New Year's Backup Plan

If you are using a digital camera or making digital files for printmaking, how you backup your photos should always be on your mind.

A good file backup plan has multiple layers of protection to deal with multiple modes of failure, because if something can go wrong, it will. Lately, I’ve been thinking of adding a new layer of protection to my backup strategy. I’m calling it the New Year's Backup, and it’s so simple anyone can do it. It’s the computer equivalent of a 30-Minute Meal with Rachel Ray.

Here’s the Recipe:

Buy a new hard drive. Attach it to your computer. Make a copy of all the new photos you took in 2008. Then, detach the hard drive, label it "2008 photos," put it at an off-site location like your safe deposit box or your mom’s house, and don't touch it again until you need it.

Is that easy enough?

If you are not already doing a regular backup, you should already be ordering a hard drive and using my backup recipe.

What about the experienced chef? Do you really need to do this, on top of all the precautions you are already taking?

My answer is yes, and thinking too hard about it will be your undoing.

Here’s a list of reasons to convince you:

- Way back when, before digital, pro photographers spent thousands of dollars making dupes of their best photos. Even then, they didn’t have a backup as good as a complete copy of their year's shooting off-site.

- How much did you spend on travel last year? (gas, lodging, meals, airfare)

- How many hours did you you spend making new photographs?

- How much did you spend on new camera equipment?

- How long would the pain last from forever losing even a few of your photographs?

Now take any one of these costs and compare it to the cost of hard drive. For $75-$150 (check our dealnews.com for a good deal) you can have a complete copy of every image you made this year. Most Americans spend more on satellite TV every month.

It may seem too simple, but sometimes the simplest solutions are the ones that work when everything else fails...and it’s a New Year's Resolution you can actually keep.