Inspiring

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Storage for tons of images

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
October 23, 2021
4 replies
1556 views

I have thousands of images and the number is growing daily.

What suggestions does anyone have for safe storage?

Windows

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer JohanElzenga

@jay fresno wrote:

Do you have a suggestion for which external hard drive -- I need one that stores many TB.

Just look at the capacity and choose enough. I have a 16 TB LaCie drive as my main photo drive, but even with 200,000 images and some videos on it, I still have about 60% free space. Do not waste your money on RAID. Many people think that RAID 1 is a kind of backup system, because the images are written to two disks. It is not. If you delete an image by mistake, it is deleted from both drives immediately, so the second drive does not function as a backup. RAID 1 is mainly an enterprise solution, where time is money so the double drive system of RAID 1 protects against time loss. You can restore a failed drive and still continue to work. As an end user you normally do not need that, so a normal backup drive is a better (and cheaper) solution.

Jill_C

Community Expert

I have two 5 TB Western Digital External Hard Drives, one for primary storage, and the second one as a backup. I also back up to Amazon Photo drive for cloud storage (though it's a slow and clumsy option, it's cheap). I've had a variety of external hard drives over the years, 500 MB, 1 TB, 2 TB and now 5 TB and have never had a drive failure. In fact, all of those outgrown drives are still hanging around here somewhere...

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

I'd like to emphasise a key word, because when many people hear it they quickly decide to ignore it. BACKUP.

You must expect and plan for a disk to fail. The difference between a catastrophe and a nuisance is proper planning and having two copies.

Popular myths, which are dangerous:

- anything kept on an external drive is a backup. NO. A backup means there are TWO OR MORE COPIES.

- you don't have to backup if you use the cloud. NO. You are even more likely to lose cloud files.

- plug-in a second drive and leave it there and you are all set for backups. NO. An electrical fault can blow the computer and the attached disks. A burglar, cat, visiting infant, fire or spilled drink can destroy them all. So can a virus, system fault, or your own mistake. The backup copy needs to be somewhere else. This is why the smart money has 3 copies, not just 2.

J

jay fresnoAuthor

Inspiring

Those are all important points and warnings. Thank you!

I have so many images that I will need a minimum of 7 TB to back them up. I'm trying to make a decision about exactly which storage to purchase for peace of mind.

(Possibly the 10TB drive that D Fosse mentioned?)

S

Sandile5FE6

Participant

Google Drive is the best,safest and smartest WAY/APP ..!
You get 15GB of storage space for free .. .

D Fosse

Community Expert

15 GB might last me for three days 😉 ...and in any case I don't have time to wait for cloud upload/download. I know "cloud" is the current buzzword, but I have another: bandwidth.

D Fosse

Community Expert

Just a word of caution regarding external drives. If you're not careful, externals can be more prone to corruption because of loose cables and connectors, and accidental bumps. It only takes a microsecond broken connection. A hard-wired internal drive is generally more secure than an external, if you have that option (desktop).

In any case, backup is crucial. I don't sleep at night unless I have three copies of every file, one always off-site.

Drives will fail sooner or later, it's only a question of time. As long as you're prepared for it, you'll be right back in business without missing a beat. That said, I have three 10 TB drives (with identical content) that still operate flawlessly after 4 years.

J

jay fresnoAuthor

Inspiring

I appreciate all of the great advice!

D Fosse: I've not seen any 10 TB drives advertised. Which brand are you using?

D Fosse

Community Expert

Two WD internal drives, and a Seagate external. That was max capacity when I got them, and they were pretty expensive. I expect I need to replace them for bigger ones in the next year or so, if bigger exist now (haven't checked).

IME drives will usually not fail until it's time to replace them for bigger ones anyway.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

External hard drive and at least one backup drive, preferably more than one.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

J

jay fresnoAuthor

Inspiring

Do you have a suggestion for which external hard drive -- I need one that stores many TB.

dj_paige

Legend

Virtually all hard drives these days (except from George's Dirt Cheap Hard Drives) provide years of service. As far as reliability goes, there's little reason to prefer one over the other. Please keep in mind that all hardware fails eventually, which is why the recommendation above of at least one backup, preferably more than one. In my opinion, this isn't a recommendation, it is mandatory because the other thing that is true is that you can't always tell beforehand when a drive will fail. So not only is a backup mandatory, it is really the best way to be safe.

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