Master your DSLR: Photo storage
WHAT ARE THE KEY THINGS YOU NEED TO LOOK FOR WHEN CHOOSING AND USING A HARD DRIVE TO ARCHIVE YOUR IMAGES?
01 CAPACITY
Aim for a drive that offers several terabytes (TB) of space. A 1TB drive is equivalent to 1,000GB — or somewhere in the range of 31–33,000 raw files from a 22.3MP Canon EOS 5D Mark III.
02 SPEED
Slow-spinning hard disk spins extend the time it takes for photos to be copied across. All things being equal, a 5,400rpm drive handles data at about 2/3 the speed of a 7,200rpm drive.
03 CONNECTIONS
To improve compatibility and buy a degree of future-proofing, choose an external hard drive that offers more than one connection port, such as USB and FireWire. With portable hard drives, you may have to make do with just USB.
04 RELIABILITY
More important than capacity and (arguably) cost, but hard to measure — although online computer backup company Backblaze ( backblaze.com) does its best. It has more than 40,000 hard drives in service and posts annual reliability reports that make interesting reading.
05 NOISE LEVELS
Noise only becomes an issue if you’re sat alongside a hard drive for long periods. Drives are usually noisy when the fans kick in to reduce operating temperature.
WHEN IT COMES to the art of photography, having to think about storage and backing up your image library ranks low on the excitement scale — just above re-greasing tripod leg joints. Dull as it may be, it’s an essential aspect of the digital photography workflow; put it off and you run the risk of losing everything.
At some point, your photo collection will outgrow the hard drive on your computer and you’ll start looking at alternative storage options. You may be in a position to upgrade the built-in drive, but relying on just one source of storage is asking for trouble — what happens if your computer is damaged or stolen? So it makes sense to have your pictures and important files held in more than one place.
There are numerous options available, but external or desktop hard disk drives (HDDs) are a tried and (for the most part) trusted format. The choice of models on offer can be bewildering, although capacity, speed and reliability are the key features to be concerned with. The latter is a tough one to qualify, but it pays to invest in reputable brands that have enough confidence in their products to offer extensive warranties.
Capacity and speed are much easier to quantify, as you get what you pay for. Only you
will know how many photos you take and consequently how much space you’ll need, but we’d recommend taking that figure and doubling it; it’s amazing how quickly even two terabytes (TB) can be soaked up with high-res images and video.
In terms of speed, a drive that features a rapid spin speed and a fast connection port, such as USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt, means that you’ll be able to transfer your files backwards and forwards quickly, something that’s particularly important if you’re editing large video files.
For peace of mind, creating more than one back-up copy of your library is the way to go. We’d recommend mixing different brands of storage device, as this way you’re less likely to fall foul of any future incompatibility with computer hardware. If you do have a preferred brand, it’s a good idea to stagger your purchasing of back-up drives to provide a cushion against potential drive failure rates — the last thing you want is for all your disks to fail at once. Keeping another copy of your library in a different location is also strongly recommended.
In fact, why stop at one location? Online or cloud storage means that your image files will be permanently held off-site, and allows you to access your pictures and videos using a range of devices, share files with others and automatically sync with the files on your computer. The downside is that you’ll need to pay a subscription to get a meaningful amount of space and you need internet access to make it work.
There are many cloud storage options available, ranging from popular third-party file-sharing services like Dropbox and Google Drive, to dedicated photo deposits such as Canon’s Irista and Nikon Image Space. Some services let you pay a monthly fee, while others offer a small discount for an annual payment. For instance, Google gives you 15GB of free storage to share across Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos, but it offers a range of upgrade plans, from $1.99 per month for 100GB, up to a whopping $299.99 per month for an equally whopping 30TB.