I know you don’t think you will need one or you can put it off. Please don’t. I’ve received so many emails since I started teaching backup from thankful readers and students who took the time to backup and were protected from file disasters because they did.  You just never know what can happen…

You don’t think it will happen to you or anyone close to you, but last fall one of our close family members experienced this:

We are so grateful they weren’t home when it happened. Computers and hard drives were completely gone. The firefighters were able to save many of their displayed photos, yet if it wasn’t for a family blog, they wouldn’t have many of their digital images. You can read more about it here.

The lesson is this – we all think we have the time and don’t have to worry about backup. The truth is we never know what can happen. It may not be a devastating fire but just a simple hard drive failure. It’s better to be safe than sorry!

So today I’m sharing my full lesson on backup which will give you everything you need to know to protect your files. I hope you take the time to create a backup plan!

************************************************************

Let’s talk about THE MOST IMPORTANT part of any memory keeper’s system: Backup. In fact if I were an evangelist, and could only preach about ONE thing, this would be it!  If there’s only ONE thing you take from this and change about your photos let it be valuing your photos enough to get a backup plan.

Believe in backup enough to have automatic off-site backup. Believe enough that you have automatic backup on an external drive. The keyword here is AUTOMATIC. If it isn’t auto, you probably won’t do it.

It still amazes me that every time I write about backup plans here I get emails and comments from readers saying they are going to start their backup plan. A few months later, I write another post and get comments from the same people saying the same thing! Please don’t let your story be the same. The saddest comments I get are the ones about how readers thought they would “get to it soon” and then never did.

Why You Need Backup

According to a study by Gartner in 2006 annual failure rates (AFRs) for desktop computers are about five percent in a computer’s first year, and twelve percent in its fourth year. The same study found that laptop computers have an annual failure rate of 15 percent in the first year and 22 percent by the fourth year. Additionally, laptops are more prone to theft and loss. The FBI, Gartner and others estimate laptop theft rates at between three to seven percent. However, either way, desktop or laptop, if a thief steals your computer and peripherals you lose everything.

I could write a long drawn out post explaining my different methods of backup, but if you’re anything like me that would put you to sleep, so I created this visual picture of how things are currently working in my personal backup plan:

Now we will cover different facets of this backup plan and drill down to share a little more of the how and why of each.

Local Backup

The first part of a backup plan is having a local backup. For Mac users I recommend Time Machine. For Windows users I recommend Syncback Pro. The most important part of both of these solutions is the word automatic. Your backups need to be happening on an automatic basis without you thinking about it! I also recommend getting an external hard drive specifically just for backups.

[message_box type="note" icon="yes" close="Close"]HELPFUL LINKS: Time Machine tips, Time Machine Video tutorial by Apple, Syncback tips, and Syncback Screenshots.[/message_box]

[hr]

Off-Site Backup

Local backup is a great plan but it doesn’t cover all the bases. You could still lose your data to theft, fire, flood, earthquake, etc. Your best bet is to have another copy of your data off-site. My favorite solution for off-site backup is an online company called Backblaze. I’ve used three online off-site backup companies through the years and Backblaze is my favorite for the following reasons:

• My backup is truly unlimited for one set price.

• I can backup my external hard drive no problem.

• It’s the fastest I’ve found. Backblaze developed a unique FSCAN Engine that ensures no slowdown of your computer. How fast you can backup is limited only by your Internet connection. Typical home connections can backup online 2 – 4 GB per day. Backblaze provides a throttle option if you want to use more or less of your Internet connection.

• I don’t have to tell it what to backup – it figures that all out automatically. In fact, Backblaze de-duplicates, compresses, and backs up incrementally to backup online as efficiently as possible. Have the same photo stored twice? Backblaze will de-duplicate to back it up just once; if you restore, it will be put back in both places. Have some large files? Backblaze will compress them when possible. Change a file multiple times? Backblaze will only back up the changes.

