Protecting your image collection from fire and smoke
The other morning I awoke to see a fire burning in an apartment building across the street. Although the fire department quickly contained the fire at the rear of the building, the sobering truth is that if for any reason they hadn’t done so, the fire could have easily spread to my house.
Situations like this make you wonder “what if you only had thirty seconds to get yourself outside and have no time to collect any personal belongings?”
Regardless of whether you’re a professional photographer or a hobbyist, we all have computers and hard drives full of important, and often irreplaceable imagery, as well as other photography related documents and files. If you don’t have time to unplug and cart away your desktop or office computer, what’s the best way to prevent the complete loss of your business or personal archive of pictures?
It’s worth spending some time thinking about this, even if you already have a plan in place. Here are some ideas that I’ve come up with- I welcome other ideas from readers as well. If you have one, leave it in the comment section. Let’s have a discussion, we can all benefit from shared information and ideas.
Backup hard drive: With the Time Machine feature that comes with all new Apple computers, (Windows 7 has an easy backup system too) and the fact that hard drives get cheaper every year, this is probably the easiest option. The ioSafe Solo is designed to withstand fire, water, building collapse and even bullets. The question is, though, if you’re not using fireproof drives, where do you keep them for safekeeping and/or easy access?
Options are keeping one set by your bed, in your car, at your office/home, in a safety deposit box or somewhere else offsite. You just need to make sure you do regular backups whenever you shoot new images.
Laptop: You could use your laptop as a backup device and keep it with you at all times. That way, you not only have all your files, you’re able to get some work done and stay in contact with your clients. A laptop and a few pocket sized hard drives kept in an easily accessible location inside a small carrying case is easy insurance against loss.
Online storage: There are many online storage options offered by Nikon, Google, Flickr, Amazon S3, Mozy, Xdrive, MyOtherDrive, and Photoshelter to name a few. Most offer free or low cost storage of up to 2GB, although that’s not even enough to backup a single CF card worth of high res pictures. Business plans for most data storage companies range from around $5.00/month for 100GB to $1,000/year for 5-10TB of storage.
Whatever method you choose, put it to use ASAP. I’m certainly no alarmist, but watching that fire the other morning made me realize that it can happen anytime and anywhere. Be prepared.
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Dan Bailey is a professional adventure, outdoor and travel photographer based in Anchorage, Alaska. Follow his own blog at danbaileyphoto.com/blog and see his daily updates at facebook.com/danbaileyphoto.
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