New Year stuff.
- January 4th, 2010
- Posted in Uncategorized
- By Edie
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I’ve changed the metadata presets on LightRoom, started a new catalog and made it the default, reset the file numbering on my camera, and installed a 1TB hard drive in my old Mac G4. This year I want to improve my post-processing skills, focusing on B&W images. I also want to improve my understanding of what I consider the math of photography–but I’m not sure where to start.
I also want to learn how to use the video feature on my Canon T1i; I think a basic understanding of film making may help my still image work. I’m not really interested in becoming a videographer, but a broad knowledge base can inform your speciality.
I’m trying to come up with a plan for backing up my hard drives; especially my photos. At the risk of sounding paranoid, I really must consider what I would do in an emergency here in Yosemite. We’ve had fires, rockfalls and floods here in the past that have lead to evacuations. While I live a very spare life, there are some things that are irreplaceable, my photos being one of them.
Finally, I’ll be in the market for a Mac Pro Intel Quad Core machine very soon. I can’t afford a new one, but I’ve been lurking on eBay to get an idea of prices for used and refurbished units. Should any of my readers know of one, I’d love to hear from you. It must be Intel processor, at least 2 duo-cores. I want to upgrade to LightRoom 3, Snow Leopard, and try out Google Chrome, all of which require Intel processors. It doesn’t matter what software is loaded on it, but it would be nice if it were already running Snow Leopard. Hard drive space isn’t that big a deal, either, SATA drives are cheap. It should have 2 Gb RAM, though. An Airport Extreme card would be sweet, but I won’t kvetch if it doesn’t have one.
Here’s to a new year and a new decade. Here’s to constant improvement, and getting better as time goes on.
As you say, SATA drives are cheap. I’d definitely consider getting an external drive (with an eSATA interface if possible). Better, get two. Then you can copy your photos occasionally and keep one drive with a friend somewhere not too close to home. That’s probably the only way your photos will be really safe from fire or the many natural hazards that are part of the area.
You can either just copy the files, or use some sort of backup software which might automate things a bit.
Sorry if you have already thought way beyond this, but loss of photos is something I take seriously too
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Happy New Year, Edie. Hope this is a great year for you.
Sharon
What I do for backup: I have a laptop (I use Windows rather than Mac, but I suspect the principles are the same), which I keep in a case near my bed. I also have a mini 1TB portable USB drive, which I keep with the laptop. Every time I update my LR catalog, I sync the image folder to that external drive, then unplug it and put it back in the laptop case. The drive, by the way, also includes copies of the install CDs for LR, Photoshop, plus any tools I use (plus images of the two DVDs of films I directed, for that matter). It’s set up so that, if I were awakened in the middle of the night with an evacuation order, I could simply sling the laptop case over my shoulder and make my exit, with everything safe.
I also burn DVD-R copies of all my images, and a DVD+RW of my latest LR catalog files, and keep them in a case in my car’s trunk, in case disaster hits when I’m far from home.
Needless to say, I also keep backups of all this on an external HD attached to my computer, but that isn’t exactly for emergency purposes.
I may eventually get another external drive, as Steve Ryan says, and give it to a friend for safekeeping, but I would think keeping it updated would be a major pain.
But I don’t think you can be too careful — several years ago, my mom (who lives in north San Diego County) had to evacuate her home for about a week due to wildfires that came within a block or two of her house. She didn’t lose anything, thankfully, but a photographer who lived a half-mile or so away lost his home and every one of his thousands of images accumulated over decades.