Backup solution

[Paul Randall]

Performing full backups to DVD is ridiculous in any real-world situation.
An external HD is the cheapest (cheaper than DVDs, for sure) and best way
to go. Get two and rotate them, with one stored off site.

However, for important files like the ones OP mentioned, creating one or
two sets of CDs or DVDs to keep them safe is a good idea. Make two sets
that are never used, stored in different locations. Make another one or
more sets to pass around and use daily, etc.

And include on the drive a program called DVDSig.exe and the list of MD5
checksums it produces. That allows quick and easy verification of the
integrity of all files on the disk.

-Paul Randall

 

[M.I.5¾]

Burn the photos to CD or DVD.

I have known CDs and DVDs to become unreadable in as little as 3 months
(branded disks as well).

A second harddrive or even an external harddrive would be just as prone to
catastrophic failure as the main drive. Some types of hardware failure in
the computer could take out both harddrives at the same time. External
drives can fail on their own, as happened to me recently with an external
drive that was less than 2 years old. Luckily it was only the electronics
in the external enclosure that failed and the data on the drive itself was
still intact, but the possibility of having lost everything in an instant
was there.

Indeed, which is why you make 2 copies to 2 hard disks. The likelihood of 2
drives failing simultaneously is vastly lower than just 1 failing.

My own personal preference is to backup using Acronis Trueimage* and make an
incremental backup alternately to each backup disk. Since I backup weekly,
that means that one disk has an image that is less than 1 week old and the
other has an image that is between 1 and 2 weeks old. The amount of new
files created on my home PC is such that the risk of the younger backup disk
failing and my having to restore an image that is 1 week older is acceptable
to me. You need to examine your own situation and decide what is an
acceptable risk.

My backup hard disks are large enough that I can use them to back up 3
different PCs.

Remember: it's not a back up unless it's backed up.

*though perfectly useable for backing up in a home environment, it is
neither designed for backing up nor intended for the purpose, and may be
unsuitable in a more demanding environment.

 

[RalfG]

There's bad luck and then there's bad luck. If you get my meaning. I
burned my first CDs in 1999 and the ones that weren't immediately turned
into coasters are still good. A couple or three of RWs didn't last very long
mind.

I was at the point of posting yesterday that this thread has been using the
concepts of Backup and Archiving interchangeably. If I understand the OP's
intent correctly what he wants to do is archive his digital photo
collection. Backing up to harddrive(s) is very convenient, I was doing that
myself on a different external drive, but I'd never consider it more than
temporary storage. I don't know the OPs situation but I could archive my own
current digital photo collection with triple redundancy on fewer than
30DVDs. For the cost of my external harddrive that failed I could have
burned about 900 regular DVDs (4000GB). Ironically these days if you can
catch a good sale, a 200+Gig external drive might cost only as much as a 100
disc spindle of good quality DVDs.

 

[M.I.5¾]

There's bad luck and then there's bad luck. If you get my meaning.
I burned my first CDs in 1999 and the ones that weren't immediately turned
into coasters are still good. A couple or three of RWs didn't last very
long mind.

I was at the point of posting yesterday that this thread has been using
the concepts of Backup and Archiving interchangeably. If I understand the
OP's intent correctly what he wants to do is archive his digital photo
collection. Backing up to harddrive(s) is very convenient, I was doing
that myself on a different external drive, but I'd never consider it more
than temporary storage. I don't know the OPs situation but I could archive
my own current digital photo collection with triple redundancy on fewer
than 30DVDs. For the cost of my external harddrive that failed I could
have burned about 900 regular DVDs (4000GB). Ironically these days if you
can catch a good sale, a 200+Gig external drive might cost only as much as
a 100 disc spindle of good quality DVDs.

I don't think we were considering archiving.

Many people fail to understand the concept of 'archiving'. Archiving is
making a copy essentially for posterity. It brings up a whole can of worms
all of its own. The main thing you have to consider is the 'archival life'
of the medium onto which you make your archive copy. This is vastly shorter
than you may think. The 'Archival life' of a medium is essentially that
period of time for which you can *guarantee* to be able to recover the data
from it. That is much shorter than you may think. The archival life of a
modern day sheet of paper is just 20 years. It *may* last longer, but you
can't guarantee it (modern paper self destructs because it contains acid
used in its manufacture - it's why it turns yellow (and brittle) with age).

