Author Topic: Learn from my mistake. Take a backup today. (Read 1371 times)

amit_hazari · « **on:** July 16, 2012, 08:31:56 PM »

Today morning, I lost all my photographs of last two years which I took using my DSLR. The hard disk of my iMac stop working suddenly and the hardware vendor was not able to do much.
I had moved all my pics to Mac and didn't take a backup after this. Apart from the pics, the backup of other data is there. I got a well deserved punishment for my mistake.

Friends, in case you haven't backed up your data then please consider doing this ASAP.

I am still hopeful that I will be able to partially recover the files. I am going to the best data recovery company of NCR tomorrow. Let's see what happens.

dutta.debasish · « **Reply #1 on:** July 16, 2012, 09:18:23 PM »

You deserve a punishment....

Share your gears among us.... (specially with those poor fellows who are frustrating with rainy season as they scare to expose their gears in humidity).

Prashanth · « **Reply #2 on:** July 16, 2012, 09:22:26 PM »

Sad to know that. thats a nightmare to anyone, not just photographers! loosing data due hardware failure! Hope you can recover most of it!

Image · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2012, 02:48:39 AM »

Yes. Most of us learnt the lesson that way. I nearly lost all my photos some 7 years back when my computer took a lightening hit. Thankfully after spending some hundred odd $$ I could recover my data. My DELL workstation at that time had warranty or contract coverage, so DELL replaced the hard drive FOC but the contract did not cover data recovery.

Since then I am maintaining two back-ups ----> apart from what is there on the computer.

Do try and see if you can recover the data. Most often you can. My wife helps many people recover their data at her workplace.

By the way, I had one external hard drive fail on me

- since then I buy only Western Digital Drives which seem to be the most trust worthy for me.

Hankosaurus · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2012, 04:25:19 AM »

Gosh, Amit.

I'm really sorry for your misfortune with the pictures lost. I sincerely hope that someone can coax them off of your old drive and onto some new media.

I back everything up to two identical external terabyte drives. My drives are Seagate brand. I hope that's not the brand that failed for Image.

Thanks for reminding us how important it is to back up our images. This is one area where film has it over digital. A negative can be re-scanned. I'm reminded of some images taken after the Japanese Tsunami. People were seen sifting through the rubble looking for negatives and prints. I suppose that the salt water infested computers there were pretty much shot.

Bharat Varma · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2012, 05:58:41 AM »

My sympathies and best wishes, Amit. Let us know how it goes. Is the disk making clicking noises when you power it up or does it run smoothly otherwise - trying to figure out whether it is a hardware crash or software corruption.

To those who are relying on external drives, I have had all my external drives fail on me - both the externally powered ones as well as the usb powered ones. Seen the same thing happen to others as well. The branded ones fail later than sooner - I would not recommend total reliance on them whatsoever.

The best option is to segregate your photos into "keepers" and "fillers". Keep your keepers aside and be much more rigorous in backing them up on DVDs, external drives, the cloud or other computers at home.

If you must back up your entire collection of shots (you being good enough to shoot keepers each time you trigger the shutter or you wanting comprehensive 5 FPS records of your photographic adventures

) then do this - get and network at least two computers at home and put two hard disks in each. Then synchronize the lot.

Image · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2012, 06:13:33 AM »

Bharat, I have been toying with the idea of having an online back-up like the one offered by Mozy, Carbonite and such companies. Is that a good idea ?

Bharat Varma · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2012, 08:02:14 AM »

Quote from: Image on July 17, 2012, 06:13:33 AM

Bharat, I have been toying with the idea of having an online back-up like the one offered by Mozy, Carbonite and such companies. Is that a good idea ?

Looked at Carbonite and Mozy -

Can I use Carbonite to free up space on my hard drive?

No. Carbonite is online backup – not online storage. It is meant to be a backup of the files that are on your computer – not a place to store files in order to free up space on your hard drive. If you remove any file from your hard drive, we wait 30 days for you to recover it, and then we delete that file from our servers, too.

Quite likely that Mozy is similar in operation (couldn't find a definitive answer, though).

So if you loose a folder from your computer and don't notice the loss for a month, it's gone from the cloud too. Not good. You need reliable storage more than you need an automated backup, I'd think.

I wear a computer tech support hat professionally on occasion. One of the services involves setting up automated, reliable backup systems for small businesses. Pm me some details of the volume of data you need to back up and the number of computers you own or control and I'll give you my inputs.

In general, I've found synchronizing data on multiple, live computers to be the most reliable, long-term solution for storage. Obviously, there has to be some semblance of reliable operations in terms of security and virus protection happening - if you are in need to format your systems every once a month, this won't work.

Image · « **Reply #8 on:** July 17, 2012, 08:30:51 AM »

Thanks, Bharat

.

