Today’s Topic Tuesday is a question from one of our fans, Erin Taulman.  Erin asks, “How about storage? And backing things up? Best ways? most reliable? That would be a huge help!!! Can’t wait to see what it is!! :)”  Thanks for your question Erin!

 

Backing things up is super important and having a system in place to do this will help you stay organized and backed up!  I have a workflow chart that reminds me to back up my images.  Having to check this off for each session really helps me to remember to do this.

I usually back up my sessions for both the raw files and the edited jpeg files.  The first time I back up my files is when I first load them onto my computer.  This would be the raw file backup.  Then I proceed with my workflow, cull images, edit images, prepare them for the order session, etc.  The reason I keep everything instead of just the culled images is in case my client asks for a certain image or in case I change my mind about a certain image.  This way I have everything I shot during a particular session.  After the images are edited, I then move a copy of the edited jpegs to my back up hard drive.

The best way to save your images is with the name of the client and date.  I have folders by client and with in the folders I have the edited version and the raw version.  That way when I want to find something, I simply look for the clients name.  Main folders are by date so all 2012 sessions are in a large folder but separated by smaller client folders.

Example:

There are many, many different styles, brands and sizes of hard drives.  I use a Seagate Free Agent Go Flex Hard Drive that is 1 Terabyte.  I like the larger storage because I don’t have to have as many hard drives.  Each hard drive can be categorized in whatever way you feel is most beneficial to you.  You could have one hard drive per year, like I do, that will store all your sessions for that year.  Or you could have hard drives every six months if you need that much storage.  Keeping them organized in a certain fashion just helps you find what you are looking for later.

Below is a link to an article on the best hard drives for photographers.  Be sure to check it out to help you in your decision on a hard drive.

Best Hardrives for Photographers

No matter which one you choose, just remember…”you are a fine photo, won’t you back that file up!”  See, I told you there was a song in there somewhere! 🙂