If you run a business, especially a digitally creative one, chances are good that you depend on the data in your computer staying safe and secure; but when was the last time you backed up your system? I must admit, I haven’t been the best at backing up. My web development and business files are actually kept on a 4GB flash drive, which makes it super easy to back up… I just copy the files over to a backup folder on my PC every now and then.
If, however, I’m looking to break into the photography and video business, I know there must be a more robust backup strategy in place for all the data that would need to be saved and protected. One of the first steps to think about is how the backup system will connect to the computer. I personally plan on using USB 2.0 until I get a desktop system that will support Firewire 800 or eSATA. Determining how the backup solution will connect will help determine what options are available. I’ve researched the possibilities and came up with the following options (in no particular order):
1. Two Separate External Hard Drives ($150 for 1TB x2)
This backup strategy revolves around having two seperate hard drives and either a) alternating between backups, so that one drive would have a current backup copy and the other drive would have a copy that is a week older or b) both drives would have the exact same information on them (the most up-to-date information). The problem with option B is that it requires twice the amount of time to backup data. The positive of using two external hard drives is that you can take one with you or store it in a separate location in case of fire or flood of your current workspace. The other positive is price; external drives are usually cheap because they are basically a normal hard drive with just a controller card.
2. RAID Solution ($400 / $600)
A RAID solution is similar to the above in that it uses two or more seperate hard drives, but you don’t manually have to copy data to both the drives, that is done for you already using a software/hardware combination. Popular options available are GSafe or Drobo. The main downfalls of this option are price! The positive side is that Drobo allows you to increase storage size as your needs grow by allowing you to change out hard drives at any time. The GSafe allows you to take one of the hard drives with you though for safe keeping, while I’m not sure of the Drobo allows that option.
There are many other options available for file backups, like online cloud storage, but for my needs, I think that the above two options are the best. If I had to get an option today, I’d go with the two external hard drives. For now though, since I don’t have the resources to get either, I’ll make it a point to start backing up the files I have more often to the 250GB drives that I have at my disposal already. Back to the point of “First, Use the Equipment You Already Have“!