A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

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A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

3-2-1 BACKUP MYLIO

3-2-1 Backup for Photographers...........................................................4 Access Your Photos Anywhere with Mylio Photos...............................43

Are your photos safe?............................................................................9 Put Your Entire Photo Library on a Phone...........................................46

What to backup...................................................................................11

Automatically Backup Files on Your Mac..............................................15 CLOUD BACKUP

Amazon Photos...................................................................................51
MEMORY CARDS
Why I Backup My Photos to the Cloud................................................54
Protect Your Camera Memory Cards....................................................18
How to Save Your Data Using Backblaze.............................................57
Avoid Accidentally Erasing Memory Cards...........................................23

Avoiding Memory Card Chaos.............................................................24

Properly Format SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards..............................................27

HARD DRIVES
Why Your Hard Drive Will Fail...............................................................29

HD vs. SSD.........................................................................................33

Demystifying Solid State Drives............................................................38

 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 1

3-2-1 BACKUP
B Y V A N E L L I , J E M M A P O L L A R I A N D R I C H A R D H A R R I N G T O N
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 1 VANELLI

3-2-1 BACKUP FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

It’s hard to put a price tag on years of In order for the 3-2-1 Backup to be foolproof, you actually
have to follow the simple steps correctly to build a “set it and
memories you captured in photos or the forget it” backup.
hours of video you took that still brings a
smile to your face. Ask yourself – what
are my photos worth?
How much would you lose if you lost everything on your hard
drive? You need a bulletproof backup plan; hardware that’s
safe, simple, and expandable; and lastly, easily configurable
software to manage it all.

3-2-1 Backup concept Store on two different media

• Create three copies of your files
The first step is to decide what type of media you plan on
• Store on two different media
using for your backup. Let me start by saying DVDs are gone
• Keep one backup copy off-site
(they also start to disintegrate after a few years). Sorry, not
up for discussion.
The 3-2-1 Backup concept has been around for years and is
But seriously, the “Store on two different media” concept isn’t
foolproof (a big advocate worth checking out is Peter Krogh).
necessarily about choosing two different TYPES of media. It
”If it’s foolproof, you ask, why are so many frustrated people
means to make two identical copies of your files stored on
(I was one of them) calling recovery companies to ask them
two separate devices. This way, if you have a hardware
(no beg them) to retrieve their precious files?”
failure, you can recover using the other device. I suggest
using two external storage systems.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
VANELLI

The term ‘backup” is

often misunderstood
The process of backing up refers to the
copying and archiving of computer data so it
may be used to restore the original after a
data loss event.

That’s what I thought, until I deleted a file on

my main hard drive and couldn’t find it on my
“BACKUP” drive.

I had chosen to use file syncing as my

backup format. So I then check the drive I
setup as a FULL BACKUP. I looked at my
new backup drive and couldn’t read it. To save
space, the FULL BACKUP compressed my
files and the only way I could see them was
with the software that was provided.

My final step was to mirror the drive. That

worked great until I manually saved files to the
mirrored drive. The software deleted them on
the next sync. 



Have I painted my frustration scenario?

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
VANELLI

Which one do I use and when?

Syncing
This methods creates two identical copies that are updated
both ways. If a file or change is detected on drive A, drive B is
updated. If a file or change is detected on drive B, drive A is
updated. If you delete a file, both are deleted. This is great if
you make changes on both drives. For our purposes this
ISN’T RIGHT for a photography workflow.

Mirroring
This method creates two identical copies that are only
updated one way. PERFECT for us. We want our second
drive to be the same bit for bit. If the main drive fails, we swap
and use the mirrored drive until we rebuild a new one. There’s
no downtime. This is the reason I recommended using two
Backup
external storage systems earlier. This method creates a compressed copy of every file, e.g.,
deleted files, multiple changes to that file, every file you ever
Copying created. As you can imagine,  this requires more storage than
your original hard drive — and it can only be read or restored
Selecting all files from one hard drive and copying them to the with software. This is a perfect format for off-site backup. It
other. There is no link. If you change something on drive A, can also be used for a dedicated system that is only used for
drive B never sees it. Use this when you are making copies of backing up your system.
files to give away.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
VANELLI

Which method should I

choose when?
I use both the mirroring and the backup method,

I MIRROR two external hard drives that are updated

automatically when a change is made. There are
plenty of utilities that can do this; I recommend
SyncBack from 2BrightSparks for Windows. The Pro
version has a few extra features that are worth the
price. But do your research and find a tool that works
for you.

