Just to be a devil's advocate I have a fundamental issue with the strategy of just buying more storage to keep everything you shoot. People tend to think storage has minimal costs, but the more you store, the harder it is to find the good stuff. I too have a local hard drive, NAS, cloud backup strategy for my files. However I also do periodic reviews to cull these files to remove poorly composed or slightly out of focus images, especially where it is a location I have visited multiple times. I think a good backup strategy should always be accompanied by a good critical review and deletion strategy.
I was thinking exactly the same thing. In addition, it's not just about backing everything up; it's also about being able to look through your archives usefully. Even with a well organized catalog, I find that if I have 20 copies of the same thing because I've not bothered to go through and keep the top one or two and delete the rest, then it's really annoying to go back and look at the photos from that outing. I actually use the (relatively) limited space on my computer hard drive to force me to actually go and delete photos regularly. Then, as an additional bonus, it's much quicker to make my backups.
Personally, I want ALL of my photos even ones that are old and not good. I'll keep photos even if I go to the same location 10 times and take similar photos. Never cared about the cost of more storage, power usage, etc. because I'd rather have my files. I normally don't delete anything that hits the hard drive.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I completely understand your concern about the storage strategy mentioned in the video. It's important to strike a balance between keeping memories and cluttering our storage. Just like you, I also believe in periodic reviews to ensure we keep only the best and most meaningful photos. By the way, have you heard about the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series? It's a versatile power backup solution that could be useful during your outdoor adventures or while spending quality time with family. It offers massive capacity, durable design, and fast recharging capabilities. You may want to check it out!
As a former enterprise backup admin, this caught my attention (particularly the "bulletproof" phrase in the thumbnail). The old rule of thumb was, "If you don't have three copies, you don't have a backup". That was in the days of tape and early disk storage, but the premise is still true. I'd definitely recommend keeping a periodic copy *totally* offsite ...as in, miles away. If, for example, a natural disaster wipes out your house it may well wipe out your out building as well. Also, consider the future viability of backups in terms of format -- Will your data be accessible and readable? That's really not a huge factor on the time frames of most home / independent users, but it's worth considering. Finally, remember (as someone else pointed out), redundancy is great -- necessary -- but it's not the same as multiple backups over time. Neither replaces the other, you need both. You may not need 'incremental forever' snapshot type backups, but having more than one copy (even at a single site) is good since it protects against backup corruption. One key is to have an automated solution so you don't have to remember to run backups. Anyway, good video and a good basic approach, but just some food for further thought. It's down to the "what can you afford to lose" factor vs. cost to determine how far to take it.
Thank you for your comment! I'm glad you enjoyed Nigel's video. Speaking of backup strategies, I highly recommend considering the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series. With its massive capacity, fast recharging, and versatile sockets, it's perfect for keeping your devices powered during outdoor adventures or unexpected power outages. Have a wonderful Christmas and happy camping!
I applaud you for your methodology of teaching- your infographic representations have been the most helpful in all of the 30+ videos I've watched on youtube. Thank you for your work, and consider yourself a new lifelong sub!
A great approach, but at £2.5k plus for the NAS and disks followed with £3.5K per year for the 48TB cloud account I suspect completely out of reach of the average hobby photographer. I use 3 8TB drive enclosures which I manually back up to from my 8TB drive in my machine once a month, or after I've been away on a trip and have just taken or processed a large number of images. Each drive is about £100 each - far more affordable - although it does take time to transfer across three times. One copy then goes over to my Mum-in-Laws 5 mins up the road as my offsite insurance. As lphilpot01 mentions in another comment it is a question of what you can afford to lose against how much you can pay.
I agree about cost, I have a large iTunes movie library and I was downloading all my purchases which took over 10tb and was just getting expensive to store, it would of been cheaper to buy the blu ray and an ikea bookshelf 😂
That's a great alternative approach for backing up your photos! It's always important to find a backup strategy that fits within your budget and meets your specific needs. Speaking of backup power, have you considered the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series? It offers a massive capacity, fast recharging, and versatile sockets, making it a reliable option for outdoor enthusiasts like us. Just thought I'd share another option for your consideration! Happy camping and photo-taking!
Interesting stuff. If some of the prices I've seen quoted in the comments are correct then its incredibly expensive, and way out of reach of most, even many pros. Also, looking at the Synology website, its so difficult to work out what you need. Now I'm no slouch when it comes to tech, but I'm no expert either. These companies would sell a lot more to the uninitiated if they employed someone to translate their techy specs into plain language that most people could understand. If they watched people try to navigate their site and then actually try to buy something it might open their eyes to the real world. Maybe it just needs an "I'll have a Nigel Danson setup" button, or an option on the front page saying "geeks" here and "ordinary people" here, which take you to two different sites. Or maybe just be sponsored and it arrives in a box . . 😂 And even if you work out what you need, it just takes you to Amazon and you then have to work out all over again what it is you need to buy.
Always good to see how other people back up their work. I have been using a Synology for about 7 years now, but the network lag was too much to work directly from the drive for my preference. I just use a thunderbolt drive for my photos/videos, which always backs up to my Synology, which is the hub for all my other work. Thanks for sharing!
