Today’s post is about backing up image files or photos. I hope that this information will be useful to someone…maybe my clients, potential clients or other photographers. This is a breakdown of how I personally choose to back-up my files. It is not necessarily the “perfect” way or the “most correct” way and it is certainly not the “only” way…it is simply “my way”. So far, this has worked well for me, but I am always looking to improve my system or update it. Anyone who would like to share their method can comment here or join my discussion on FACEBOOK. This discussion is not limited to professional photographers, it is for anyone who takes pictures with any kind of camera and for any reason. Anyone can participate. I believe that everyone who takes photos, whether personally or professionally, should be archiving or backing up 100% of their images. Below I have outlined how I back-up images for my professional shoots for clients. I have a less thorough process when backing up my personal photos, but everything is backed up.

Here is the basic breakdown of my system. Once a shoot is finished my back-up work flow begins :
*start a new project/job folder (in Adobe Lightroom) and label it with client’s name
*immediately download all RAW images off memory cards into project folder
*export all RAW files into a project folder on an external hard drive
*burn all RAW files onto back-up DVD’s
*RAW image edit & work flow begins (this process will be blogged on at a later date)
*Final edited images are exported as jpegs and sent via Photo CD or FTP to my lab
*Final edited images are saved by me in two places : an external hard drive and burned onto DVDs, which are stored in a fire safe at my studio
*Also, my professional photo lab offers lifetime archival with every photo event that I submit to them (this is a third back-up system for me)

Here are just a few of the many DVD’s I have stored. I pulled them out of my firesafe and took a photo to show how nicely they stack in the Slimline CD Cases. I use the slim cases because they take up less room than the large cases and this is important for storage concerns.

Every DVD I burn is throughly labeled. Whether it is a personal back-up or a professional shoot, I label every DVD with all necessary information. For professional shoots, I always include the Client’s name(s)…date of shoot…place of shoot…how many back-up DVD’s in event and # of image files on each DVD. (In this photo I blacked out my client info, but you get the idea…I have a bit of OCD when it comes to attention to detail)

I would strongly recommend a firesafe for your studio, if you do not use an off-site facility to keep your back-up DVD’s.

Also I keep this leather file box in my file safe. It contains all my important client documents, such as copies of their contracts, package agreements and proof of payment. Although I have scanned all these papers and filed them on my computer in client folders, I still like to keep hard copies of everything. (The decorative folders are just my way of adding a little fun & pep to my filing system.)

This is one of my external hard drives, the Apple Time Capsule. I blogged about it back in January and everyone knows how much I love…love…love APPLE. (Note: I only stood up my Time Capsule to get a better photo of the apple logo.)

Of course this is the proper way to lay it. :))

I also have the LACIE brand of external hard drives. There are many other choices, but this is what I’ve found to be reliable. You can google search “external hard drives” if you want to compare and search other brands.

I hope this was helpful to someone. I’ve never had another photographer walk me through any of this, so I spent many hours online researching external hard drives and trying to decide on a dependable back-up system. I am still trying to figure things out, so take this as more of a guideline for backing up photo files. Find a system that will work for you and your needs. Good Luck!