So as we enter 2008, I was reflecting on how far we've come as a business...especially as it relates to backups! It started out as complete chaos...we weren't sure what we had backed up, where the discs had gone to, what was on them! It was rough!

And now it is a well oiled machine...not to be morbid, but if I die, anyone could step in & understand my backup system! Yesterday was my day for the quarterly trip to the bank with the latest round of backups. I see a thread on here at least once a month about what systems everyone uses for backups/workflow, so I thought I would share while it is fresh on my mind!

Backups 101

1) Download -- after a shoot, all images from the session are downloaded using Breeze System's Downloader Pro: http://www.breezesys.com/Downloader/index.htm. This allows us to take two seperate bodies (since we are a two shooter team), and download 2 cards at the same time, into the same folder, and have the files sorted by time stamp. So for reception coverage, ceremony...things were time sequence is cricitcal, this is invaluable! Every now & then, we prefer to have the images sorted seperately (like guys prep & girls prep), but usually, the sequential sort is best!

2) Renumber -- once all the images from a shoot are downloaded, we renumber everything starting with 0001. We either use Bridge (if I feel like waiting an hour), or ACDSee (which is marginally faster for renaming).

3) Folder -- once the files are renumbered, I create a folder with the couple's names, an event label, and the file types contained in the folder. For example: Kristin & Jason Wedding ORGS. Then the files are dropped into that folder.

4) DVD Burn -- once the folder is ready, I start burning a DVD backup of the "ORGS". For a typicaly wedding, this takes between 6 and 8 DVD's using single layer Taiyo Uden discs. Each DVD is labeled with the same description as the folder (Kristin & Jason Wedding ORGS), and I add Disc 1 of 8.

5) Spindle -- the DVD's are stacked on a spindle, and I use an Excel spreadsheet to track WHICH spindle the DVD is on...that way, if I ever need to recover files from a DVD, I'll know exactly where to look.

6) Backup Tracking -- I use the same Excel spreadsheet to track what stage of backups I am on. I have created three "codes" for my backups: ORGS, MOD RAW, and EDITS.

a) ORGS -- this is the set of out of camera images with no modifications or deletes at all. We backup EVERYTHING!
b) MOD RAW -- this is the set of images after EVERYTHING has been edited in Bridge/ACR. So this includes all of the XMP files, as well as all of the CR2 files.
c) EDITS -- this is the JPEG's created from the RAW files, plus our hand edited files that we call HIGHLIGHTS.

By backing up all three sets, we are creating redundancy is our backups. The MOD RAW recreates a portion of the ORGS, the ORGS could recreate the MOD RAW, and MOD RAW can recreate the EDITS. The final stage is that the client's receive a copy of the files...this is the backup for the EDITS & HIGHLIGHTS.

Here is a sample of the backup spreadsheet in action for Kristin & Jason:
Click to view attachment

7) Server Backup -- you can also see on the spreadsheet that these same three sets are backed up to our office servers. We have 3 servers, each with 2TB worth of storage. Here is what we purchased (one per year for the last three years):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...amp;Tpk=RND4450

8) Bank Backup -- once the wedding is completely edited & all DVD's have been burned, and everything is transferred to the server, the numbered spindle is taken to our safe deposit boxes at the bank. We have 4 safe deposit boxes, all full of numbered spindles with DVD's. This is the off site component of the backup.

I also wanted to share a copy of my spreadsheet in case anyone wants to use my ideas! Enjoy!
http://www.megphoto.com/osp/OSP_Backups_Version.xls

~ Charles

I can't believe no one thanked you for all this valuable information!

Thanks for the info!

Yeah no sht !

Thx Charles for sharing this and for your time.

or, you could be like me, and lose the Cds........

thanks for the info.

I will have to bookmark this page...My brain is so used to chaos, it shut down while reading how to be organized.

Seriously, wonderful of you to share your method! Thank you.

Hey everyone...wow...I haven't logged on here in months! Great to see some folks getting mileage out of this!

Anyone have anything to add? I can always learn from you guys!

~ Charles