Backing up our photos is something we put off doing because it can be a lot of work and expensive.\u00a0 And we think it\u2019s something we\u2019ll never need.<\/p>\n
I got motivated to come up with a backup scheme about a year ago when I thought I had lost all my photograph files from 2010.\u00a0 I had several days of panic and was able to recover most of them from a hodgepodge of backups scattered randomly here and there.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have anything systematic in place and fortunately they weren\u2019t my portfolio files, the ones I sell. (After it was all over I discovered all the files had inadvertently been moved to another folder. They hadn\u2019t been deleted after all.)<\/p>\n
It took a while to come up with the backup strategy that I shared with you in a post last month.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a link to that post.\u00a0 Check it out.\u00a0 I received some valuable comments with some good ideas from others.<\/p>\n
Link to Backup Your Photos<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Well, this week the worst of all possible scenarios happened.\u00a0 I lost my portfolio files.\u00a0 I have no idea what went wrong.\u00a0 The night before I was backing them up and the program I was using (Sync Back) encountered system problems (my computer is getting more and more flakey every day).\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think anything of it.\u00a0 But when I returned the next day the files were gone.\u00a0 That is to say, the files on the primary source (my Drobo) were gone.\u00a0 I checked the backup files and they were intact.\u00a0 Whew!<\/p>\n I looked around for the files on the Drobo thinking (hoping) that they were moved to a different directory like the last time but they were nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n Now, like I said, I don\u2019t have a clue what happened.\u00a0 So I\u2019m feeling pretty uncertain right about now.\u00a0 The first thing that comes to mind is to simply restore them from the backup.\u00a0 But since I would be using the same program running on the same flakey computer I didn\u2019t want to risk having my backups mysteriously disappear if the same thing happened again.<\/p>\n So I decided to create a copy of the backup; that is, backup the backup.\u00a0 I found enough space on one of my network drives (external storage attached to Pogoplug).\u00a0 So I used my backup program (SyncBack) to make a backup copy of the backup files to the Pogoplug drive.\u00a0 The process took all night and there were errors again.\u00a0 Some files failed to copy, again because of system errors, namely \u2018insufficient system resources.\u2019<\/p>\n So I manually copied the files that hadn\u2019t been backed up to complete my backup backup.<\/p>\n I also looked for the missing files in the Recycle folder.\u00a0 When files are deleted the nice thing for the program that deletes them to do is to put them in the Recycle folder so they can be recovered if anything goes wrong.\u00a0 But not every program does this.\u00a0 In fact, the only program that you can count on doing this is Windows Explorer.\u00a0 And Lightroom.\u00a0 And the files weren\u2019t there.\u00a0 That would have been too easy.<\/p>\n A lot of manufacturers realize this situation in Windows and make file recovery programs that know how to look on the hard drive and sniff out deleted files.\u00a0 The cool thing is that when files are deleted they are not removed from the hard drive.\u00a0 They are still there and often times still intact.\u00a0 They only disappear when the sectors where they are written on the hard drive are used for another file.<\/p>\n So these file recovery programs have a way of going out there and finding files that were deleted but not removed and are still in good enough shape to reconstruct.\u00a0 I had done an Internet search for recovery files when I lost the 2010 files and had a trial version sitting on my hard drive.\u00a0 The program is File Scavenger.\u00a0\u00a0 I ran it and lo and behold, it found virtually all of the deleted files on the Drobo.<\/p>\n So, in an abundance of caution I decided to attempt to recover the files as a first step.\u00a0 But I needed a license to enable all of File Scavenger\u2019s functionality.\u00a0 A quick credit card transaction and I was ready to go.<\/p>\n File Scavenger also exercises an abundance of caution and that is to restore the files to a totally different drive.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want to take any chances of messing up unrecovered files during the recovery process.\u00a0 So I selected another drive on the Drobo (it has four\u00a0 drives \u2013 F: G: H: and I:) and turned the program loose.<\/p>\n This was going to be another long process \u2013 almost 7 hours as it turned out.\u00a0 A voice in my head said, \u201cTake a hike,\u201d so I did.\u00a0 And the files were eventually recovered.<\/p>\n Now I\u2019m ready to copy the recovered files back to their original folders.\u00a0 I did this manually.\u00a0 It took pretty much the rest of the day but I was able to work on other things while this was going on.<\/p>\n The recovery and copy operation happened yesterday.\u00a0 Today I\u2019m on the last step.<\/p>\n Now, as I\u2019m typing this, I\u2019m running SyncBack to synchronize the recovered files in their original Drobo folders with the backup files.\u00a0 It\u2019s running now and so far, no problems.\u00a0 When there are \u2018collisions\u2019, that is when there are files on both source and backup that have the same name but with, say, different sizes, it asks what to do.\u00a0 I\u2019m choosing the backup version because of the uncertainty in the file recovery process.<\/p>\n I just checked and SyncBack just finished with no problems.\u00a0 We\u2019re totally restored.<\/p>\n Later today I\u2019m heading out to pickup another external hard drive.\u00a0 I think 300 GB should do.\u00a0 This will be for the exclusive purpose of creating a backup of the backup.\u00a0 So the backup configuration will consist of three levels:<\/p>\n And for additional peace of mind I have File Scavenger for file recovery that works on all my drives. (Note: file recovery software does NOT work on network attached storage devices.\u00a0 But by using Pogoplug for my network attached storage, I just plug in regular external drives.\u00a0 If something goes wrong I can detach them from Pogoplug and attach them directly to the computer and then the file recovery software will work.)<\/p>\n So I\u2019m feeling pretty good now.\u00a0 I know I went through a lot of extra trouble to go the file recovery route.\u00a0 But I think in the long run it will pay off, not so much in this situation but if and when it happens in the future.<\/p>\n Now, I really have to do something about that flakey workstation of mine.\u00a0 I really need to reimage the hard drive.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been putting it off too long.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t carry on with all this technical talk at our photography workshops (unless of course you want to).\u00a0 We focus on the excitement of being in beautiful places at the most wonderful times of day and honing our craft.<\/p>\n So check us out.\u00a0 I attend one workshop every year.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s proven to be the most effective way I know of to grow as a photographer.\u00a0 Yes, I could try to learn by trial and error and that can be a lot of fun.\u00a0 But there aren\u2019t enough days in the year to grow at the pace I want to grow if I do it that way.\u00a0 So I attend workshops given by my photography heroes \u2013 David Muench, Jack Graham, Alain Briot, Uwe Steinmueller, Joseph Holmes, Tony Sweet, Max Holbert, Charles Cramer.\u00a0 And oh my gosh, they are fun.<\/p>\n Check us out.\u00a0 Click here for our\u00a0 2011 workshop schedule<\/a>.<\/p>\nIt Happened \u2013 Duh Duh Duh Duuuuuuuuh<\/h2>\n
Backup the Backup<\/h3>\n
Undelete Anyone?<\/h3>\n
Speaking of Recovery\u2026<\/h3>\n
Copy the Recovered Files<\/h3>\n
The Final Step<\/h3>\n
Coming Up Next<\/h3>\n
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Photography Workshops<\/h2>\n