and store your photos.

I have found this book to be very useful in getting my photos organized.

[sbp]

I have two drives in my computer saves on both first as raw.
Convert them to jpeg and save that to second disk. once finalize by client that goes to my external 1TB disk jpg only.

I don't see anyone using Tape now a days.
I tell all my client once it over and I hand over them a original that now it is their responsibility to keep this as I will no longer try to save it forever.

[R & J Photography]

Originally Posted by andyz

I am not a pro, but my RAW and PSD images go on one DVD stored in a home fire-resistant safe, another DVD goes to a separate location (in-laws), and the final JPG images that are "keepers" are on a PC and a separate external drive not on my home network.

If I were a pro, the DVDs would also be on hard drives. The DVDs are reliable, but less so than a hard drive. And in a few years they should be copied over to whatever the current media of choice is.

FWIW the DVDs are currently is a cool, dark location, in sleeved inserts made for storage, and are vertical (not horizontal) as I have read that is the best way to preserve them. I also use only approved markers to label them.

There was a recent article out that states FIRE BOXES do NOT work with discs... the temp rating they use is based on the point PAPER will catch fire... NOT the point where a CD/DVD will MELT>>>>

[kenw]

[QUOTE=Rson]NEVER USE DVD OR CD for archiving. QUOTE]

this concern is grossly overwrought. Optical media, properly stored, will last for many, many years. Forever? probably not, but then what does? Cool, dark, dry locations for optical media should provide 10+ years of worry free storage. And then you can copy them to whatever media you wish at that time.

In the meantime, make 2 or more copies and keep them in separate locations (one at the office, one at house, or whatever)

DVD-RW and CD-RW disks do not use dyes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-RW

The web horror stories are misinterpretations of a somewhat poorly performed test that found some degradation after the equivalent of 5 years in a very hot and humid South American swamp due to a particular (and rare) microbial fungus. Subsequent tests found little practical correlation to the original claims.

[Big Dog]

Originally Posted by FreeStar Houston

I'm just curious how some of you archive your images.

I just put the negatives in sleeves and then into binders.