I have a number of different readers to my blog and they mostly fall into two camps: other photographers and my clients / potential clients.

My clients are of course rightly concerned that their precious images are held securely; my peers are often interested in the technology I use to store images on.  So I thought a post about how I store my images would be useful. I won't talk that much about my actual procedures of backing up (that would bore most people senseless!), but more about the actual hardware technologies that I use. As a photographer, I am also an image librarian, ensuring that the images I take are kept safe and to do that I always ensure I am on top of the latest technology that will deliver the safest, most efficient solution.

Data storage is pretty cheap these days and you can almost guarantee that next year the same amount of storage on a hard disk will be half the price. Now, while folks at home and those shooting for fun may get away with just storing the images on their laptop disk or external drive, things get a little more complex and expensive when you regularly shooting two or three thousand images at a wedding. Not only does one have a huge amount more data to contend with - especially when shooting RAW with 17 and 21 megapixel cameras - but one also has to think about how to keep those images safe.

So there's the obvious problem of fire, theft or other physical loss and we can simply prepare for that by keeping our images duplicated on a backup disk(s) that we keep off-site. When I shoot a wedding or portrait session, after downloading my cards to my computer, I make an immediate backup and take the disk out of the house. So we've immediately doubled our storage cost.

Then there's the problem of data loss on disks. Now whatever medium you use, be it the classic magnetic hard disk, the newer 'solid state' disks, or on a CD or DVD, your data is never really completely safe. Just as your film or slides rot in the shoe box, data on a disk is not impervious to tiny errors that can cost you big.

Let's look at the method most of us use for storage: the magnetic hard disk. These disks have been with us now for what seems like an eternity, and while there have been a few changes to the basic interfaces, underneath the way in which data is stored on a disk as ones and zeros (a bit) has not changed. Each bit of data (see this description of how it works) is stored as north (0) or south (1) and with millions and millions of these bits being stored, one of them is bound to go wrong! Slight shifts in the earth's magnetic field, close placement to a radiator or loudspeaker, or someone dumping something magnetic right on top of your hard disk and you could be in trouble.

So here's where most of us go wrong. We use single disks to store our data and when that disk fails, either in a glorious puff of smoke or more commonly with just a few bits being messed up on the disk we run into problems. Sure, some of us run backups right? Well that's fine, but what if you run a backup each week, overwriting what you had on your backup disk... what if you overwrite it with data that's gone bad?

Enter redundant storage drives. Now these drives have been around for a while and are commonly referred to as RAID (redundant array of inexpesive disks). A bunch of disks the same size and type are stacked together in an array and a RAID controller, configured to one of several different options will allow you (under the right setting) to store your data across all of the disks as if they were one drive, plus offer redundancy. So if one drive goes down, you stick in a new one and carry on. Or if data goes bad somewhere on one disk, it can be rescued automatically from another.  There are a couple of problems with RAID: 1. You have to know a little technical junk to get the thing to work for you in the right way 2. As you are limited to using the same sized disks, when you run out of room you are forced to buy a new RAID system (or a very large single disk), then copy the data over, then start again with larger disks.

Enter Drobo. This rather interesting device has taken the digital creative marketplace by storm. As people that often have huge files and many of them, we commonly require extremely large storage drives, but with a way of growing them. Very often we don't have a big IT support group backing us, so a) we don't have the money for a lot of storage up front b) we commonly don't know what a RAID is, but we hope it isn't a raid by the IRS c) even if we did have a RAID we just don't have time to administer it... and just what the heck is it anyway? So as a photographer a few years back and struggling with storage options myself (back when digital photographer had already taken off but the storage hadn't caught up) I came across a video on youtube about the Data Robot (Drobo) and instantly knew this was going to make waves in the photo community. It took a good few months in 2007 before it was available, but as soon as I could I purchase one, with four 500GB disks (each one a couple of hundred $!). I didn't want to throw in too much storage; I couldn't AFFORD too much storage, so 2TB it was, which gave me 1.5TB total storage with 500GB of protection.

A few years later (as in last week) and my Drobo was showing an orange light and it told me to replace the disk with the least space. I ignored it and the other day it turned red (meaning I was really running out and I'd better do something about it!). So I headed down to Micro Center in Cambridge, bought a couple of disks and set about replacing them. Below is a video of how I did this:


Edit:

• As you saw, you have to hold the lever aside when inserting a new disk (duh!) - always read the manual, as they say :)
  
• My 1.5TB Green Disks actually ran at $120, not $80 (getting confused with the 1TB price).
• Also, when you replace drobo disks, do them one at a time only!
  
• A solid red light denotes that you're lack of storage is critical; a failed drive flashes red.

So the Drobo is a pretty cool device and I've trusted it for a while to protect the important images of my clients. It isn't an entire solution - you still have to back-up off-site and you will most likely want to use the drive inside your computer for editing as it isn't that quick (at least the USB2 only option that I have isn't!). However, it does hold EVERY bit of data I have created since 1997 on it and it works away, even while the computer is turned off, constantly ensuring my data is safe from the dreaded bit-rot. When it comes to making an off-site backup, I can rest easy knowing that the original data on the Drobo is completely intact as it had started out life, making the off-site backup a lot less worrying

Drobos now run at just $350 for the standard Drobo with USB2 and Firewire 800 or for $795 for the Drobo S with those same interfaces and eSATA (50% faster than firewire 800). If you have a need for even greater storage, they also have rack mounted versions. You have to purchase the disks seperately, but with 1 to 2 terrabyte disks running at extremely low prices (between $80 and $200), you really don't have to worry too much about a big hit. My suggestion is to buy enough storage for a year, then when drives get less expensive next year, just buy a couple more when you need to.

Bottom line: Drobo is the best archiving solution for professional photographers in my opinion. Low cost in the long-run (you can mix and match drives), simple maintenance (you just leave it plugged in; you don't need an IT background), easily upgradeable.

... and my clients can rest easier at night knowing that I've invested a lot of thought and money into the premier storage solution for creative professionals.