POPULAR STORAGE OPTIONS
The most suitable storage format for your needs largely depends on how many pictures you take. For archiving and backing up a large volume of pictures and videos, an external or desktop hard drive provides the most cost-effective solution.But for many of us, archiving and backing up photos across a range of different formats is the best approach. If you’re travelling with your camera or working with a laptop, then a portable drive will be more convenient; their small size and cheap price means that you can carry a number of them and make backups on the go, before copying these across to your main working archive.
OPTICAL DISC
Burning images to disc used to be the standard method of creating an archive of image files, the size of files these days means you should choose your format with care. A standard DVD has a storage capacity of less than 5GB, so won’t hold many high-res photos, but a Blu-ray disc holds nearly 100GB — as long as your computer has the disc drive!
PORTABLE HARD DRIVE
Unobtrusive, lightweight and able to take its power from your laptop, a portable hard drive is the best option if you want your photo library to travel with you. Today’s units typically offer capacities in the range of 1–4TB. Some come in rugged enclosures, in order to protect them when they’re carried in a bag or pocket. See page 71 for more.
EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE
Hard disk drives offer fast speeds and the largest capacity for the price, making them the sensible choice when you want to make backups of your photo archive. RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) systems use multiple disks for automatic duplication, although you need to be aware of RAID’s limitations (see over the page).
NAS SERVER
A network-attached storage device (NAS) hooks up to your internet router and enables you to access your photos from anywhere with internet. It typically features multiple hard disks that can be set up in various ways using RAID. A NAS makes it easy to share photos, but network congestion can slow things down. See page 84 for more.