I’ve slacked a little bit on Tips on Tuesday (quite a bit actually), but today I’m jumping right in. Today’s tip…BACK IT UP & PRINT!!!  The question is not if your hard drive crash, it’s WHEN will your hard drive crash!!!  SCARY RIGHT!  It has happened to me.  Thankfully, I have a backup system in place and was able to recover MOST everything.  A few images, files, & programs were lost but what I lost was nothing compared to what I saved!

My OWN precious digital memories were recovered…YEA!!! Not to mention ALL of my client images…WHEW!  But let’s just think about my own personal images for a minute…what if they hadn’t been recovered?  I would have been devastated.  You know the saying “the shoe peddlers kids have no shoes”?  Well, the same is sometimes true for the photographers kids (shoes…yes, prints…not always:).  I print from our “professional” sessions, but not everything I should from just every day events.  At least up until now…I have a new plan and I like it!

Before my personal images would just sit on the computer collecting “virtual dust” until I had a little free time. WHO HAS FREE TIME????  I have to make the time for my personal images, just like I do for my client images.  I am very OCD when it comes to properly backing up client sessions and events…that’s a good thing for you.  But honestly, I can get a little lazy when it comes to my own.  So I’ve been making the time to print for myself once a month.  Next week (maybe not next week, but the next tip at least) I’ll let you know what companies I trust for my personal prints.  But right now, just get something printed.  Technology changes every day and there is no guarantee that your CD of images or your hard drive of choice today will be around or even be accessible in 5, 10, or 15 years from now.  Who remembers 8-track tapes (that’s even before my time really)???

Here’s a quick rundown of my backup plan (in case you’re interested)…

1. Download to my “working” hard drive. I go through a lot of hard drives…right now I have a total of 3 that I use {that X’s 10 in a safe off-site storage}.
2. Copy to a DVD and add to my remote backup service company site.
3. Choose my keepers, make a new folder on my hard drive for those.
4. Add my keepers to the remote backup service and add to my backup hard drive.
5. Print my keepers.

Overkill? Maybe, but it makes me feel safe 🙂

I realize a printed photograph is not necessarily a permanent fixture. But historians have archived photographs that date back almost 200 years and before that hand drawn portraits of people, places, and events.  Do you think 200 years from now an archeologist is going to be able to retrieve information from a CD or hard drive?  I think not, but at least a printed image (even if not properly preserved) has a better chance of surviving the elements and there is no special equipment needed with a printed photograph.

So say it with me…back up and print, back up and print, BACK UP AND PRINT!!!