I know there are other online backup companies many of you use for your backup: Crash Plan, Mozy, Dolly Drive, Carbonite and more. Bottom line – in my experience I’ve not found a faster and more complete solution than Backblaze.

Another option for off-site backups is to have duplicate USB local drives backed up with Time Machine or Syncback and then regularly switching them back and forth with an extra drive from a family member’s home or place of work. This can work and it is better than no off-site plan. However, it isn’t automatic, so there is a big chance it won’t always happen.

The thing I love about online backup is everyday that software program is looking and finding changes to my hard drive and backing them up – so I don’t have to worry at all about it! Do what works best for you. Again the most important thing to remember is just finding a solution – ANY off-site solution!

[message_box type="note" icon="yes" close="Close"]HELPFUL LINKS: Backblaze, Crash Plan, Dolly Drive, Mozy, and Carbonite.[/message_box]
[hr]

Archive Backup

The only thing I archive from my photo library are project folders.  For example, when I shoot a season of basketball photos, I will often move the non-relevant photos to my archive drive.  Another example would be a senior session done for a friend.  After processing and sharing the images, I will archive my copies.

I not only backup to an archive drive, whenever I export to the drive, I also backup the information to my Archive Backup Drive.  This way in case either drive fails, I am safe.  The one thing about this drive is that if it is ever stolen, I would lose the images.  However, because these are photos in the past that don’t have much relevance to my current photo library, it is a chance I’m willing to take.

If you want to learn more about protecting and organizing your digital images or scrapbooking supplies, just scroll down to the bottom of the page here.

It was late March and a good day was about to go bad for Bridgette. A thief had broken into her home. No one was home, thank goodness, but the thief got away with several items including her iMac and her prized DSLR camera. The police dutifully took the report and assigned a detective to the case. 

Little did the thief know that Bridgette’s iMac had Backblaze Online Backup installed with the Locate-my-Computer feature set to “Mapping is On”. Using another computer, Bridgette simply used a browser to log into her Backblaze account. Once there she clicked on “Locate my Computer” and was presented with few simple guidelines,

1. Prepare a restore of her data,
2. Change her Backblaze account password and
3. Report the IP address of her stolen computer to the police.

She gave the police the IP Address information she collected, but was told that IP address tracking would take a few days as her ISP would have to provide the address of the thief.

But, Bridgette didn’t need to wait a few days. The Backblaze Locate-my-Computer feature also allowed Bridgette to “Map This”. When a stolen computer is connected to a Wi-Fi connection, “Map This” can show a street map along with the longitude and latitude of the location of the computer. When Bridgette gave this information the police they were able to quickly locate the thief without having to wait for the ISP to provide the location.

The police surprised the thief and recovered most of Bridgette’s property. After a bit of police department paperwork Bridgette was reunited with her DSLR camera and her iMac with Backblaze Online Backup. 

The Locate-my-Computer feature is included in the Backblaze Online Backup service for no additional charge. To see if your system has the Locate-my-Computer feature activated just log in to your Backblaze account and see if the “Mapping is On” button is selected. We at Backblaze hope that you will never have to use the Locate-my-Computer feature, but if you do, please follow Bridgette’s lead and report the information received from Backblaze to law enforcement and let them find your system.

To celebrate, Backblaze is offering a coupon that will save new customers 10% off their initial purchase for a limited time.

Code: locateme10

Expiration: 31 May 2012

Applies to: Initial purchase only

Discounts: One month – savings $0.50

One year – savings $5.00

Two years – savings $9.50

Notes: The Coupon Code must be applied to the sale on or BEFORE the expiration date.

You can sign up for Backblaze here. Please note this is an affiliate link – it helps me to keep the lights on around here! I think that I should also disclose that I’ve been a happy Backblaze customer for almost a year now – I can’t imagine my online life without them – Backblaze is truly a service I wholeheartedly adore.