Ronniebootwest Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 I know that this question has been raised before and has been answered by many of you. However, I am still not quite certain of the best way of making backups of my images. I thought that a cataloguing program such as 'Extensis Portfolio' was the way to go but have now changed my mind after I lost most of my photo's when my hard drive failed. I now simply make a backup of my entire images folder on to a second hard drive. This is all very easy but it is a tedious task to find a particular image when needed.What I would like to know is what you professionals do - is there a nice quick and easy way of cataloguing and saving? What about RAW files? I save the original (as shot by the camera) but do you also save the processed image in PSD format? Please post your own favourite method so that we can all share.Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lin Evans Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 I know that this question has been raised before and has been answered by many of you. However, I am still not quite certain of the best way of making backups of my images. I thought that a cataloguing program such as 'Extensis Portfolio' was the way to go but have now changed my mind after I lost most of my photo's when my hard drive failed. I now simply make a backup of my entire images folder on to a second hard drive. This is all very easy but it is a tedious task to find a particular image when needed.What I would like to know is what you professionals do - is there a nice quick and easy way of cataloguing and saving? What about RAW files? I save the original (as shot by the camera) but do you also save the processed image in PSD format? Please post your own favourite method so that we can all share.RonHi Ron,There are several ways - some expensive like Portfolio and some free like Picasahttp://www.answers.com/topic/picasaPersonally I use Picasa which takes quite a while to initially catalog images, especially if you have hundreds o thousands like I do, but it does offer some very nice features where you can insert keywords which allow you to group your images which makes retrieval very painless. Of course if you have huge collections, it takes time to do the initial organization, but once you have that done keeping up is quite easy and it does work with not only your internal hard disk but also with peripheral drives. It doesn't support RAW files - at least the version I currently have doesn't, an thats a bit of a problem but I always have jpg's as well which I leave with their original names which makes it fairly easy to recover by simply doing a Search on the file name should I need the original RAW file. I don't save PhotoShop in-process files or PSD, only the final product in jpg, tiff or png format myself. I suspect any software you use will have the initial problem of getting everything sorted out. It's not an easy task unless keep up. I use Ultrium II tape backup for archival and also magneto-optical for critical files. I also have a number of USB 2 hard disks so that usually I have great redundancy on backups. Off-site storage would be wise but my only off site storage is on my web-site. Probably not smart....Best regards,Lin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmccammon Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 I think there is some confusion between "archiving" and "cataloging" in this thread. Losing image files due to hard disk failure is something that I never want to go through again. Most of us have probably experienced this heart-sinking feeling. Programs like Portfolio, Cumulus and iView Media Pro catalog image files using a variety of keyword or category strategies. I don't think of these programs as a means to archive and protect image files, however. They do a great job of creating ways to locate image or a group of images quickly after you go through the pains that Lin describes to get the catalog built initially. Having a good indexing "keyword" or "category" scheme designed ahead of time will pay dividends as the catalog grows. Personally, I use iView Media Pro and find that it works nicely for the way my mind thinks about image organization.My system for archiving and protecting images starts right after each photo shoot (weddings and landscapes). I copy each memory card to two external hard disks to get immediate redundancy. I use Downloader Pro since it allows me to copy each file to two locations simultaneously. I then copy the files to DVD. Then, and only then, I erase the memory cards by reformatting them in the camera. I build a quarterly archive of all images taken in the past 3 months using a program called "Archive Creator" (http://www.pictureflow.com/) This program looks at all the files you want to archive, figures out how to span multiple DVDs as needed based on total file size, generates an HTML index of thumbnails that gets copied to each DVD in the collection, and burns the DVDS. It also allows you to select the level of validation on the archive that you want.The way I do things may sound excessive to some. I've lost images in the past and my system is built on that experience and recognition that wedding images are priceless and warrant the redundancy.Lin... you might try the latest version of Picasa (version 2) that is out in beta form. It supports my Nikon NEF raw files just fine. It also opens the door to a nice "FREE" web gallery capability that can be very useful.Best wishes... Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lin Evans Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 I think there is some confusion between "archiving" and "cataloging" in this thread. Losing image files due to hard disk failure is something that I never want to go through again. Most of us have probably experienced this heart-sinking feeling. Programs like Portfolio, Cumulus and iView Media Pro catalog image files using a variety of keyword or category strategies. I don't think of these programs as a means to archive and protect image files, however. They do a great job of creating ways to locate image or a group of images quickly after you go through the pains that Lin describes to get the catalog built initially. Having a good indexing "keyword" or "category" scheme designed ahead of time will pay dividends as the catalog grows. Personally, I use iView Media Pro and find that it works nicely for the way my mind thinks about image organization.My system for archiving and protecting images starts right after each photo shoot (weddings and landscapes). I copy each memory card to two external hard disks to get immediate redundancy. I use Downloader Pro since it allows me to copy each file to two locations simultaneously. I then copy the files to DVD. Then, and only then, I erase the memory cards by reformatting them in the camera. I build a quarterly archive of all images taken in the past 3 months using a program called "Archive Creator" (http://www.pictureflow.com/) This program looks at all the files you want to archive, figures out how to span multiple DVDs as needed based on total file size, generates an HTML index of thumbnails that gets copied to each DVD in the collection, and burns the DVDS. It also allows you to select the level of validation on the archive that you want.The way I do things may sound excessive to some. I've lost images in the past and my system is built on that experience and recognition that wedding images are priceless and warrant the redundancy.Lin... you might try the latest version of Picasa (version 2) that is out in beta form. It supports my Nikon NEF raw files just fine. It also opens the door to a nice "FREE" web gallery capability that can be very useful.Best wishes... BruceThanks Bruce,I haven't upgraded in quite a while and it's great to hear that Picasa is now supporting NEF RAW files. I use such a variety of digital cameras including Nikon, Canon, Sigma, Panasonic, Sony, Fuji, Olympus, Kodak, etc., which all have RAW files that I had given up on finding a program which supported all these formats. Even Adobe DNG has trouble keeping up - but I should and will upgrade Picasa to get the latest features.Best regards,Lin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronniebootwest Posted July 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Bruce saidI build a quarterly archive of all images taken in the past 3 months using a program called "Archive Creator" (http://www.pictureflow.com/) This program looks at all the files you want to archive, figures out how to span multiple DVDs as needed based on total file size, generates an HTML index of thumbnails that gets copied to each DVD in the collection, and burns the DVDS. It also allows you to select the level of validation on the archive that you want.Hi Bruce, Thanks for the link to 'Archive Creator' I downloaded the trial version and it seems to do everything that I need. Great little program! I will probably buy a licence before the 15 day period ends. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmccammon Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Bruce saidHi Bruce, Thanks for the link to 'Archive Creator' I downloaded the trial version and it seems to do everything that I need. Great little program! I will probably buy a licence before the 15 day period ends. RonYou bet. It seems a bit slow but I've never had a problem with it in over 3 years of use. Good luck.Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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