You mention keeping the catalogue on an external drive and plugging that into whichever computer you are using. The reason you state is because you can't use a network drive. I use the internal drive on a laptop, and on the internal drive on a desktop machine. These are synchronised by using Microsoft OneDrive. When the catalogue files are changed, these are backed up to OneDrive, and then automatically downloaded to the other machine, and of course the other way around.
I too owned a Nas and payed quite a bit of money for it, unfortunately it died just after the 2 years warranty, thankfully I also used other forms of backup to backup it as well and had to pull the data off the raid drives. Was not happy.
I have a 4 bay Synology at home that I backup weekly to another Synology at my son’s house. When in the field, I upload all my raw files to my home NAS that I can connect to over the internet. Just one more copy for protection.
Hi! Thank you for your video. I was looking for a good and affordable back-up system. Backblaze seems like a great cloud solution. Any thoughts? Thanks!!
Great video Nigel, thank you very much for sharing your storage setup with us. Question: You have gone out, filmed a bunch of footage, taken a bunch of photos. Get back and edit the video and photos. Upload the video to CZcams ... what do you do now with that footage? Do you keep everything? only keep the finished edited footage and delete the raw footage and broll? what is your process at this point?
Gfx + pixel phone. Capture one 22 is my editor. Google drive is my storage instead of a NAS.. gdrive had a feature where files are streamed. Which means files stays on server whilst local files gets house kept after 30day. Good enough for me with less hardware
Hi Nigel. Just revisiting this video because I'm about to set up my first NAS and wondering where your store the Lightroom Catalogue - is that on the NAS or on your PC's hard drive? Any other technical advice about how to set up a NAS would be very helpful - whether as a further video or as an email
Good video as always, and an important topic to cover. This solution is far too expensive for me. It was interesting that you said that Synology gave you the new NAS Network Storage that you are reviewing. Lucky you. 😀
For anybody thats intrested in cloud back ups for both your computer or your Nas (synology has an app in there package center) I Drive are doing a limited time deal of 10TB of storage space for 3.98 for the whole year. I just bought a synology Nas and while looking for back up storage options found it by chance. I've just checked it at time of posting this and its still available.
@@stowgood definitely works with Synology Nas. I'm using it with my DS720+ and it works great, I dont know whether they support other brands of Nas but would imagine they do. If your using Synology, log into your Nas and go to the package center, scroll down to the third party apps and you will find one for Idrive. Install that and follow the instructions. I've just rechecked and the offer is still running $3.98 for the whole first year for 10TB of cloud storage. I dont like posting links on other peoples you tube channel, but if purchance Nigel sees this and ok's it I will post a link to the offer.
Thanks for the video, super helpful. I have a question regarding the hard drive that you have connected to your computer. So if I am understanding correctly, you cannot access the images on the NAS system unless you physically download them over to your computer or HDD?
I had a Raid 5 failure about 14 years back. A second disk died while in the process of restoring a dead drive. That's one too many - everything gone. Then again, I'm a paranoid ex-software architect, so I had two other backups. One offline and one off-site. - I only lost about 3 days of editing work. Be very careful of backing up bad data over good data - (yeah, that happens too). I'm not fond of the "cloud," which is really just someone else's computer, but for backups, yeah. It might be past time.
Thank you for a good discussion of the hardware you use. Can you also please talk about what software you use ? I've heard of people getting "bit-rot" and having that propagate throughout their backups. Do you do anything to detect and prevent that ?
I simply can not afford synology right now, maybe one day. I am currently facing an issue where i can't read my sandisk extreme ssd. I foolishly relied on it for long term storage (2022). Would a WD my desktop be a good supplement for now? until i can afford a RAID system.
I have recently implemented a Synology 2-bay system giving me 4TB under SHR configuration. My data requirements are obviously not as big as yours Nigel (I use about one TB per year). I wasn't sure that the process of direct accessing my pictures from the NAS would be quick so I work from a 2 TB Sandisk SSD attached to the iMac and copy daily to the NAS and back up to my C2 account once daily. Your video seems to show that you edit your pictures directly from your NAS - is that correct? Thank you so much Nigel for these tip videos they really help.
Nigel you mentioned that you only backup your photos with Synology. What is your strategy with the heavier video material? Or do you feel that it’s not as critical as the photos?
I used a Synology NAS as a backup for my computer using Time Machine. I found out the hard way, that MAC OS an NOT RESTORE a computer backup from a NAS drive. Could have retrieved files but not restore.
