backing up images?

[.JahJahwarrior.]

So, I want to back up images from my new *ist DS someplace other than just on my MB harddrive. I'd really like to archive to dvd, I think, but I don't want to burn a new dvd each week, some weeks I'll have a gig or two of photos, but usually just a few hundred megabytes. Is there an easy way to keep "adding" to the dvd as I need to?

Otherwise, I do have an external harddrive, just right now I'm using it for video storage with my PC, and I really don't want to try to learn how to partition it and use it on two different computers at once, if it's even possible

 

[juanm]

Buy another external hard drive. On the long term, it'll be worth it.

 

[Clix Pix]

I second that recommendation. Buy another external HD; they are not all that expensive these days and are a heckuva lot more convenient to use than DVDs. LaCie and G Tech make excellent ones which are already configured for the Mac OS.

 

[72930]

Or a DVD-RW, so you can just add photos as they come

 

[juanm]

For instance, I have a 1Tb Mirrored (2x500) hard drive. So if one dies, I can live without it. I have another external enclosure so I can have another copy. And I burn dvds of every project.

 

[yagran]

For instance, I have a 1Tb Mirrored (2x500) hard drive. So if one dies, I can live without it. I have another external enclosure so I can have another copy. And I burn dvds of every project.

backup mad! lol

 

[Doctor Q]

I second that recommendation. Buy another external HD; they are not all that expensive these days and are a heckuva lot more convenient to use than DVDs. LaCie and G Tech make excellent ones which are already configured for the Mac OS.

Hi Clix Pix. I'm ready for another external Firewire drive, and was considering LaCie drives, but I saw all kinds of bad reviews and ratings for them.

What's your overall opinion, if you have one, about the external Firewire drives from G-Tech vs. LaCie vs. Western Digital vs. Maxtor vs. etc.? Or does it depend highly on the individual model?

 

[.JahJahwarrior.]

I would love to buy tonnes of stuff, but have no money for it! I'm a high school student trying to get a summer job! (actually, I'm no longer a high school student, graduation was lst night. And I have a summer job, but it's so slow there this summer compared to last that I'm actively looking for a new one because I don't want to try making them let me work full time when they really don't need me full time.)

I've got a 30 gig ipod that I don't think I'm takign with me on a big trip soon, because I won't be taking a comptuer and will have no way to charge it. I might throw pictures on there for the moment until I figure out something else to do.

Does anyone know about formatting a harddrive to work on both a PC and a mac?!? I've got space on my existing external, but it's on my PC. I suppose I could load pictures onthe PC too....

 

[.JahJahwarrior.]

So, I managed to get my external drive shared on the network, but when I try to copy my pictures over, it says it can't, because "file names are too long or contain incompatible characters." All of the file names are things like "IMG10398.JPG" ?!? What can I do?

 

[sushi]

For instance, I have a 1Tb Mirrored (2x500) hard drive. So if one dies, I can live without it. I have another external enclosure so I can have another copy. And I burn dvds of every project.

backup mad! lol

Sounds good.

You can never be too careful.

Of course one learns this after loosing everything at one time. Then again, others take more than once to learn this lesson.

 

[Doctor Q]

So, I managed to get my external drive shared on the network, but when I try to copy my pictures over, it says it can't, because "file names are too long or contain incompatible characters." All of the file names are things like "IMG10398.JPG" ?!? What can I do?

I'd guess that the hard drive you are using on your PC has one of the older filesystems on it (e.g., "FAT16"), so it allows only filenames up to 8 letters plus the 3-letter extension. If you could reformat the disk under a newer filesystem (e.g., "NTFS") then longer filenames should work.

What operating system is your PC running?

 

[.JahJahwarrior.]

I'm running XP, and I think the file format system is NTFS. I had one folder with all my pictures in folders inside of it.....by copying them all seperately, it seems to work. ??? Whatever, as long as I can move them It's taking a while though, 2gigs of pictures is gonna take like, 45 minutes?

 

[Westside guy]

I've got a Lacie drive with a triple interface (USB2/Firewire/Firewire800), and it's been quite reliable. However if you're at all technically inclined, you can buy a hard drive enclosure and the hard drive of your choice - basically build your own external HD for less money. Macally makes a nice dual USB/Firewire enclosure. You just have to be sure you get one that matches your HD interface, e.g. SATA or EIDE; but if you're comfortable doing this you probably don't need the warning.

 

[Doctor Q]

I'm running XP, and I think the file format system is NTFS.

Then my first guess was wrong. Here's another wild guess: Maybe there are hidden files in the folder with names that contain characters NTFS doesn't like (it can't handle * ? / \ : " | < >). But if you don't see files with those characters in their names, never mind. I'm not much of a Windows guru, so I hope somebody with more knowledge will speak up.

 

[ChrisA]

You need to develop a regular backup routine. I burn a CD or DVD write after I transfer the images off the camera beforeI do anythng else. Then I set the discs aside. Then I import the images into the library. The library gets a frequent incremental backup to another disk and periodically I make a copy of the whole library to another expternal disk.

The basic rule for not loosing data is this...
1) Data needs to be on at least three different media
2) Data nees to be stored at a minimum of two different geographical locations.