I also purchase an OFF-SITE BACKUP PLAN with

online access. I use CrashPlan from Code42
because it is affordable and easy to use, but there
are plenty of other off-site backup companies.

By putting two methods to work I have a much safer

photo library.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 1 JEMMA POLLARI

ARE YOUR PHOTOS SAFE?

As a photographer, losing a client’s

photos before I can deliver them gives
me nightmares.
When you consider the time, effort, and let’s face it, money,
that goes into a wedding day, and the fact that the photos I
take are the only record of that for prosperity, then you’ve got
the perfect recipe for disaster if your photos are not safely
backed up.

Wedding days are a little more critical than, say, a family

shoot that can be repeated if the photos are lost. But
nevertheless, whoever your clients are, it’s your duty to make
sure those files are safe.
Setting up a 3-2-1 backup
strategy for photos
Using a 3-2-1 backup strategy is a good rule of thumb to
ensure your photos are protected against data loss. What it
means is this: for every file, you need to maintain three
copies, two on-site (on different media or devices), one off-
site. 3-2-1: Makes sense, right?
Start with two copies on-site
The two on-site usually looks like one copy on your
computer’s hard drive, and a second copy on a backup drive.
Use a synchronization program such as SyncBack Pro to
automate backing up your primary hard drive to your backup
hard drive. Sync programs scan the primary drive for
changes and only copy over new or changed files, for an
efficient and quick backup.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
JEMMA POLLARI

Next, maintain one copy off-site

The one off-site copy used to be a “physically carried away
and stored somewhere else” situation, but nowadays we have
cloud storage to provide convenient off-site storage. There are
a myriad of services you can set up to back your photos up to
the cloud, but my favorite is IDrive, which is both convenient
and a great value for the vast quantities of space required by
my photo hard drive.

Scheduling your backups

You should backup your photos on a consistent schedule.
That might mean daily, weekly or fortnightly, depending on
how frequently you shoot. If you shoot on a camera with dual
card slots, make it a professional policy to never wipe the
backup card until you have backed up the files on your
computer.   to keep a backup of files for a predetermined time: Two years,
Also, make it a habit to disconnect your backup drive from
your computer in between backups. That way if your computer
gets infected by a virus, or worse, ransomware, your backup
hard drive will be safe.
Maintaining backups long term
Depending on the kind of clients you serve, you’ll likely want
five years or longer. After that, you might clear out your
archive — but keep the hero shots for your portfolio.
Whatever your archive policy is, make it clear to clients from
the outset, and remind them to back up their photos after you
have delivered them, too! That way, you’ll avoid
disappointments down the track caused by data loss.

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C H A P T E R 1 VANELLI
WHAT TO BACKUP?
What additional files or folders
should photographers backup?
The first folder to add to your online backup list is your
photos. It’s best to organize all your images in one main
folder — Photography for instance — and create subfolders
for the different photos you have. These subfolders will
include subfolders of each shoot. Here’s an example.
A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
Create an Assets folder
Over the years I’ve accumulated photos of skies, lots of LUTs
(Lookup tables), textures, Looks, LuminarAI Templates and
Lightroom presets. These files I consider assets. I store them
in an _Assets folder inside my Photography folder so I know
where they are. When I add my Photography folder to the
online backup list, the _Assets folder is automatically added.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
VANELLI

Catalog files
Luminar, Lightroom, ACDSee Photo Studio and Capture One
are considered parametric editors. Parametric editing is a
class of non-destructive editing that uses a set of instructions
or parameters, rather than adjusting the actual pixels and
altering the original image. This means it may come with
additional files you’ve creates such as catalogs. These files
should be included in your backup list.

