dumb backup ?

[jann1033]

since i back up my computer weekly is there any reason to also back up lightroom additionally? and since 99.9% of what i do on my computer is photo work is there really any reason to back it up so often? should i just be backing up lightroom weekly and forget the computer back up? i have backup disks all over the place here and feel like i am single handedly keeping the dvd manufacturers in business
thanks

 

[seashoreCM]

If you know where (in what folders) your work is going into then you can back up just those folders every week and perhaps back up the whole computer once every three months or maybe six months.

(For those who are a little more computer savvy) You might want to consider three or four detachable (external) hard drives for data backup. Rotate your backups through them if you don't want to copy all the stuff to each drive each week. Using hard drives you can even back up just the files that have changed, not the whole folder. Earlier stuff will still be on the drive from the last time.

Digital camera hints: http://www.cockam.com/digicam.htm

 

[jann1033]

If you know where (in what folders) your work is going into then you can back up just those folders every week and perhaps back up the whole computer once every three months or maybe six months.

(For those who are a little more computer savvy) You might want to consider three or four detachable (external) hard drives for data backup. Rotate your backups through them if you don't want to copy all the stuff to each drive each week. Using hard drives you can even back up just the files that have changed, not the whole folder. Earlier stuff will still be on the drive from the last time.

Digital camera hints: http://www.cockam.com/digicam.htm

i think it does an incremental backup but it still takes a lot of disks probably due to my prolific photographic addiction i'm using vista, if that makes any difference...
unrelated except in the dumbness catagory...if i have an external drive i don't use much ( ie maybe photos from a few yrs ago i don't want to delete but have them online or someplace) is it necessary to keep it connected to the computer or can i just pull it out and connect when i need something on it? will it up the change for it to crash by taking it off and on?

 

[NateNLogansDad]

External Hard Drive should be disconnected when not in use. You may want to look into a PC with a RAID array. It won't be cheaper up front but would be MUCH more convenient in the long run. Pretty much you can have multiple drives constantly backing themselves up. If one drive goes down just unplug it and the next drive kicks in and you can't tell the difference. Then you get a drive to replace the bad one and it backs up the backup by itself. Clear as mud huh It's used a lot on servers in business and more and more by gamers on their personal boxes.

 

[EnnEss]

External Hard Drive should be disconnected when not in use. You may want to look into a PC with a RAID array. It won't be cheaper up front but would be MUCH more convenient in the long run. Pretty much you can have multiple drives constantly backing themselves up. If one drive goes down just unplug it and the next drive kicks in and you can't tell the difference. Then you get a drive to replace the bad one and it backs up the backup by itself. Clear as mud huh It's used a lot on servers in business and more and more by gamers on their personal boxes.

Pretty common and its actually not even cost prohibitive, space wise its actually cheaper than the external method for materials and its a heck of a lot faster than dealing with external drives which bottle neck through usb.