Hello Fellow Photographers! I need to have a better solution to my work flow or lack there of for better backup of my image files. Right now my set up is a Mac Pro Laptop with all my program files such as Lightroom, Photoshop, and Silver Efix Pro locally stored. All my photo files get downloaded from the SD and CF cards to an external 500 gig hard drive so as not to load up the lap tops internal drive. Occasionally I buy a new larger external drive and load all the files old and new to the new drive and save the old one off site at my office. I know I need a better solution so that less time passes between backup events. Ideally I'd like to have onsite and offsite backup at least once a week if not more. Any suggestions? As technology keeps getting better by leaps and bounds this is the downside dealing with large amounts of data. Thanks for your assitance and insights!
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Work Flow Question
- Thread starter Gary P
- Start date
Jorgen Udvang
Subscriber Member
Here's how I do it:
I mostly work on a MacBook Air 15, but at home I have my previous computer, a Mac Mini. To the Mini, I've connected a box with 4 x 2TB disks (no RAID). Two of them are data storage, the other two are backup. Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) runs a backup routine automatically every second day or whenever I start it manually.
Every week, I run a backup to a portable disk that I take to an offsite location with an even older Mini and copy to a box with 2 x 2TB, one for each of the originals at home. Since all data are always present at all disks and CCC only backs up changed and new files, the routine is rather quick. This way, all my photos exist on 4 different disk units.
At home, I use an Airport Extreme for communications, giving me full access to all data from both computers.
I mostly work on a MacBook Air 15, but at home I have my previous computer, a Mac Mini. To the Mini, I've connected a box with 4 x 2TB disks (no RAID). Two of them are data storage, the other two are backup. Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) runs a backup routine automatically every second day or whenever I start it manually.
Every week, I run a backup to a portable disk that I take to an offsite location with an even older Mini and copy to a box with 2 x 2TB, one for each of the originals at home. Since all data are always present at all disks and CCC only backs up changed and new files, the routine is rather quick. This way, all my photos exist on 4 different disk units.
At home, I use an Airport Extreme for communications, giving me full access to all data from both computers.
Hi Jorgen, thanks for the input! I really appreciate it! I have one dilemma that work is PC while home is Mac. It may be that this is not necessarily a stumbling block. I'll need to think it through. Your advise is extremely helpful! BTW I always appreciate your images especially from the recent Thai floods. Thank you! Gary P.
Jorgen Udvang
Subscriber Member
Please be aware then, that CCC only works on Mac and only with Mac formatted disks. The advantage is that if you back up your system disk with CCC, the backup will be bootable even via USB or other kind of cable. That has saved me once when my disk crashed.