You can find the location of these files from within the
application.

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VANELLI

Operating system and

programs have a
separate backup
Your operating system and programs should
be stored on a separate hard drive than your
images. These files don’t need to be added to
your online list. In case of a hard drive crash
that involves your operating system, these
files can quickly be restored using a USB
recovery drive.

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VANELLI

Exclusions for online backup

Some files don’t need to be added to your cloud base backup
plan, they are already backed up on their own. Google Drive
and Dropbox are good examples. If one of your local hard
drives fails, your second drive steps in. This drive will already
have a link to Google Drive or Dropbox. If both drives fail, you
can rebuild Google Drive or Dropbox faster by reinstalling
them than you can download the content from your cloud
backup.

Don’t be “that guy” that posts on social media your hard drive
crashed and you lost all your valuable photos and documents.
Follow this special backup plan designed specifically for
photographers to keep your precious digital files safe.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 1 RICHARD HARRINGTON

AUTOMATICALLY BACKUP FILES ON YOUR MAC

Carbon Copy Cloner is

an essential
application for macOS
users for backing up or
duplicating hard drives.

At home, I use to to
clone my photography
library every night.
Carbon Copy Cloner
mirrors the primary
drive to the backup.
This process is
completely automated. STEP 1:
I also use it to back up Select your source drive and choose which files you want to
my primary hard drive every night to an attached SSD. clone. I clone the entire drive, you can pick a specific folder if
desired.
Here’s how to do it:
STEP 2:
Make sure you have both hard drives connected, then you Select your Destination. This is where your data is copied to.
need to create a New Task. In the top toolbar of the
application, click on the New Task icon. 
 For a bootable backup I toggle SafetyNet off. Essentially,

 SafetyNet is a feature where Carbon Copy Cloner keeps
Then it’s as easy as 1-2-3. deleted files in case you accidentally deleted them and need
to recover them later. I do use Safety Net when backing up
my photo library though to check for accidental
erasures.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
RICHARD HARRINGTON

STEP 3:
Automation is where you can schedule
when you want this backup to happen.

I use this two different ways. There is a

Crucial SSD attached to my Mac mini. 

It runs every night at the same time.

For my MacBook Pro this is set to the

option to Run On Disk Appearance.

This is great for my portable workflow.

Whenever the disk is connected Carbon
Copy Cloner automatically starts a backup
in the background. If I forget to plug it in, I
get a reminder after a week.

Carbon Copy Cloner is pretty easy to get

set up and I never need to worry about
creating backups again.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 2

MEMORY CARDS
BY PAMELA BERRY, RICHARD HARRINGTON AND BRYAN ESLER
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 2 PAMELA BERRY

PROTECT YOUR CAMERA MEMORY CARDS

Let’s talk memory cards. We have SD cards, CF cards, CFast

cards and many options within those to choose from. We all
have them, need them and use them. But what does it all
mean? Let’s discuss taking care of our cards and preventing
potential problems that can and will happen to all of us. Here
are 10 practical tips.

1. Keep your camera up to date

It seems like firmware updates are happening more and more
often. This can affect the way your camera talks to your
memory card. Even memory cards nowadays can have
firmware updates, such as some of the SanDisk SD cards.

Always make sure you have the latest firmware updates on

both your camera and your memory card. As much as we all
love more emails, those emails updates from the companies
you use products for will help keep your investment
protected.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
PAMELA BERRY

2. Make sure you replace

batteries before your camera
dies
If your camera dies while writing a picture to your card, it can
cause a few not-so-happy issues such as corruption and card
errors. It’s the same thing if you disconnect your hard drive
from your computer before ejecting. If your camera dies
without properly shutting down, over time your card can
possibly be compromised.