I just purchased the Synology DS1522+ with 5 bays... was a bit difficult finding compatable disk drives because while many will work, they will void any warranty if they are not on the Synology approved compatability list. Anyway looking to get that all together and do away with the 5-7 external drives littered around my office :)
I usually go a step further, and keep a copy on my laptop, then two copies on external media (SSDs; one of which I leave with the laptop, and one SSD I take with me when I go out for the day). I also don't reformat cards (unless absolutely necessary) and that also acts as an additional backup (although those tend to stay either in the card holder in my backpack or in the hotel). So really I have about 3 copies in the hotel when traveling, and one copy of my photos with me whereever I am. If the Hotel's wifi is fast enough, I will also backup my "keeper" photos each day so at least the good ones are in the cloud (this way, if I lost all of the other stuff, I would still have atl east something of worth after the trip; hasn't happened yet though knock on wood). Since I don't use a typical NAS (because I was not really in the mood to spend $1000+ on a NAS box and drives) I use an older computer with a few drives in it set up as a RAID 1 configuration -- currently 4 drives in a RAID 1 so I have 4 copies of the data -- I also don't shoot a ton so 8TB drives is fine). I've been using Backblaze to backup the "NAS" computer (which is nice because I get unlimited storage for one PC and so I don't pay per GB like you would many other online services) and it allows me to have additional security (firewall and anti-virus as it's just a normal computer). I also use Goodsync to perform the syncing process when I get home. It's perhaps not the most elegant solution, but it wasn't that expensive (bought the drives on sale for around $120 each and re-used a computer that was a few years old that I had sitting around so it's a good start to some sort of backup aside from a single external drive backup solution, which is usually not recommended, although better than nothing). At some point, I will probably either update this configuration with a newer computer (the nice thing is I can move the drives to another computer and set it up without having to recopy the data again) or I may just move to a NAS box (which would require me to recopy the data to the NAS). Plus this gives me a backup computer where I can run a copy of LR Classic to test the integrity of files -- I just created a dummy catalog that I import files to and build smart previews so I can see that the files are intact before they are synced to the cloud).
I need to up my storage game in the near future. I back everything up after every import via Carbon Copy Cloner from my LR catalog drive (fast external SSD) to 1) an external HD at home, and also 2) the iMac in my office at work / different physical location. I also use my secondary card slot (64gb SD card) to write JPEG's as a semi-long term backup to my RAW files in my XQD card. I need cloud backup as well. I don't quite understand what you meant at 3:10 - accessing photos anywhere in your house. Are they not in your LR catalog as well? I might have missed / misunderstood something there. Thanks!
Interesting how this thing works during blackouts. How long it can stay without electricity? Is it always in the same mode regarding electricity consumption or there are maybe different modes, like "sleeping" when not in use🙃
The Synology will last forever without power. These are traditional hard drives inside and don;t need power to store your data. Of course you won;t be able to access anything, but nothing will be lost, and using the method described here you will also have access to the online version of data in the C2 cloud (this is very expensive form of cloud storage by the way, but integrates with Synology NAS very well). All of the Synology NAS systems have very powerful and advanced power management which allows you to configure if/when they "sleep" when not accessed.
I have a similar setup but the backup to C2 from NAS takes several days as I experienced it and is therefore unusable. Also the transfer speeds over ethernet between the NAS (DS923+) and my Mac Studio is very slow despite having 1 GB wired connection. How log does your C2 backup take? What transfer speeds do you have for copying material between your Mac and NAS on Ethernet?
WOW! what a wealth of knowledge. I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to convert thousands of my 35mm negative into digital. Have any suggestions? A flatbed negative scanner? If you can help I would appreciated. Happy Holiday 🙏🌟🎄☃️
@@RandyPollock Thank you 🙏 🙏🙏for sharing. I been an amateur photographer for 40 years it is about time I digitize some of my 35mm negative for prosperity so it won’t be lost. Thanks Randy this is going to help save some of my more fine art photography that I started to engage 40+ years ago. It is going to take a lot of time but it will be worth it. Thanks again and have a wonderful and blessed Christmas. 🙏🌟🎄 🙏🌟🎄☃️
I’m using my Fuji X-T4 with a macro lens and Lomography Digitaliza plus Digital Lab Pro for Lightroom. I don’t shoot film much so don’t want to store a large scanner. There are plenty of videos on CZcams explaining similar setups in great detail.
Don’t feel bad about saying “Gigabyte” instead of “Terabyte”. I sometimes use “Megabyte” instead of “Terabyte”. A few decades ago I upgraded my first computer to have 250Mb of disk space, and I was sure I’d never run out. LOL!
First off, I'm an amateur. If I was a pro, I would have a third backup which would be offsite. But these days, when I travel, I upload my files every night to two 4TB hard drives. If was a pro I'd use two 4TB SSD drives. I make sure all of the files transferred successfully to both drives before reformatting my cards for the next day. Btw, one card holds raw files and the other card holds jpgs in each of my cameras. I currently shoot with two A7R4 cameras. When I get home, the files are copied onto the hard drive of my main computer. And those files are also copied onto mirrored drives in my Synology diskstation. If my living depended on it, I would have another backup somewhere offsite. But, this is what currently works for me.
Also an amateur and all this storage requirement thing is mindblowing but I guess the pros need this sort of thing if they are saving absolutely everything. Suppose if you are taking dozens or hundreds of shots in order to get a "great one' then maybe it's the reason why. Hard to justify the £'s when still learning the whole photography and processing thing. 1 terabite works just fine for me at moment, and if I do get a decent image, I take it out of it's solid state storage home and store it on the wall in a frame as a print for all to enjoy.😀
@@davidfrost3770 I spent my career working with computers and networks. So, backups are a way of life for me. And the trips I take now are once in a lifetime trips. So, those shots are irreplaceable. Hopefully you'll have many years of irreplaceable shots ahead of you.
Interestingly, when you shoot film, the back up happens automatically. I have negatives and chromes from back to 1982 that still look great. I have lots of digital photos from 2005-2012 that are gone forever.
