![\"Configuration](\"http:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Configuration-Then.jpg\" "\\"Configuration")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe files I though I had deleted were on the NAS drives.\u00a0 I tried to use a file recovery program, one you use to recover files that were accidently deleted.\u00a0 But none of the file recovery programs available anywhere work on NAS drives.<\/p>\n
I went hunting everywhere for copies of the lost files and, since I had no systematic backup system, had to search all over the place.\u00a0 Fortunately I found them, or at least most of them, and was able to recover them.\u00a0 (It was later that I found out that the missing folder had simply\u00a0 been moved and all the lost files were hiding out there.)<\/p>\n
This whole experience got me thinking that I really needed to get serious about backup.<\/p>\n
Getting Serious about Backup<\/h3>\n
By now I\u2019m suspicious of NAS drives.\u00a0 I mean the concept is great but the inability to recover inadvertently deleted files is a big handicap as far as I\u2019m concerned.\u00a0 The WD NAS drives could only be accessed from a computer via the router.\u00a0 They\u00a0 couldn\u2019t be directly attached.\u00a0 Bummer.<\/p>\n
Also I wanted to introduce RAID storage into my solution.\u00a0 RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Devices and is basically an array of two or more drives that stores the data in such a way that if you loose one of the drives you still haven\u2019t lost any of your data.\u00a0 In other words, the data is stored in a fashion so that it can be recovered if one of the drives fails.\u00a0 In fact, you can pull out a drive while the disk is in operation and not impact your data access at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s kinda like magic.<\/p>\n
The RAID device I selected is a Drobo.\u00a0 This is basically a box that contains all the RAID software.\u00a0 You have to add your own internal hard drives to the box.\u00a0 The device I selected has a capacity of four drives.\u00a0 I started out with two 2 TB Western Digital internal hard drives.\u00a0 This gave me 2 TB of storage, enough to get me started.\u00a0 (You only get 2TB of storage even though I added two devices at 2 TB each because of the redundancy thing.)<\/p>\n
So now I am protected from a hardware failure.\u00a0 I spent weeks copying files from other sources on to the Drobo.\u00a0 The situation has improved, I\u2019m protected from drive failure, but I still don\u2019t have a backup system.\u00a0 (By the way, since then I\u2019ve added a third 2 TB Western Digital drive to my\u00a0 Drobo and now have 4 TB of usable storage which ought to last for a while.)<\/p>\n Next I needed to address backup, at least for my portfolio files.\u00a0 If I loose my\u00a0 RAW files from a year or two ago it\u2019s not a big loss; I rarely go back and find images from two years ago that I want to work on.\u00a0 But my portfolio files are a different matter.\u00a0 They each have days and even weeks and months of work in them.\u00a0 Losing them would be a disaster.<\/p>\n So to solve this problem I commandeered a 1 TB external drives I had laying around and put it back into service as a backup drive.\u00a0 The next issue to be resolved was the backup software I would use.\u00a0 I started with Genie Backup Manager which is a professional quality backup utility.\u00a0 After playing around with the many options it offers I finally came up with a backup job that did what I wanted it to.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a picture of this new configuration.<\/p>\n Ok, the backup issue is resolved.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t have an easy way of sharing files between my laptop and studio computer.\u00a0 I was able to work out an awkward sharing arrangement by turning on the studio computer and sharing the Drobo drive on the network and then I can reach the Drobo from my\u00a0 laptop.\u00a0 But like I said it was awkward \u2013 I had to have the studio computer running, something I\u2019d rather not have to do (not very green).<\/p>\n So the search\u00a0 was still on for some form of NAS.\u00a0 But I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 to end up in the same position I was in before where if a file was inadvertently deleted there was no way\u00a0 to recover it.\u00a0 In earlier NAS research I came across a device that I though held a lot of promise.\u00a0 It was a device you hook to your wireless router and then can connect one or more external drives to it.\u00a0 The external drives could be disconnected at any time and connected to my studio or laptop computer.\u00a0 So if a file was deleted I could connected the drive to one of my computers and run the recovery software to get it back.<\/p>\n Two players in this field stood out \u2013 the Iomega and PogoPlug.\u00a0 They both looked very promising \u2013 just wire the device directly to your wireless router using a network cable, install the driver software and start attaching external drives.\u00a0 I ended up buying the PogoPlug device in spite of its gaudy magenta color because it includes the option of accessing my data via the internet from anywhere in the world.