3. Don’t switch your camera off

so fast
As with the same reasons above. If your camera is still writing
to the card and you turn off your camera, the communication
between your card and your camera can be compromised.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
PAMELA BERRY

4. Always format your memory 6. Don’t let your card fill up

card in the camera you are using Stop shooting when your card is close to being filled. If you fill
your card, it can cause your camera to not fully write all the
before you start taking photos information about the file to the card. It can also cause card
errors and corrupt files. Thankfully card prices have dropped.
This allows optimal communication between your card and
your camera. Formatting does more than just delete previous
images and is essential to preventing issues of your camera
writing to your card.

5. Marry the card

To really create a long term healthy card that will last years
and in theory prevent less issues with corrupt files, assign a
card to stay with a certain camera. The theory is that the file
structure in cards and the way camera’s read cards can
eventually become corrupt and start causing issues. Issues
can come up such as not being able to read all the files or the
time is takes to read such files.

I actually had those issues recently with a rented card. Which

brings me back to keeping your cards healthy. If you can,
keep one card with that same camera.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
PAMELA BERRY

7. Don’t delete images in camera

I have to admit I’m guilty of not following this advice. The
thought behind this guideline is that deleting images from your
card will actually shorten the life span. Erasing images after
uploading means one erase cycle rather than several if you
are deleting one by one from your camera. So either use your
computer to erase everything or format the card before the
next shoot. Don’t delete bad images until they are on your
computer.

8. Make sure you have fast

memory cards
Fast cards allow your camera to write to your card faster and
allows for faster reading and uploading speeds to your
computer. Luckily in the past few years, the price of memory
cards has improved. Get the fastest and get multiple. Have
backups and have enough memory. I shoot minimum on
32GB and mostly always use my 64GB card.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
PAMELA BERRY

9. If your card or camera says

there is an error, STOP TAKING
PHOTOS
Stop anything you are doing with that card and take it out of
your camera. You may have to use a recovery software to get
your images but the less you mess with the card the more
likely you are to save those images.

10. Recover your memory card if

needed
Finally, if the unimaginable happens and you format your card
before making sure your photos are backed up, what do you
do? Luckily there are a few programs that will recover your
images as long as you haven’t started shooting. Once you
have started shooting, those new files are being written over
the deleted files.

SanDisk has a recovery program that I’ve used on many

occasions when I worked at a camera store. However, there
are several different companies on the market that for a fee,
you can download the software and recover images.

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C H A P T E R 2 RICHARD HARRINGTON

AVOID ACCIDENTALLY ERASING MEMORY CARDS

I have a tendency to carry a lot (and I mean A LOT) of

memory cards on a shoot. Between shooting panoramic
photos, time-lapse sequences, and 4K video, I burn through
memory cards faster than most. I find myself needing to be
certain that I avoid accidentally erasing data.

Here’s my strategy for safety:

1. Make sure that all memory cards are formatted

BEFORE going into the field. Don’t bring cards with
data or you’ll sit there wondering if you transferred them
already or if you’re about to wipe your only copy.

2. Have two card wallets. One full and one empty. Make
sure they have the same number of slots.

3. Put the full wallet with all of the blank memory cards into
your right pocket.
I know its simplistic but its saved me more than one time.
4. Put the empty wallet with no cards in it in your left Give it a shot.
pocket.

5. As you shoot cards, place them upside down in the card

wallet in your left pocket.

6. Repeat this phrase ten times

The cards in the right pocket are the right cards to
shoot with; the cards in my left pocket should be left
alone.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 2 BRYAN ESLER

AVOIDING MEMORY CARD CHAOS

As photographers, we often take for granted one

of the most important pieces of equipment we can
invest in — memory cards. Whether you use CF or
SD cards, there’s some simple things to remember
in order to avoid card failure.

Don’t delete … format!

While it might make sense to use your computer’s
option to delete photos off your camera, it’s
actually the opposite of what’s recommended.
Instead, format your card in-camera after you off-
load a shoot to your computer. Doing so will
refresh the card so it works as best as possible
with your camera’s software, lessening the chance
for on-the-job issues.