My father was researching historical information about his home village. He
visited his local council's archives because some information he wanted was
contained on an eighty year old paper scroll contained in a polished
mahogany box. The archivist reached in the box, but as soon as he touched
the scroll, it shattered into dust.

The archival life of most computer media is vastly shorter than 20 years.
It's worth remembering that as media has progressed in the modern world,
that the archival life has got shorter and shorter in the name of lowering
production costs.

Egyptian stone tablets can be read with relative ease, but an eight inch
floppy? Hmm, tricky. Even if you can find a drive, the chances of the
magnetic image being intact are fairly low.

 

[RalfG]

I think your definition of archiving is a touch arbitrary. The only
requirement is for the long term storage of the data files, or copies of the
files, in question.

Paper doesn't last, film doesn't last, magnetic media doesn't last and
CD/DVD media won't last forever either. The point is irrelevent. What you
miss is that we are not just passive observers of this inevitable decay. My
photo slides and prints are fading so I scan them to make digital copies. I
know that my harddrive will ultimately fail so I store copies of those files
on CD/DVD. I know that CDs and DVDs may eventually degrade so periodically I
will renew those copies onto new CDs, or whatever medium becomes current in
the future.

Production costs naturally go down as sales volume goes up. I think you've
got some erroneous preconceptions in that regard. Changes in technology are
making CD/DVD media more long lived, not less. The manufacturers of CD/DVD
media are talking in terms of 100+ years archival lifespan for the current
best quality media. Even half of that time would take it well beyond my
point of caring about what happens to my files.

Not to extend this too much farther off-topic, as long as we're talking
anecdotes about paper, I have some personal papers that are already more
than 20 years old (school notes), an encyclopedia set in excellent condition
that is 80+ years old and a mass-printed one volume history, on cheap paper,
a bit yellowed and certainly fragile but basically intact, in which the
original owner inscribed his name and date in 1880. Admittedly the last two
examples don't neccessarily qualify as "modern" paper, but modern paper is
also made in archival grades and such are expected to last well over 100
years.

 

[M.I.5¾]

I think your definition of archiving is a touch arbitrary. The only
requirement is for the long term storage of the data files, or copies of
the files, in question.

Most people's idea of archiving is relatively short term, but that isn't
really archiving. True archiving is where records are held for future
historians to examine. 19th and 20th (and now 21st) century records are
proving to be a nightmare for historians.

Paper doesn't last, film doesn't last, magnetic media doesn't last and
CD/DVD media won't last forever either. The point is irrelevent. What you
miss is that we are not just passive observers of this inevitable decay.
My photo slides and prints are fading so I scan them to make digital
copies. I know that my harddrive will ultimately fail so I store copies of
those files on CD/DVD. I know that CDs and DVDs may eventually degrade so
periodically I will renew those copies onto new CDs, or whatever medium
becomes current in the future.

This is what archivists are having to do as we speak. Unfortunately the
volume of historical records is far greater tham the ability to monitor them
and copy them in time, so it is not a viable solution.

Production costs naturally go down as sales volume goes up. I think you've
got some erroneous preconceptions in that regard. Changes in technology
are making CD/DVD media more long lived, not less. The manufacturers of
CD/DVD media are talking in terms of 100+ years archival lifespan for the
current best quality media. Even half of that time would take it well
beyond my point of caring about what happens to my files.

The manufacturers can only *claim* such archival lives. But ultimately,
there is only one way the true archival life can be determined. Even
accelerated life testing does not give a true picture. BASF produced blank
CDs a few years ago with long claimed archival lives. It was these that
developed amnesia after just 6 months, so you can't always rely on what the
marketing men claim.

Not to extend this too much farther off-topic, as long as we're talking
anecdotes about paper, I have some personal papers that are already more
than 20 years old (school notes), an encyclopedia set in excellent
condition that is 80+ years old and a mass-printed one volume history, on
cheap paper, a bit yellowed and certainly fragile but basically intact, in
which the original owner inscribed his name and date in 1880. Admittedly
the last two examples don't neccessarily qualify as "modern" paper, but
modern paper is also made in archival grades and such are expected to last
well over 100 years.

An individual survivor is not guide to archival life. Archival life is a
minimum not a maximum. To be strictly accurate, archival grade paper isn't
made the modern way - it's made the old fashioned way (one of the reasons
it's expensive).