Nevermind.
I have a little external hard drive that my mommy got me for my birthday after I nearly drowned Chris' laptop in Decaf Hazelnut Cream Coffee a couple of months ago, but once I hooked it up and started talking about moving files over on to the external hard drive and deleting them off of our computer's hard drive, Chris got nervous. He says that he's pretty sure that external hard drives are the first things to kick the bucket- and if all of our files are on there, then we'd be really screwed if and when that were to happen.
So, now I'm in a pickle. What are external hard drives FOR if not to make room on your computer's internal hard drive? Am I missing something here? Do I need a row of 6 external hard drives sitting next to the computer so that I can backup my files 6 TIMES "just in case" before I move them off of the eMac?
It's times like this that I start really missing 35mm film. There is nothing worse than that feeling you get when you realize some very important files have evaporated into thin air and you can never get them back. A few months ago I realized that I have NO pictures of myself from when I was pregnant with Ezra. They have all disappeared somewhere. Didn't get transferred onto the new computer or didn't get burned onto a CD along the way. The only evidence I have are the 3 or 4 crappy pictures that I printed to stick in Ezra's baby book.
And, a couple of days ago, I went to find the little video I'd edited together from Chris and I's wedding, and that has vanished into thin air as well. Poof! Gone-o! Sniff.
So, any advice? What do you all do to protect your files while not crowding your hard drive?
4 comments:
Here is what I do. But then, I have a live-in sys admin. ;)
1 hard drive for a "system drive" - this is where Windows lives
1 hard drive for a "data drive" - there is where all my photos, music, etc. lives
That way I can easily swap out, backup, etc from the data drive. And if Windows craps out, it doesn't affect my data. Both of those are internal btw.
For backups, I typically use DVDs.
Chris is right. About the external hard drives. I am a picture-taking FANATIC, so Hubby bought me an external hard drive, which I promptly moved 2 1/2 YEARS worth of pictures onto so as to not, you know, CLUTTER the internal hard drive.
A few weeks ago, the external drive kicked the bucket. We took it into a computer repair place, and they said they could TRY to repair it IN THE BAY AREA, because no where in Reno has the capability, and it would cost a mere $2500.
UM, RIGHT. Lots of tears shed. I am currently in picture-finding mode, scouring my internal hard drive for any and all pictures to burn onto CDs. It is horrible.
So, I feel your pain...and I will be anxious to read what people advise on this!
The external hard drive should be for backup only...add another hard drive to your computer if it will allow, or replace it with a bigger hard drive... or get a new computer with more hard drive space.
Love, Mom
i'm a photographer for a living. so, if i lost all my hard work i would probably do more than cry (bye-bye cruel world).
here's my current plan of attack:
i have 3 externals (b/c 2 got too full!) one of them has stuff that wouldn't be earth shattering to loose. one has my weddings/client work and the other has my paper files (contracts, etc). Now. I have a hard copy of the contracts (and important papers) and then put all my HARD WORK on DVDS as extra cautionary back-up. because, honestly, how many externals can my studio apartment hold?! in my opinion, this is the way to go!
Post a Comment