Likewise, you also should format if you’re

switching between cameras. While you might have
two Nikon camera bodies, they might not have the
same model of software on them. Their settings
might be slightly different as well. Because of this,
it’s important to format your cards whenever you
switch camera bodies. Otherwise, the camera may
have trouble recording your images or playing
them back.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
BRYAN ESLER

Use a second card slot as a

backup
While most entry-level cameras don’t offer two card slots,
most pro-level cameras do. Having this extra slot might make
you think you can shoot for days with the extra card slot you
have. And while that might be the case, that’s not the best
usage.

This is especially important for professionals. The last thing

you want is card failure to occur after your shoot, before
you’re able to import photos to your computer.

Using the second card slot as overflow, or backup, ensures

that if one card fails, you’re protected.


very low-end card, and it was 5 degrees outside. The memory

If you’re experiencing issues,
switch
If your card is having trouble on the job, switch cards. When I
first got my Nikon D800, I was having trouble reading to the
SD card I had for overflow in my camera (CF was my primary
format). Turns out it was related to two things — I was using a
card was literally freezing, and the camera was having trouble
writing to it.
I switched to another card in my pocket (which — another tip
— keep them in your pocket for warmth) and no longer had
any issues.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
BRYAN ESLER

Invest in high quality cards

There are lots of cheap memory cards out there that you
might be tempted to buy. Don’t. Invest in a quality brand that
stands behind their cards (SanDisk and Lexar both have
guarantees), and choose a card at a high read/write speed.

They’re more expensive than the $9.99 cards you might find
at a big box store, but they’re totally worth it in the long run.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 2 RICHARD HARRINGTON

PROPERLY FORMAT SD/SDHC/SDXC CARDS

Have you ever had a SD card seem to go bad?

Perhaps it’s acting flaky and there seems to be no
signs of physical damage. I had just that happen
with some cards that wouldn’t show up (turns out
they were improperly formatted using Apple Disk
Utility by an assistant being overzealous).

I found a great program that’s both free and official.

It’s SD Formatter 4.0 for SD/SDHC/SDXC cards. It’s
actually created by the SD Association that
oversees the SD Card format. You can get it here
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/

This tool can format all SD memory cards, SDHC

memory cards and SDXC memory cards. It ensures
that the cards are fully compliant (especially for
things like card speed and buffering). The
association states that:

The SD Formatter was created specifically for

memory cards using the SD/SDHC/SDXC
standards. It is strongly recommended to use the
SD Formatter instead of formatting utilities provided
with operating systems that format various types of
storage media. Using generic formatting utilities may The free utility is available for Windows as
result in less than optimal performance for your well as macOS. Download it from their
memory cards. website for free - https://www.sdcard.org/
downloads/formatter/
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 3

HARD DRIVES
B Y K E N L E E & A N D Y F O R D
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 3 KEN LEE

WHY YOUR HARD DRIVE WILL FAIL

There’s that well-known saying among

computer technicians: “It’s not if your
hard drive will fail, it’s when.” So why do
hard drives fail? 

Human error
You may be the most likely cause of hard disk failure. Not
surprisingly, human error is the most common cause. Whether
it’s installing the computer’s operating system incorrectly,
altering system files attributes, mistakenly deleting files or
directories, what we do can cause damage to the hard disk
and lead to permanent loss of data. 
Using hard drive toasters to add terabytes of data on a budget.
A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
KEN LEE
I use hard drive “toasters” so I might add terabytes of data on
a budget. One possible downside of this is that I physically
handle the hard drives a lot. It’s possible that I could drop
them one day. None of us are perfect.
Hardware failure
Hard drives fail. If it’s the spinning kind, they are mechanical
and can fail a number of different ways. This may occur due to
read/write heads touching or even scraping the disk’s
magnetic surface. 
If it is a solid state drive, or SSD, they often fail due to how
they are used to write and read information. SSDs undergo a
program/erase cycle, writing to flash-type memory cells.
These can only be programmed and erased a finite amount of
times before failure.
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KEN LEE

Firmware issues
Firmware is a sort of computer program embedded into the
hard drive and contains basic storage programming. This
allows your hardware to talk to your software. If your firmware
is somehow corrupted, you can see how this might cause an
issue.