@@sonpois LOL. in 40 years I have lived in New York City, Portland Oregon, St Helens Oregon, Houston Texas, Boise Idaho, and La Grande Oregon. And I probably left out a few places. It's a miracle I got what I got and I didn't have any fires, floods or robberies, but I did survive a tornado, Hurricane Rita, 9/11 from a big window seat at 35,000 feet and my sister stealing $200,000 from me. Life happens. Negatives seem to survive, digital files not so much. That's been my experience.
With the somewhat older technology of HDD’s being used for these storage devices, isn’t using SSD’s a better and safer option? Do these NAS units come with SSD’s?
Synology NAS drives can be bought "bare" and you can then insert the drives of your choice including SSD if that is your choice. You do need a form factor that can be mounted in the drive carriers though. It's worth noting though that the Mean Time Between Failure of a typical NAS HDD like the Seagate Ironwolf is 114.5 years :)
Be mindful that when a corruption of data occurs, this corruption gets carried on to all backups as well this way. Raid is not the advised way to store your data by a lot of IT experts. A filesystem like ZFS or BTRFS does detect corruptions and has a better way of keeping a history of the files. The offline backup in the shed is a good idea, but I would make it a non raid backup.
I’m a hobby photographer of just my family and friends so all the photos are precious to me, the same with my videos. My problem is I weirdly hate using an external drive and want to be able to store them all on my internal laptop drive. But the problem is I’d need a minimum of 2tb and ideally 4tb or even 8tb to future proof the MacBook Pro which is just hideously expensive. Has anyone else gone down the large internal ssd route and then just use a external for back up. I like the idea of having everything on the internal because then I have all my video and photos with me if I ever wanted to watch when I’m away or even on the couch without having to plug in an external drive.
Nice idea, but for the average person it's a really super expensive option. Even for someone like me, with very expensive equipment, it's too much. I don't think it's really necessary to store everything, but it's much better, more cost effective, greener, etc to spend more time on your photos and really only store what's essential.
I want to back up my photos from my camera to my phone. I don't have a computer, so unfortunately can't use an external hard drive. Do you have any recommendation? Google Photos, Dropbox maybe?😊
As someone who's worked in IT for a while, seeing the 'bulletproof' in the title made me think "hmm but is it actually?" (still viewing, will report back on whether it is or not (I'm guessing not) and why) Edit: it isn't bulletproof, let's break down a little bit; Problem 1: you copy from your hard drive to the nas. Bad move. What if they didn't copy correctly from the card in the first place? You're potentially copying bad data. Always copy from the *original* source, the hard drive is the secondary set of the data, the memory card is the primary. Problem 2: Say it with me - REDUNDANCY IS NOT A BACKUP. If you delete the data by mistake, despite it being duplicated to multiple drives, it's deleted from all of them. Overall not terrible, but definitely not bulletproof.
I have a Synology C2 backup system. It only stores the daily difference. It’s also possible to retrieve files from different days so if in the case of a ransomeware attack for example all is not lost. Another thing which for me is important the data is encrypted on the C2 Servers and Synology has no access to the photos ( apparently)
@@mhsch5420 No tech is bulletproof, but Synology has been around a long time now. @NAScompares has a lot of great advice on their channel and web site if you want to compare and contrast options
Do love these video they make me laugh. Synology kindly sent me..........DS1621XS+. Me goes off to google £3962 at time for the same spec. Closes video......
Just to be a devil's advocate I have a fundamental issue with the strategy of just buying more storage to keep everything you shoot. People tend to think storage has minimal costs, but the more you store, the harder it is to find the good stuff. I too have a local hard drive, NAS, cloud backup strategy for my files. However I also do periodic reviews to cull these files to remove poorly composed or slightly out of focus images, especially where it is a location I have visited multiple times. I think a good backup strategy should always be accompanied by a good critical review and deletion strategy.
I was thinking exactly the same thing. In addition, it's not just about backing everything up; it's also about being able to look through your archives usefully. Even with a well organized catalog, I find that if I have 20 copies of the same thing because I've not bothered to go through and keep the top one or two and delete the rest, then it's really annoying to go back and look at the photos from that outing. I actually use the (relatively) limited space on my computer hard drive to force me to actually go and delete photos regularly. Then, as an additional bonus, it's much quicker to make my backups.
Personally, I want ALL of my photos even ones that are old and not good. I'll keep photos even if I go to the same location 10 times and take similar photos. Never cared about the cost of more storage, power usage, etc. because I'd rather have my files. I normally don't delete anything that hits the hard drive.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I completely understand your concern about the storage strategy mentioned in the video. It's important to strike a balance between keeping memories and cluttering our storage. Just like you, I also believe in periodic reviews to ensure we keep only the best and most meaningful photos. By the way, have you heard about the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series? It's a versatile power backup solution that could be useful during your outdoor adventures or while spending quality time with family. It offers massive capacity, durable design, and fast recharging capabilities. You may want to check it out!