My son has been saying for the last several months that he wants to build a NAS System with a few big drives so that we can use that as a good back-up. I will talk to him again in light of what you have said and then come back to you with more intelligent questions/guidance.

suchi · « **Reply #9 on:** July 17, 2012, 11:17:48 AM »

friends/fellow members

backing up data is important, and in fact, this should become second nature like getting a haircut, cutting our nails etc., which we do periodically. let me share how i tackle this. i have two systems at home hooked up via wifi. both are linked to a nas on the network. apart from this, i also make copies of my photo-archives on cd/dvd periodically and keep them aside.

like bharat varma, i too am an ict professional these days, and if any of you need inputs in setting up some home infrastructure, i will be glad to help as well.

suchindran

suchi · « **Reply #10 on:** July 17, 2012, 11:21:52 AM »

bharat

you wrote:

Quote from: Bharat Varma on July 17, 2012, 08:02:14 AM

In general, I've found synchronizing data on multiple, live computers to be the most reliable, long-term solution for storage. Obviously, there has to be some semblance of reliable operations in terms of security and virus protection happening - if you are in need to format your systems every once a month, this won't work.

solution to the above is simple enough. use linux.

suchi

Omkar · « **Reply #11 on:** July 17, 2012, 01:55:16 PM »

Well, Backup is important. But, I think 2 identical copies should be taken on 2 different places & 2 different media. I suppose, professionals do follow a Storage & backup Workflow. I remember watching a big backup workflow from ..... I think Chase Jarvis who did the D7000 Launch Video & Pics for Nikon.

Image, a WD 160 GB external HDD has failed for me

This might be due to exlusive travels bumps it got as I used to carry this a lot. Currently I keep a copy on my home PC (Segate Drive, Mumbai) & one on my External HDD (WD, Pune)

I hope this setup might help me avoid anything of this sort.

Sorry to hear about this Amit.

Bharat, I am also interested in knowing how can one setup a reliable backup system for important digital stuff, pics inclusive. I was thinking of setting up a PC workstation at Pune & have it synced with my Mumbai PC? Any thoughts how this can be achived and if at all this is cost effective as it makes no sense to invest a huge amount for the hobbyist shooting I do.

dutta.debasish · « **Reply #12 on:** July 17, 2012, 08:52:34 PM »

Quote from: Image on July 17, 2012, 06:13:33 AM

Bharat, I have been toying with the idea of having an online back-up like the one offered by Mozy, Carbonite and such companies. Is that a good idea ?

Its Good. I use dropbox. and my antivirus (norton) also provides me online storage, Dropbox is automated, whenever you connect to internet, it will sync your local folder with online folder.

amit_hazari · « **Reply #13 on:** July 24, 2012, 06:37:26 PM »

Here is the good news. All my photographs have been recovered. What a relief! Stellar data recovery, Noida took around a week and charged me approx. Rs. 9000 for this. I was a bit lucky because they could recover all of it in Noida center itself, otherwise the cost could have been very high, almost 4 times of what I paid....but still way less than what my photographs are worth for me.
Thanks to everyone who wished me luck.

Stellar rocks! I am happy

Regards,
Amit

kaushik_s · « **Reply #14 on:** July 24, 2012, 07:06:40 PM »

Wow, congrats and that has to be a great relief.

BTW, can anyone recommend any such data recovery companies in Bangalore? I'm sure that would be many considering the IT industry.

prakashpn · « **Reply #15 on:** July 25, 2012, 01:17:05 AM »

Quote from: amit_hazari on July 24, 2012, 06:37:26 PM

Here is the good news. All my photographs have been recovered. What a relief! Stellar data recovery, Noida took around a week and charged me approx. Rs. 9000 for this. I was a bit lucky because they could recover all of it in Noida center itself, otherwise the cost could have been very high, almost 4 times of what I paid....but still way less than what my photographs are worth for me.
Thanks to everyone who wished me luck.

Stellar rocks! I am happy

Regards,
Amit

Hey Amit you are lucky. Last year I lost 75GB of my pics as HDD crashed. Nobody could recover it in bangalore. Happy for you..

suchi · « **Reply #16 on:** July 25, 2012, 07:24:51 AM »

friends

it is worthwhile to have multiple drives on your system (at least. better to have two systems if you have the money and space). it is also worthwhile to have (1) a good backup (disk/partition imaging) software, and (2) a good data recovery software installed on your systems. here are some links for you. both are free and simply excellent:

backup/imaging: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

data recovery: http://www.stellarinfo.com/download.htm

rgds
cs

Bharat Varma · « **Reply #17 on:** July 25, 2012, 08:31:00 AM »

Suchi, the stellar stuff does not appear to be free -
" Free Download offers free evaluation of the software & preview all the lost files and folder that can be recovered by the software."

Try TestDisk and PhotoRec fron cgsecurity.org. Lexar's better memory cards also come with a good image recovery software.

suchi · « **Reply #18 on:** July 25, 2012, 08:40:52 AM »

bharat

you wrote:

Quote from: Bharat Varma on July 25, 2012, 08:31:00 AM

Suchi, the stellar stuff does not appear to be free -
" Free Download offers free evaluation of the software & preview all the lost files and folder that can be recovered by the software."
Try TestDisk and PhotoRec fron cgsecurity.org. Lexar's better memory cards also come with a good image recovery software.

thanks for pointing that out ... i do have a *free* as in free beer edition running on my system past one year ... they seem to have withdrawn that flavor :-( ... but still, at $49 it is not bad as insurance against hdd crashes ... macrium however is still free i see, and that is also very good. will check out testdisk (and i know about photorec). but all said and done, only stellar recovers from a disk that dies out on you (so long as you are able to power it up).

cs

Piyusht · « **Reply #19 on:** July 25, 2012, 03:25:27 PM »

Amit, you can still recover some of live sectors from hard Drive......

Let me know your location.
My office hard disk crashed suddenly and I was on the verge of loosing all my emails I gathered since 3 years which obviously were much important. So visited a Data recovery guy here in Pune who did some efforts, skipped bad sectors and recovered almost 14GB of data.....

You can give it a try. Data recovery people do work on various platforms like Mac, Windows, Linux , Unix to name a few.

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Author Topic: Learn from my mistake. Take a backup today. (Read 1371 times)