Be carefull how you count rule #1. Say you have an internal disk and an external. that's two copies not you decide to do another backup to the external. The first thing the backup might do is wipe out your previous backup, now you only have one copy of the data. Yes this IS important because it's during operations like backups that disks fail -- what's more stressfull to a disk then reading and writing the whole thing front to back? So you'll need four copies if you overwrite data.

 

[sushi]

You need to develop a regular backup routine.

Completely agree.

I burn a CD or DVD write after I transfer the images off the camera before I do anythng else.

Fantastic idea and highly recommend this.

The basic rule for not loosing data is this...
1) Data needs to be on at least three different media
2) Data nees to be stored at a minimum of two different geographical locations.

Yep!

Be carefull how you count rule #1. Say you have an internal disk and an external. that's two copies not you decide to do another backup to the external. The first thing the backup might do is wipe out your previous backup, now you only have one copy of the data. Yes this IS important because it's during operations like backups that disks fail -- what's more stressfull to a disk then reading and writing the whole thing front to back? So you'll need four copies if you overwrite data.

I agree completely with this.

Suggest having two external drives and then alternate between them when backing up your photos.

There is nothing worse than having your internal HD crap out on you after erasing your external HD to make your back up. If this happens, you are hosed.

 

[maccompaq]

external HD

I have an external HD that I use to backup my Mac OSX and also my Compaq XP. The only way it will work is to format the external HD as "FAT32" so the Mac can also use it. If you format it as NTSF, the Mac cannot use it.

 

[.JahJahwarrior.]

So....

I don't know anything about RAID.....I have a 250gig external drive. 80 gig in my MB, 120 gig and a 60 gig in my PC. What I'd like to do when I'm done editing this video, is potentially get another 250 gig external and either mirror them, or do that one type of RAID setup where it copies something like 60/60, so you can rebuild the entire thing if one drive fails.

Is there a simple way to do that and share the drives between computers? I could perhaps format them so I split it evenly? (I do photowork on the mac and video on the PC, Sony Vegas) And, the harddrive has one USB and two Firewire ports. Can I plug both computers into the thing at once? I might go find the HD website, it didn't really come with any manual or anything.

 

[Clix Pix]

Hi Clix Pix. I'm ready for another external Firewire drive, and was considering LaCie drives, but I saw all kinds of bad reviews and ratings for them.

What's your overall opinion, if you have one, about the external Firewire drives from G-Tech vs. LaCie vs. Western Digital vs. Maxtor vs. etc.? Or does it depend highly on the individual model?

I use both G-Tech and LaCie drives as externals. My internal drives on the Mac Pro are Western Digitals (at least the two I bought and installed are; not sure what Apple put in there for the first two that I ordered at the time I was buying the machine). I have not had any problems with any of them. (Knock-on-wood!)

I like the G-Drives best in terms of looks -- they really look soo cool next to my 30" ACD and Mac Pro as well as next to my MBP! They also seem to be quieter than the LaCie drives. I notice that the G-Drives have lots more holes and vents than the LaCie drives, and I suspect that this keeps them significantly cooler than the LaCie drives, which in the long run can of course affect performance. All the drives have (so far) done the job for which I have purchased them and I am quite happy with them.

 

[volvoben]

So....

I don't know anything about RAID.....I have a 250gig external drive. 80 gig in my MB, 120 gig and a 60 gig in my PC. What I'd like to do when I'm done editing this video, is potentially get another 250 gig external and either mirror them, or do that one type of RAID setup where it copies something like 60/60, so you can rebuild the entire thing if one drive fails.

Is there a simple way to do that and share the drives between computers? I could perhaps format them so I split it evenly? (I do photowork on the mac and video on the PC, Sony Vegas) And, the harddrive has one USB and two Firewire ports. Can I plug both computers into the thing at once? I might go find the HD website, it didn't really come with any manual or anything.

Nope, two computers can't mount the same drive at the same time (as far as i know). You could use each computer with the same drive at separate times (format it ntfs and get macfuse for the mac to let it read/write ntfs or just format it fat32 (windows won't format fat32 above 37gb or something like that, so use disk utility and it'll work on both windows and mac)).

I prefer just sharing drives on my network, plain oem drives are cheaper and I trust them in a nice cool computer case more than a little enclosure. macs tend not to have room for more, but pcs do, and file sharing with windows and linux is quite easy. I keep my photos on 2 hdds in separate machines, backing up automatically every night, but also when I get enough for a DVD or two, I burn DVDs and then periodically move the DVDs to my parent's house so I don't need to worry about theft, a fire or a giant power surge deleting all my work and memories.

Other folks have much more involved systems, but my system works great for me. I know that if i came home to a charred pile of rubble after work i'd never be out more than a few weeks of photos (I also throw the DVDs in my car so i don't forget to bring them home when next i visit the family). my music, video and other files I just keep on 2 separate hdds in 2 separate machines, but that's all replaceable if something catastrophic happened.

 

[islandman]

Definitely buy another external drive. It's so worth it. I don't like archiving to DVD as the only means of backup, because media does go bad, and it's a pain to have multiple DVDs when your pictures grow to more than 4.7GB.