As a former enterprise backup admin, this caught my attention (particularly the "bulletproof" phrase in the thumbnail). The old rule of thumb was, "If you don't have three copies, you don't have a backup". That was in the days of tape and early disk storage, but the premise is still true. I'd definitely recommend keeping a periodic copy *totally* offsite ...as in, miles away. If, for example, a natural disaster wipes out your house it may well wipe out your out building as well. Also, consider the future viability of backups in terms of format -- Will your data be accessible and readable? That's really not a huge factor on the time frames of most home / independent users, but it's worth considering. Finally, remember (as someone else pointed out), redundancy is great -- necessary -- but it's not the same as multiple backups over time. Neither replaces the other, you need both. You may not need 'incremental forever' snapshot type backups, but having more than one copy (even at a single site) is good since it protects against backup corruption. One key is to have an automated solution so you don't have to remember to run backups.
Anyway, good video and a good basic approach, but just some food for further thought. It's down to the "what can you afford to lose" factor vs. cost to determine how far to take it.
Thanks for the useful and thoughtful comment 👍🏼👍🏼
I love these shorter, to-the-point videos Nigel, they’re very useful, more of the same please! Have a great Christmas! 🎄
Thank you for your comment! I'm glad you enjoyed Nigel's video. Speaking of backup strategies, I highly recommend considering the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series. With its massive capacity, fast recharging, and versatile sockets, it's perfect for keeping your devices powered during outdoor adventures or unexpected power outages. Have a wonderful Christmas and happy camping!
I applaud you for your methodology of teaching- your infographic representations have been the most helpful in all of the 30+ videos I've watched on youtube. Thank you for your work, and consider yourself a new lifelong sub!
A great approach, but at £2.5k plus for the NAS and disks followed with £3.5K per year for the 48TB cloud account I suspect completely out of reach of the average hobby photographer. I use 3 8TB drive enclosures which I manually back up to from my 8TB drive in my machine once a month, or after I've been away on a trip and have just taken or processed a large number of images. Each drive is about £100 each - far more affordable - although it does take time to transfer across three times. One copy then goes over to my Mum-in-Laws 5 mins up the road as my offsite insurance. As lphilpot01 mentions in another comment it is a question of what you can afford to lose against how much you can pay.
I agree about cost, I have a large iTunes movie library and I was downloading all my purchases which took over 10tb and was just getting expensive to store, it would of been cheaper to buy the blu ray and an ikea bookshelf 😂
That's a great alternative approach for backing up your photos! It's always important to find a backup strategy that fits within your budget and meets your specific needs. Speaking of backup power, have you considered the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series? It offers a massive capacity, fast recharging, and versatile sockets, making it a reliable option for outdoor enthusiasts like us. Just thought I'd share another option for your consideration! Happy camping and photo-taking!
I've used Synology for some 10 years! Superb product. My flow - Camera -> iPad (usb-c) -> Sandisc SSD .... Sandisc SSD -> iMac (USB-C) -> Synology DS )(NAS)
Great setup. I'm still waiting for someone to give me a NAS system...
Thanks!
Interesting stuff. If some of the prices I've seen quoted in the comments are correct then its incredibly expensive, and way out of reach of most, even many pros. Also, looking at the Synology website, its so difficult to work out what you need. Now I'm no slouch when it comes to tech, but I'm no expert either. These companies would sell a lot more to the uninitiated if they employed someone to translate their techy specs into plain language that most people could understand. If they watched people try to navigate their site and then actually try to buy something it might open their eyes to the real world. Maybe it just needs an "I'll have a Nigel Danson setup" button, or an option on the front page saying "geeks" here and "ordinary people" here, which take you to two different sites. Or maybe just be sponsored and it arrives in a box . . 😂 And even if you work out what you need, it just takes you to Amazon and you then have to work out all over again what it is you need to buy.
Always good to see how other people back up their work. I have been using a Synology for about 7 years now, but the network lag was too much to work directly from the drive for my preference. I just use a thunderbolt drive for my photos/videos, which always backs up to my Synology, which is the hub for all my other work. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, loved the animations, and the simple advice on a 3-2-1 strategy for backups
You mention keeping the catalogue on an external drive and plugging that into whichever computer you are using. The reason you state is because you can't use a network drive.
I use the internal drive on a laptop, and on the internal drive on a desktop machine. These are synchronised by using Microsoft OneDrive. When the catalogue files are changed, these are backed up to OneDrive, and then automatically downloaded to the other machine, and of course the other way around.
That sounds like a great workflow. I may have to look into that.
I’m new into NAS backup process, I really need this video❤ thanks
I also bought a synology two years ago to back up my photos an have access to them from different locations. It really does make your life easier!
I've been using that NAS for a while now and I absolutely love it. I know you will too.
Good video, Nigel. Using Backblaze for all my cloud backups.
I too owned a Nas and payed quite a bit of money for it, unfortunately it died just after the 2 years warranty, thankfully I also used other forms of backup to backup it as well and had to pull the data off the raid drives. Was not happy.
I have a 4 bay Synology at home that I backup weekly to another Synology at my son’s house. When in the field, I upload all my raw files to my home NAS that I can connect to over the internet. Just one more copy for protection.
Hi! Thank you for your video. I was looking for a good and affordable back-up system. Backblaze seems like a great cloud solution. Any thoughts? Thanks!!
Can you explain the NAS to wi-fi a bit more?? Thanks
Great video Nigel, thank you very much for sharing your storage setup with us.