\u00a0 (Western Digital also had that option but the software they use to implement is, well, let me put it this way \u2013 it didn\u2019t work well for me.)\u00a0 So I ordered the \u2018pretty\u2019 magenta device. And the price is definitely right \u2013 about $45.\u00a0 When was the last time you bought something for your computer for just $45 other than maybe a mouse pad?<\/p>\n So now I\u2019m almost done.\u00a0 I set up the PogoPlug, installed the software and connected a couple of my external drives.\u00a0 It worked like a charm.\u00a0 And I can even access my files from my iPhone.\u00a0 Imagine that.\u00a0 I can display PowerPoint presentations on my iPhone.\u00a0 Why anyone would want to do that I really can\u2019t imagine but it can be done.<\/p>\n But with PogoPlug drivers installed the Genie Backup Manager stopped working \u2013 on both computers.\u00a0 OK, so PogoPlug broke my backup solution.\u00a0 Back to Google.\u00a0 I was beginning to think that what I really wanted was not a backup utility but a synchronize utility.\u00a0 Synchronize is different from backup in that it looks at both sides, the source and the target, and makes the two of them look the same.\u00a0 In other words, if you have a file on the source that\u2019s not on the target it will copy\u00a0 the\u00a0 file over.\u00a0 So far it\u2019s no different from backup.\u00a0 Where sync is different is that it also works in the opposite direction \u2013 when there is a file on the target that is not on the source it gets copied.<\/p>\n The reason sync is so appealing is that I can sync files from my\u00a0 studio computer to the PogoPlug and then sync files from my laptop to the PogoPlug.\u00a0 This in reality will actually sync my studio computer to my\u00a0 laptop.<\/p>\n So I needed some good sync software.\u00a0 Microsoft has a free offering that I started to install but pulled back when I read some sort of dire warning about loosing files.\u00a0 So I\u2019m in the evaluation phase with a commercial product called SyncBackSE.\u00a0 It\u2019s working out and I\u2019ll be buying the license when the evaluation period ends.<\/p>\n So the configuration is looking pretty robust now.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a picture of my configuration as it stands today.<\/p>\n It looks good on paper but does it really work?\u00a0 Yes, although it requires a bit of patience.\u00a0 The connection between the PogoPlug drives and my studio computer is not lightning fast but definitely fast enough.\u00a0 It\u2019s no different from having an external drive attached directly through a USB port.\u00a0 Meaning \u2013 the sync works well.<\/p>\n SyncBackSE also works well for backing up my portfolio files.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s better than Genie Backup Manager although to be fair to the Genie I didn\u2019t have it configured in the most optimum way.<\/p>\n Syncing files from the laptop can be a long, slow process but you really can\u2019t expect any more across a wireless connection.\u00a0 It\u2019s the size of the straw, not the performance of the PogoPlug that makes it slow.<\/p>\n I haven\u2019t tried accessing files on the PogoPlug via the internet yet except for playing around on the iPhone.\u00a0 I\u2019ll do that soon but I already know that speed will be limited by the speed of the internet and I\u2019m not expecting that to be very impressive.<\/p>\n There is one aspect I\u2019m eager to try on my iPhone and that\u2019s to play the music stored on PogoPlug via the iPhone without having to import it into the iPod and iTunes.\u00a0 It looks like that\u2019s going to work well as long as there\u2019s a cellular connection.\u00a0 This means I\u2019ll be able to\u00a0 have a huge library of music on the PogoPlug and listen to it in the car as I travel \u2013 again, as long as there\u2019s a cellular connection.\u00a0 And since I listen to classical music my libraries will definitely be huge.<\/p>\n That remains to be done is develop a backup strategy for the current and prior year\u2019s RAW files.\u00a0 I think PogoPlug and SyncBackSE will do the job just fine.\u00a0 Another alternative will be to use Lightroom\u2019s backup ability to create the backup on PogoPlug.\u00a0 That could work well.<\/p>\n So I\u2019m feeling pretty comfortable with the way this has evolved.\u00a0 I have NAS back without the file recovery concerns.\u00a0 My portfolio files are backed up and it\u2019s easy enough to do that I can back them up every time I work on them.\u00a0 I have a RAID solution where my really important files are stored, giving me protection against a hard drive failure.\u00a0 And I can even access my files via the internet, not only with my laptop\u00a0 but also my iPhone!\u00a0 Cool.<\/p>\n If you have backup experiences of your own please share them with the rest of us.\u00a0 This is but one of many possible solutions and there are others that will work just as well if not better.\u00a0 Don\u2019t\u2019 be shy.<\/p>\n Join me on an upcoming workshop.\u00a0 Click here for more details.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nNetwork Attached Storage Again<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nHow Is It Working?<\/h3>\n
What\u2019s Left to Do?<\/h3>\n