Firmware can be corrupted through accidental shutdowns,

interruptions while upgrading your firmware or virus attacks.

Overheating
Overheating can be caused by numerous things, including
obviously high temperature, but also faulty cooling fans,
improper ventilation and more. I see people stuffing their
desktop computers inside furniture occasionally. Sometimes
they take care to provide ventilation, but usually not.

Interruption of power
Yes, it’s what you think it is. A power surge from a lightning
strike or power line interference can result in data loss
because your read/write heads don’t function properly. Many
people have UPS and voltage regulators to attempt to
alleviate issues with power.
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KEN LEE

Damage from liquids

In addition to night photography, I also record music in a home
studio. I have a strict rule about no drinks in the studio.
Despite this, I’ve had two people spill their beer while
recording music because “there was no way they would spill
beer.” Before I could get them to drink it elsewhere, you
guessed it, they had already spilled it. If beer manufacturers
sold their products in sippy cups, my life would be easier.

I see people working while drinking next to their computer all

the time. Water is already bad, so you can only imagine what
beer, coffee or soda might do. Liquids can also cause
unwanted surges in the electrical current, which can severely
damage your drive. Take care where you place your computer
in the event of flooding, and keep those drinks away from your
computer or hard drives.

Further thoughts
I’ve covered some of the more common ways that hard drives
might fail. They are prone to corruption or failure at any
moment, often at the most inopportune time (not that there’s
ever a good time for this). If you do not have backup of your
data, you may lose your photos, videos files, documents and
other important things stored on your drives at any moment.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 3 ANDY FORD

HD VS. SSD

Today’s hard drive market offers

numerous options, so it can be confusing
to ensure you’re making the best
decision to meet your needs. There are
several factors to consider, including
performance and price. However, your
first action should be to decide between
a traditional hard disk drive (HDD) or a
solid-state drive (SSD).
To help, I break down the pros and cons below:

Operation
Think of SSDs as flash drives, using electrical circuitry to
operate. They have no moving parts. In contrast, HDDs have
several moving parts, including platters, arms that read and
write on each platter, and a motor to spin and move these
parts.

If you value portability, SSDs are typically smaller. For laptop

battery users, SSDs consume less energy than HDDs and
allow your computer to run cooler.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
ANDY FORD

Performance
When it comes to speed, SSDs are faster. HDDs have more
latency due to the mechanical moving parts, and this is
noticeable upon startup and most operations. A typical SSD
will read/write many times faster than a 7200RPM HDD (and
many times faster than traditional USB flash drives).

If you work with large files or do frequent backups, the speed

savings of SSD is definitely worth it. SSDs also do not need to
defragment because they were designed to have information
written sporadically for quick, simultaneous reading.

Dependability
SSDs are more durable and dependable. The lack of moving
parts make SSDs better suited to temperature extremes,
accidental drops and vibrations. Most data shows that HDDs
fail sooner on average than SSDs. While SSD cells can wear
out over time, it is often after mechanical parts on a HDD fail.

One caveat is that HDDs may be more durable for long-term

data storage after being disconnected for years. But for most
applications, you should have no concern with reliability of the
newer SSD technology. Regardless, always perform frequent
backups for peace of mind.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
ANDY FORD

Price
Here is the one area that HDDs win convincingly. SSDs have
a more expensive price per gigabyte because they have a
more complex manufacturing process. HDDs are also typically
available in higher data capacities.

So if you need a lot of storage, you’ll find more options with

HDDs at a much lower price. While the price of SSDs has
been dropping, it’s typically over 2x the cost of a HDD for the
same capacity. When you get into large capacities, the price
gap gets even wider.