Question: You have gone out, filmed a bunch of footage, taken a bunch of photos. Get back and edit the video and photos. Upload the video to CZcams ... what do you do now with that footage? Do you keep everything? only keep the finished edited footage and delete the raw footage and broll? what is your process at this point?
Gfx + pixel phone. Capture one 22 is my editor. Google drive is my storage instead of a NAS.. gdrive had a feature where files are streamed. Which means files stays on server whilst local files gets house kept after 30day. Good enough for me with less hardware
Hi Nigel. Just revisiting this video because I'm about to set up my first NAS and wondering where your store the Lightroom Catalogue - is that on the NAS or on your PC's hard drive? Any other technical advice about how to set up a NAS would be very helpful - whether as a further video or as an email
Good video as always, and an important topic to cover. This solution is far too expensive for me. It was interesting that you said that Synology gave you the new NAS Network Storage that you are reviewing. Lucky you. 😀
For anybody thats intrested in cloud back ups for both your computer or your Nas (synology has an app in there package center) I Drive are doing a limited time deal of 10TB of storage space for 3.98 for the whole year. I just bought a synology Nas and while looking for back up storage options found it by chance. I've just checked it at time of posting this and its still available.
does not look like it does NAS and it's only 5TB
@@stowgood definitely works with Synology Nas. I'm using it with my DS720+ and it works great, I dont know whether they support other brands of Nas but would imagine they do. If your using Synology, log into your Nas and go to the package center, scroll down to the third party apps and you will find one for Idrive. Install that and follow the instructions. I've just rechecked and the offer is still running $3.98 for the whole first year for 10TB of cloud storage.
I dont like posting links on other peoples you tube channel, but if purchance Nigel sees this and ok's it I will post a link to the offer.
Thanks for the video, super helpful. I have a question regarding the hard drive that you have connected to your computer. So if I am understanding correctly, you cannot access the images on the NAS system unless you physically download them over to your computer or HDD?
I had a Raid 5 failure about 14 years back. A second disk died while in the process of restoring a dead drive. That's one too many - everything gone. Then again, I'm a paranoid ex-software architect, so I had two other backups. One offline and one off-site. - I only lost about 3 days of editing work. Be very careful of backing up bad data over good data - (yeah, that happens too).
I'm not fond of the "cloud," which is really just someone else's computer, but for backups, yeah. It might be past time.
Thank you for a good discussion of the hardware you use. Can you also please talk about what software you use ? I've heard of people getting "bit-rot" and having that propagate throughout their backups. Do you do anything to detect and prevent that ?
Father Christmas 🎅 arrives early, eh? Nice! 🎄 👍🥂
I simply can not afford synology right now, maybe one day. I am currently facing an issue where i can't read my sandisk extreme ssd. I foolishly relied on it for long term storage (2022). Would a WD my desktop be a good supplement for now? until i can afford a RAID system.
I have recently implemented a Synology 2-bay system giving me 4TB under SHR configuration. My data requirements are obviously not as big as yours Nigel (I use about one TB per year). I wasn't sure that the process of direct accessing my pictures from the NAS would be quick so I work from a 2 TB Sandisk SSD attached to the iMac and copy daily to the NAS and back up to my C2 account once daily. Your video seems to show that you edit your pictures directly from your NAS - is that correct? Thank you so much Nigel for these tip videos they really help.
Great vid, Nigel!
My backups are all cloud based.
Lightroom CC
Dropbox (synced to PC)
iCloud
3 cloud duplicates 😂
Why don’t you backup your videos on your Synology NASS? How do you back them up?
Nigel you mentioned that you only backup your photos with Synology. What is your strategy with the heavier video material? Or do you feel that it’s not as critical as the photos?
Great video on your backup strategy. I also use a Synology NAS, but it is a puny 6TB system ;-)
I used a Synology NAS as a backup for my computer using Time Machine. I found out the hard way, that MAC OS an NOT RESTORE a computer backup from a NAS drive. Could have retrieved files but not restore.
Isn't the c2 backup like mad expensive for that amount of data?
I just purchased the Synology DS1522+ with 5 bays... was a bit difficult finding compatable disk drives because while many will work, they will void any warranty if they are not on the Synology approved compatability list. Anyway looking to get that all together and do away with the 5-7 external drives littered around my office :)
Good choice
I usually go a step further, and keep a copy on my laptop, then two copies on external media (SSDs; one of which I leave with the laptop, and one SSD I take with me when I go out for the day). I also don't reformat cards (unless absolutely necessary) and that also acts as an additional backup (although those tend to stay either in the card holder in my backpack or in the hotel). So really I have about 3 copies in the hotel when traveling, and one copy of my photos with me whereever I am. If the Hotel's wifi is fast enough, I will also backup my "keeper" photos each day so at least the good ones are in the cloud (this way, if I lost all of the other stuff, I would still have atl east something of worth after the trip; hasn't happened yet though knock on wood).
