How Do I Backup My Media Files

This question is the natural extension to my earlier blog post about storage devices. And for good reason. If there is one aspect of our digital lives where we should be diligent it is with safeguarding those files. I promise you, most people do not do a good job of backing up their files, only to be disappointed when they find out their hard drive is damaged and their files irretrievable.
When I think about a backup strategy, I try to consider all failure points, mechanical, software and human error. Listed below are the strategies I employ for my office system (desktop). I am going to start with the desktop as I travel with little to know important data. What I travel with is usually replicated and temporary data. The post would be too long for both travel and office and since office (home) applies to more people, I will start there and talk about mobile at some other time or the post would be too long……and boring!

Desktop Backup
As I described earlier this week, I have 4 internal drives in my MacPro Tower.
Drive 1) System/Applications
Drive 2) Media Files (Master)
Drive 3) Media Files (Copy)
Drive 4) Live Work (What I am working on currently and any media file that has been “processed”) I do not have processed images on either drive 2 or 3.
I use 3 backup programs.
1) SuperDuper
2) Chronosync
3) Apple’s Time Machine
As you would imagine, I use each of these for different reasons. SuperDuper and Chronosync are similar programs but I use both to ensure some programing bug in one of their releases doesn’t take my data down. I then use Time Machine as a way to save my work and in essence archive changes on drives 1,2 and 4 in case a mistake is made but not detected for several days/weeks.

Here is how I do it.
1) Everyday at 10:00 PM, after all the days work/editing is done, Chronosync runs a job that mirrors drive 2 to an external Drobo unit.
2) Everyday at 7:00AM, SuperDuper clones drive 2 to drive 3.
3) Everyday at 8:00 AM, SuperDuper creates a bootable clone of my system disk (drive 1) to an external G-Tech mini
4) Apple’s Time Machine runs 24/7 in the background on the other Drobo external drive

Thats it. Basically what this system gets me is piece of mind and redundancy without a lot of technological demands. Oh Yeah, every week, the drives are moved offsite and new ones start the process over. This way I have copies of everything out of the office in case something happens such as a leak, fire etc.

Whatever system you use, it is important that you start doing regular backups right away! Don’t wait till tomorrow, do them now!

Note: One of the reasons I use Chronosync is that it allows for verifications of copies. This is important. You don’t want to “drag and drop” as a strategy for backups. That does not ensure your files are actually copied. This is a big mistake many people make. And the larger the amount of “stuff” you drag and drop, the better the chance that something is not retrievable when you really need it. Please don’t drag and drop as a backup practice!

If all of this seems a little confusing to you, you are not alone. If you need help, send me a note and I will be happy to try and help you with your process. I thought about doing a video on this topic but Chase Jarvis did a great job of explaining this in a diagram and video form on his blog. Why recreate the wheel!
Here is the link: Chase Jarvis Backup

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