What I do
I use a mix of HDD and SSD. I prefer my main hard drive to
be SSD, as I gain efficiencies in startup, running applications
and processing data. Likewise, when I shoot 4K video, I use
SSD cards for faster access.

My main storage is a Pegasus RAID using HDD. It’s

a 12TB 6-bay unit, and I have two of them for
redundancy. Due to the capacity needed and price
point, HDD was much more practical. And, with

35
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
ANDY FORD

RAID 5 configuration (where I’d have to lose

multiple drives to lose content) and another RAID
for backup, I have double data protection. After all,
this data is my livelihood, my resume and my
memories.

Making a decision
There is no perfect answer for what is right for you.
Just think about the pros and cons and see what fits
your particular needs. Only you know what qualities
your drive needs to provide you. New drives come
out all the time, so what someone you know in the
industry did 2 years ago may not be the best thing
to do now.

Once you make your decision on getting an SSD,

then you must decide upon what type of drive to
get. Yes, there are several different types of
interfaces available for SSD today, including the fast
NVMe SSD. There are even hybrid SSHDs. You
didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?

36
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
PUTTING THE OPTIONS HEAD-TO-HEAD

HARD DRIVES VS. SOLID STATE DRIVES

COST SPEED DURABILITY PORTABILITY

Less portable and

HDD Cheaper Slower Less durable
rugged

Compact and
SSD More expensive Faster More durable
durable

37

C H A P T E R 3 ANDY FORD
DEMYSTIFYING SOLID STATE DRIVES
It can be confusing to choose the perfect
SSD (solid-state drive) for your needs.
Technology changes rapidly and new
types of drives emerge with different
qualities, price points and trade-offs. 
 how current flows, and floating gate transistors record either
I’m here to help demystify SSDs so you
can make an informed decision to best
protect your precious content, meet your
performance needs, and fit in your
budget.
A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
How SSDs work
First, let’s try to understand the technology. SSDs use a grid
of NAND flash, a nonvolatile memory type. Voltage moves
electrons, the quantity and location of electrons determine
a charge or no charge to store data.
NAND offers extremely fast read times and fast write times.
This is essential for video editors, graphic designers and
photographers. Erasing is a slower process due to the
voltage required for the action, but all of these actions are still
many times faster than traditional hard drives. Erasing wears
the insulators over time, and P/E (programmed/erased)
cycles determine how many times these events can be
endured before potential issues occur. Some companies use
other benchmarks, such as TBW (Terabytes written), to
warranty a drive.
SSDs also have processes in place to help alleviate
unnecessary erases. TRIM is a process that tells the drive
when it can skip rewriting certain data. There are also
algorithms referred to as wear leveling that ensure one block
doesn’t receive more erasures than another block.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
ANDY FORD

mSATA (mini-SATA) SSDs removed the shell and were 8x

smaller than the SATA SSDs. Plugged into the mSATA socket
on the motherboard, they helped make thinner laptops
possible. M.2 SSD was developed as the successor to
mSATA. Besides being an even smaller form factor, it utilized
the PCI-Express (PCIe) connection for huge performance
gains. PCIe used the NVMe (nonvolatile memory express)
storage protocol to directly communicate with the CPU.

Simply put, NVMe which was designed for SSD. With average
read speeds over 3,500 Mbps and the ability to read and write
at the same time, it’s tremendously faster. It communicates
directly with the CPU and can handle 64,000 queues, which
can each have 64,000 pending commands. And like any new
Evolution technology, NVMe can do more with less. Because it runs
many small tasks in parallel, it uses less CPU resources than
You may have heard of a SATA (serial advanced technology SATA.
attachment) connection, which was used on traditional hard
drive disks. While this connection was fine for a typical HDD’s
transfer rate, it throttled the potential performance of SSD
technology since SATA can only transfer 600 Mbps max.
Traditional SATA did not allow for simultaneously read and
write, and the controller interface could only handle 32
pending commands. A SATA SSD is 2.5” and was developed
to easily install into an existing laptop or desktop as a
replacement drive.