Since I don't use a typical NAS (because I was not really in the mood to spend $1000+ on a NAS box and drives) I use an older computer with a few drives in it set up as a RAID 1 configuration -- currently 4 drives in a RAID 1 so I have 4 copies of the data -- I also don't shoot a ton so 8TB drives is fine). I've been using Backblaze to backup the "NAS" computer (which is nice because I get unlimited storage for one PC and so I don't pay per GB like you would many other online services) and it allows me to have additional security (firewall and anti-virus as it's just a normal computer). I also use Goodsync to perform the syncing process when I get home. It's perhaps not the most elegant solution, but it wasn't that expensive (bought the drives on sale for around $120 each and re-used a computer that was a few years old that I had sitting around so it's a good start to some sort of backup aside from a single external drive backup solution, which is usually not recommended, although better than nothing). At some point, I will probably either update this configuration with a newer computer (the nice thing is I can move the drives to another computer and set it up without having to recopy the data again) or I may just move to a NAS box (which would require me to recopy the data to the NAS). Plus this gives me a backup computer where I can run a copy of LR Classic to test the integrity of files -- I just created a dummy catalog that I import files to and build smart previews so I can see that the files are intact before they are synced to the cloud).
What do you back up? Everything, inc out of focus RAW files in the card dump, of do you cull to gain space? Keep up the good work!
Everything
Nigel, are you using Synology Drive or Active Backup for Business for you backup app?
I need to up my storage game in the near future. I back everything up after every import via Carbon Copy Cloner from my LR catalog drive (fast external SSD) to 1) an external HD at home, and also 2) the iMac in my office at work / different physical location. I also use my secondary card slot (64gb SD card) to write JPEG's as a semi-long term backup to my RAW files in my XQD card. I need cloud backup as well.
I don't quite understand what you meant at 3:10 - accessing photos anywhere in your house. Are they not in your LR catalog as well? I might have missed / misunderstood something there. Thanks!
Great video, with very nice animations. What software are you using for these? Thanks!
Interesting how this thing works during blackouts. How long it can stay without electricity? Is it always in the same mode regarding electricity consumption or there are maybe different modes, like "sleeping" when not in use🙃
The Synology will last forever without power. These are traditional hard drives inside and don;t need power to store your data. Of course you won;t be able to access anything, but nothing will be lost, and using the method described here you will also have access to the online version of data in the C2 cloud (this is very expensive form of cloud storage by the way, but integrates with Synology NAS very well). All of the Synology NAS systems have very powerful and advanced power management which allows you to configure if/when they "sleep" when not accessed.
Do you back up your entire 42TB NAS to the Synology C2 Cloud Back-up Service?
Good question..
that's gotta be $$$
I have a similar setup but the backup to C2 from NAS takes several days as I experienced it and is therefore unusable. Also the transfer speeds over ethernet between the NAS (DS923+) and my Mac Studio is very slow despite having 1 GB wired connection. How log does your C2 backup take? What transfer speeds do you have for copying material between your Mac and NAS on Ethernet?
I've just realised how old I am 😏 I thought I understood technology errr!, I'm just so thankful I dont have to rely on this type of backup
WOW! what a wealth of knowledge.
I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to convert thousands of my 35mm negative into digital. Have any suggestions?
A flatbed negative scanner? If you can help I would appreciated.
Happy Holiday 🙏🌟🎄☃️
Epson 850v scanner and SilverFast 9 and lots and lots of time.
@@RandyPollock
Thank you 🙏 🙏🙏for sharing. I been an amateur photographer for 40 years it is about time I digitize some of my 35mm negative for prosperity so it won’t be lost.
Thanks Randy this is going to help save some of my more fine art photography that I started to engage 40+ years ago. It is going to take a lot of time but it will be worth it. Thanks again and have a wonderful and blessed Christmas. 🙏🌟🎄
🙏🌟🎄☃️
I’m using my Fuji X-T4 with a macro lens and Lomography Digitaliza plus Digital Lab Pro for Lightroom. I don’t shoot film much so don’t want to store a large scanner. There are plenty of videos on CZcams explaining similar setups in great detail.
@@artemsapegin Thank you for your suggestion will look into it.
Have a wonderful holiday!🌟🎄☃️
Don’t feel bad about saying “Gigabyte” instead of “Terabyte”. I sometimes use “Megabyte” instead of “Terabyte”. A few decades ago I upgraded my first computer to have 250Mb of disk space, and I was sure I’d never run out. LOL!
First off, I'm an amateur. If I was a pro, I would have a third backup which would be offsite. But these days, when I travel, I upload my files every night to two 4TB hard drives. If was a pro I'd use two 4TB SSD drives. I make sure all of the files transferred successfully to both drives before reformatting my cards for the next day. Btw, one card holds raw files and the other card holds jpgs in each of my cameras. I currently shoot with two A7R4 cameras. When I get home, the files are copied onto the hard drive of my main computer. And those files are also copied onto mirrored drives in my Synology diskstation. If my living depended on it, I would have another backup somewhere offsite. But, this is what currently works for me.
Also an amateur and all this storage requirement thing is mindblowing but I guess the pros need this sort of thing if they are saving absolutely everything. Suppose if you are taking dozens or hundreds of shots in order to get a "great one' then maybe it's the reason why.
Hard to justify the £'s when still learning the whole photography and processing thing. 1 terabite works just fine for me at moment, and if I do get a decent image, I take it out of it's solid state storage home and store it on the wall in a frame as a print for all to enjoy.😀
@@davidfrost3770 I spent my career working with computers and networks. So, backups are a way of life for me. And the trips I take now are once in a lifetime trips. So, those shots are irreplaceable. Hopefully you'll have many years of irreplaceable shots ahead of you.
