dlq04

I've got a rather old Transcend 3.5 StoreJet with an 80GB capacity removable hard drive that I use as a backup to a backup to a backup. I only store addresses, genealogy, and photos (things that can't be replaced) on it and keep it in a location outside the house. It shows 20GB used. It's been a while since I did a backup. The last time I did it I had 6,600 photos. Today I backed up 10,000 photos. Which means I was adding 3,400 photos. When I dragged the new photo file into it, it did so in the blink of an eye. Like one second! How can that be possible? When I open it, it looks like everything is there. But it still leaves me wondering if it's there. And, it still shows 20GB used?

boltonblue

the fact that the amount of storage used didn't change would make me a little suspicious.
plugging it into another computer ( if possible) will tell you if the data is there though.

I've been looking at how to do our backups of late.
I'm looking at amazons solution. Unlimited capacity for 59.99 a year... hmmm

Scooterboy

On my desktop I use a Western Digital portable hard drive and I also backup to Carbonite.

On my MacBook Pro I use a Seagate portable hard drive.

I agree that I would plug the hard drive into another computer to see exactly what is on it. I have found that with the cost of external hard drives being rather cheap it is advisable to replace it every so often. Better safe than sorry.

cosmomiller

Layers. I refuse to submit to the cloud.

I have several hard drive backups. I rotate them or at least keep the ones in the firesafe up to date every few months. I only use mobile phones with removable storage cards which go into the firesafe. (Note 4) So do the full chips on my camera. All photos go to the computer(s) and then on the hard drive backups. I have used Time Machine on Macs a number of times not only for new computers or replacing mother boards/hard drives but also to find something from (no pun intended) some "time" ago long deleted or lost. Great application.

I do have some CDs with photos but they have a life span of five years (gold ones, not silver or blue) so I will upload and re-burn the CDs/DVDs not only to take advantage of the newer software but to add a fresh CD platform. I have run across a few older CDs that will not open or are unsupported. That is a real problem for the future. You may have a copy but no key to unlock it as technology changes. I came across some nice CD/DVD sets I purchased at various museums around they world. I discovered after 10-15 years they will not work with windows or Mac. All I had were coaster sets.

So I also take the time to print (at a photo service) high quality prints of the classic shots (relatives, family history, kids, etc) They may burn up on the wall of a house fire but they also exist digitally. If they don't incinerate, they may be the few that will be passed on.

BTW, I found out the hard way NOT to have a bank safe deposit box. Under California law, a bank is released of liability when it turns over lost or unclaimed box contents to the state. The state will destroy anything and everything that does not have "commercial value". Photos, estate documents, papers, videos, all are destroyed on arrival. I had a box that was split without my knowledge during a bank move and the contents went to the state. I discovered that after the fact. When I showed up to claim my assets, they were gone. The state had a nice 3 page list of the contents that were destroyed.

Typical scenario (according to the state) Grandparents have box with all kinds of stuff in it. They die. Family comes in, settles the estate, sells the house, puts in address change with post office. After 6 months address change expires and is not renewed. One year after grandparents death the bank sends annual safe deposit box fee. No answer. Letters returned. Bank sends contents to state. State destroys on arrival all photos, wills, etc, etc that the family would have loved to have.

Bottom line from the state? Have a firesafe at home, preferably an in-ground safe or one not as exposed to fire.

dlq04

I do not have second computer. Wished I did. I also wished I had looked at the amount of storage used before I started; instead I just relied on my hand written note saying I'd used 20GB. I may have rounded up from a number slightly lower (i.e. 19.x). When I was done this time it read 20.2 GB. It was the lightening speed of the transfer that got to me on the photos. When I did the genealogy it took a few seconds and I could visually see it going over.

dlq04

I’m feeling much more comfortable now . . . . even without checking it on another computer.

I have a 64GB SanDisk thumb drive that I got for Christmas last year. When I got it I did a backup of my photos (9,000) and videos (165). It totaled 1.4GB. Knowing that, the 3400 photos I added to the Transcend would be less than .5GB, so it would not have changed the grand total much.

I mentioned early I do lots of full back ups of my desktop Mac. First I have Time Machine on the Mac. Then I have two portable Seagate’s, which I swap from time to time. One is always doing daily backup off the Mac and one is always in the home safe. Both are password protected. When it comes to photos, I’m really covered. Besides the two Seagate’s and SanDisk, I also back them up to iCloud, and my Transcend.

Lots of over kill. Probably stems from the time at work when I loaded a brand new floppy disk onto my work PC and it had the Monkey Virus on it. It destroyed all my work records that were not backed up. The start of a new year is always a reminder to me to make sure I've got the prior year backed up.

tof

Kudos from an IT guy, Dave. Backup is far too often overlooked on home computers. And multiple rotating backups can save you from malware that gets backed up.

With the cost of 128Gb flash drives down below thirty bucks there is no reason not to do backups of important files and documents.

cosmomiller

It takes about a week for hostage malware to surface demanding payment to get your computer back. With an isolated back up you can tell them to pack sand and wipe your infected computer clean (or replace HD) and start over with the safe backup.

Lovetodrive2000

I automatically sync all my photos and documents to an external drive every evening......

And occasionally to a memory stick!

Heyitsgary

Those are small photo files - less than 150 KB/file? I only wish. 1 photo for me drops a 23-25MB file and another 1.5MB file. I went to an ice carving demonstration at Grounds for Sculpture (Founded by Steward Johnson) . I took 380 images. Total 10.2 GB!!!! I'll pare it down eventually.

For storage, I use a RAID 1 NAS enclosure with 3 TB (x2) of disk. I can connect to it from just about anything on my network for photos, music, etc.. If one disk goes bad, I rebuild a new one from the old one. I store almost nothing on the PC itself other than things I can easily reinstall or rebuild. All data is on the NAS. I have barely started looking at online storage solutions.