How to backup photos ... or anything else for that matter
Very Simple. Use a pen drive. If you have a USB memory stick or a portable hard drive then it is simple enough to copy your photo collection from the computer to the portable device. Job done. You now have a duplicate copy of your photo collection. After creating a backup I browse the backup folder in an image viewer and in my file manager just to check that the images copied over ok and that they are all readable
I have had bad experiences with DVDs and don't trust them. I have seen brand name CD and DVD media fail to open after burning music and photo collections and can say for sure that I would not feel comfortable relying on them for archiving my collections. In the past I have came across several DVD spindles where every single disk in the pack was useless. It happens
The portable memory device should be stored in a different location from the computer in case of fire, theft or other catastrophic risk factors. If you work in an office then you can easily take a portable memory device home with you at the end of the day knowing that you will always have your backup if things do go wrong back at the office. If you work from home then you could keep your memory device in a metal case such as cashbox and store this somewhere safe. As long as you have total confidence that your memory device is safe from physical damage then you greatly reduce the risks and can stop worrying
Online backup services
This is the way to go if you want real peace of mind because for a small monthly fee your data is stored encrypted on servers in a secure data centre. This is akin to storing your readies in Fort Knox. Some of these online backup providers will give you a gigabyte or two of free storage to tempt you to sign up and if you later need more disk space you can buy it for about $5 - $10 per month. If this sounds interesting then you might want to check out this list of the Top 6 Online Backup Services
These providers give you a software application which you download and install locally on your computer. From there you simply instruct the software what folders to monitor for backup. The next time you connect to the internet your local and remote folders are synchronised and Bob's your uncle. Easy. I don't use online backup services personally but I would do if I was running a business
Backup scheduling
The first backup is the simplest because you are copying your whole photo collection to the portable device in one go. This is known as a full backup and is the most important one. The frequency of future backups is largely determined by your work routine and requires a little planning so that everything runs smoothly.
If you only have a small photo collection and occasionally edit the odd image then it can be simpler just to copy over each individual image which you have been working on to the backup device. You can even overwrite the entire backup folder without having any detrimental effect on the quality of the images. Some people are under the misguided impression that if they overwrite JPEG image multiple times that the image quality degrades but this is not the case. You only suffer a loss in quality each time you edit and then re-save JPEG images
If you have a large photo collection where you are frequently editing lots of images then you need to take a more fine grained approach. Performing a full backup every time you edit a couple of images is not efficient. In this case you only need to perform an incremental backup. For this to work smoothly you need to apply some structure to your image collection by choosing a folder structure that is clear you from the outset. If you have been on two photo shoots since you did a full backup then you only need to copy two folders over to the backup device. This makes much more sense
SyncToy for Windows - a nice little free backup utility
This is a neat way to backup photos on a Windows computer. Back in the day when I used Windows I found it to be a reliable way to maintain backups that could be quickly synchronised after each editing session. SyncToy is a reliable backup program that lets you run incremental backups in a jiffy
I used this tool for years and did not have any problems with it. What I did have problems with was re-installing Windows every few months and reloading all my photos ;-(
You can use any storage medium you like as long as it appears as a disk drive in Windows Explorer. You can use a pen drive, external hard drive or even an extra internal hard drive. With two internal hard drives they are usually called drive C and drive D. The main drive on Windows is always is C so the backup drive will be D.
SyncToy is very simple as you can see from the screenshot. All you need to do is create a folder pair, choose a backup method and click the "Run" button to perform the backup. It's like Tommy Cooper would say: "just like that".
Tips on using SyncToy
Always use "synchronize" as the backup action
Always edit photos in the left folder - the main drive C.
Never edit photos on the right folder - this is the backup folder
Hit the Run button after every photo editing session.
You can also use SyncToy for backing up all your business and personal data as well as your images.
Caution
SyncToy can bite you if you dont read the manual. Make sure you understand it before using it for real