Interestingly, when you shoot film, the back up happens automatically. I have negatives and chromes from back to 1982 that still look great. I have lots of digital photos from 2005-2012 that are gone forever.
Clearly you know better how to safeguard a drawer rather than a ‘folder”. Great that you had no fires, floods, robberies etc in 40 years haha
@@sonpois LOL. in 40 years I have lived in New York City, Portland Oregon, St Helens Oregon, Houston Texas, Boise Idaho, and La Grande Oregon. And I probably left out a few places. It's a miracle I got what I got and I didn't have any fires, floods or robberies, but I did survive a tornado, Hurricane Rita, 9/11 from a big window seat at 35,000 feet and my sister stealing $200,000 from me. Life happens. Negatives seem to survive, digital files not so much. That's been my experience.
Nigel what about a UPS for your nas drive and other equipment? heard today some power cuts expected Jan 2023?
Yeah - I have a UPS - probably should have mentioned that
@@NigelDanson maybe another short video as im looking into it and finding it very confusing
Yes please! I haven’t used UPSs since 2000s but maybe I should now?
With the somewhat older technology of HDD’s being used for these storage devices, isn’t using SSD’s a better and safer option? Do these NAS units come with SSD’s?
Synology NAS drives can be bought "bare" and you can then insert the drives of your choice including SSD if that is your choice. You do need a form factor that can be mounted in the drive carriers though. It's worth noting though that the Mean Time Between Failure of a typical NAS HDD like the Seagate Ironwolf is 114.5 years :)
SSDs are so expensive though
@@jonathanptaylor Thank you for that information! I have no idea about these so the info really helps!
@@NigelDanson Very true!
Be mindful that when a corruption of data occurs, this corruption gets carried on to all backups as well this way. Raid is not the advised way to store your data by a lot of IT experts. A filesystem like ZFS or BTRFS does detect corruptions and has a better way of keeping a history of the files. The offline backup in the shed is a good idea, but I would make it a non raid backup.
I’m a hobby photographer of just my family and friends so all the photos are precious to me, the same with my videos. My problem is I weirdly hate using an external drive and want to be able to store them all on my internal laptop drive. But the problem is I’d need a minimum of 2tb and ideally 4tb or even 8tb to future proof the MacBook Pro which is just hideously expensive. Has anyone else gone down the large internal ssd route and then just use a external for back up. I like the idea of having everything on the internal because then I have all my video and photos with me if I ever wanted to watch when I’m away or even on the couch without having to plug in an external drive.
A nas is perfect for you. Always on, no plugging required.
@@rsc6000 I’d be tempted but i always had a bad experience with the old apple time capsules! What speeds would i get over Wi-Fi on a modern nas?
Nice idea, but for the average person it's a really super expensive option. Even for someone like me, with very expensive equipment, it's too much.
I don't think it's really necessary to store everything, but it's much better, more cost effective, greener, etc to spend more time on your photos and really only store what's essential.
I want to back up my photos from my camera to my phone. I don't have a computer, so unfortunately can't use an external hard drive. Do you have any recommendation? Google Photos, Dropbox maybe?😊
damn.. would love to nab one of these.. but that 1600 price point.. yikes.
1:35 But HOW do you backup from sd card to ssd/hdd 'in the field' ?
Probably using something like LaCie Rugged RAID Pro which has a slot to plug in an SD card and will automatically copy it to the internal SSD.
Laptop
@@NigelDanson Ah, OK because you were only showing something like an SSD
As someone who's worked in IT for a while, seeing the 'bulletproof' in the title made me think "hmm but is it actually?" (still viewing, will report back on whether it is or not (I'm guessing not) and why)
Edit: it isn't bulletproof, let's break down a little bit;
Problem 1: you copy from your hard drive to the nas. Bad move. What if they didn't copy correctly from the card in the first place? You're potentially copying bad data. Always copy from the *original* source, the hard drive is the secondary set of the data, the memory card is the primary.
Problem 2: Say it with me - REDUNDANCY IS NOT A BACKUP. If you delete the data by mistake, despite it being duplicated to multiple drives, it's deleted from all of them.
Overall not terrible, but definitely not bulletproof.
I have a Synology C2 backup system. It only stores the daily difference. It’s also possible to retrieve files from different days so if in the case of a ransomeware attack for example all is not lost. Another thing which for me is important the data is encrypted on the C2 Servers and Synology has no access to the photos ( apparently)
That is one shed load of data
Fairly simple? I'm a beginner and learning photography is waaaay easier than the whole backup and Workflow thing...
Were you paid for each time you said 'Synology' 🤣
I should have been
A commercial really?
Synolgy.. Not bullet proof
...can you pls let us know, why not?
@@mhsch5420 No tech is bulletproof, but Synology has been around a long time now. @NAScompares has a lot of great advice on their channel and web site if you want to compare and contrast options
Do love these video they make me laugh. Synology kindly sent me..........DS1621XS+. Me goes off to google £3962 at time for the same spec. Closes video......
Ha! I am very lucky. But most photographers won’t need the storage I have as I take a lot of videos….
@@NigelDanson I only jest, I agree most hobby photographers wont need this kind of set up.