I recently had two different drives go bad. Like BADDD. Like only fragments of files were recoverable.
They were archives, but the loss of data still made me sad. Recovering the drive through a service was possible, but also expensive and when I had them evaluated, many files that were noted as unrecoverable. This made me re-think my backup strategy once again.
My new rule is that every drive that contains important data must have at least one backup either in the cloud or in our fireproof safe.
I use software to automate these backups because if it's up to me to remember to do it, it won't likely get done. 🙈
The first software I use is Backblaze. Backblaze is cloud storage, meaning your files are backed up to a server over the internet. With Backblaze running on my computer, files are backed up automatically throughout the day.
I keep my edited JPEG files on a separate drive and use Backblaze for just that drive and a few select folders on my computer containing important files. The downside of Backblaze is that if you delete an image from the drive being backed up, it is removed from Backblaze after 30 days. This means it's not good for archival backup.
My slow upload speeds coupled with the large files from my R5 and my tendency to lean on the shutter mean
Backblaze is not ideal for me for backing up RAW files, so I back those up to local drives using Chronosync. With Chronosync you set which drives you want backed up when, and it runs automatically. I back up to 2 drives and rotate them in and out of our fireproof safe.
Finally, I use Time Machine, which is installed on every Apple Computer, to back up just my computer. I probably use this software most often to recover files on my computer I accidentally overwrote or put in the trash and later wanted to recover.
The main thing is that you have all your important files in two places! If you have the speed for it, backing everything up to the cloud is ideal, but if you don't have the bandwidth, local drives rotated either in a fireproof safe or off-site location is a good alternative.
Note: I am currently working on a standalone video course on Workflow, which includes a more in-depth discussion on backup strategy, so watch for that announcement in a future newsletter!