39
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
ANDY FORD

SSD storage cells

SSDs are based on one of several different NAND cell
technologies. While this is less important for general computer
use, there are factors to consider if you plan on rewriting data
or have the need for speed. The cell technologies let you
choose between durability, speed, and capacity.

First, there is a single level cell, or SLC, which is one bit per
cell. Since only one bit is stored (0 or 1), keeping track of the
movement of electrons is of less concern. This means there is
less wear on the insulator. With fewer bits, you get faster
speed, more energy efficiency, and more reliability. But, you
also get less capacity and a higher price point.
Multi-level cell, or MLC, has two bits per cell. Since there are
more potential combinations (00, 01, 10 or 11), there is more
complexity and impact on the insulator. Triple level cell, or
TLC, has three bits per cell. With even more possibilities (001,
010, 100, etc.) and more electron migration, the drive has a
decreased tolerance for insulator wear. TLC tend to make up
the majority of the commercial market since they are a good
compromise between price, dependability, and performance.
3D NAND can increase reliability and performance since it has higher
capacity than planar NAND.
The quad level cell, or QLC, has four bits per cell. This
presents 16 possible combinations and even less tolerance
for insulator wear. QLC has a larger capacity and is fine for
reading data, which doesn’t wear the insulators much. But,
durability is a concern here, especially after numerous write
actions. Finally, the penta-level cell, or PLC, writes five bits
per cell. Again, much more capacity, but much less durability.

40
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR
ANDY FORD

gigabit, whereas GB is gigabyte). USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 raised the

Hybrid drives
While the price drop in SSDs have made it almost silly to not
have one for your main system drive, there are hybrid drive
options available. SSHDs (solid-state hybrid drives) are full
HDDs that also include a few gigs of SSD NAND memory.
peak speed to 10 Gbps, and you’ll notice the different on
PCIe-based drives. USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 raised the data rate to
20 Gbps, but it’s still uncommon to find a computer with this
support. All of these generations are typically associated with
the USB-C connector type.

These drives learn which files you use most often and place
them in the SSD to make the quickly accessible, while storing
the bulk of your files on the traditional mechanical HDD.
Certain tasks will be quicker for you, but you won’t get any of
the other advantages of SSDs.
A superset of USB-C is Thunderbolt 3, which offers even more
External SSDs speed (although most users may not see tangible benefits
from 40 Gbps speed). While Mac users are familiar with this
External SSDs only differ from internal SSDs by connection to connection, these drives are not backward-compatible with
the computer and a case. The type of connection affects your standard USB-C ports. However, you can use a USB-C drive
potential speed. As discussed earlier, internal SSDs use a on a Thunderbolt 3 port.
SATA or M.2 connection. External drives typically connect
using USB. While eSATA (external serial advanced technology
attachment) connection is still found, it has become less
relevant.

USB 3.2 Gen 1 offers a theoretical 640 Mbps bandwidth and 5

Gbps data rate. Bandwidth is the amount of data transferred
per second, while data rate is the speed of transfer (and Gb is

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 4

MYLIO
B Y A N G E L A A N D R I E U X
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 4 ANGELA ANDRIEUX

ACCESS YOUR PHOTOS ANYWHERE WITH MYLIO PHOTOS

Mylio Photos is the image organization

solution you’ve been looking for. There
are countless tools available that can
help you organize your photos. Most I’ve
come across are decent, but I always
found them lacking in one area or
another. 



With Mylio Photos I have:
Then I met Mylio Photos.
• Access to my photos on all of my devices (Mac,
Windows, iOS, Android)
• A digital asset manager that works well with my
existing photo-editing workflow
• An affordable solution that keeps my images local and
doesn’t rely on the cloud


Mylio Photos also features face recognition and a Life
Calendar that lets you view your images from all of your
sources (smartphone, mirrorless/DSLR, Flickr, Facebook and
more) on a calendar.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
ANGELA ANDRIEUX

Sync your photo library across

all your devices
The ability to sync my entire photo library with all of my
devices — without the cloud — blows my mind. Mylio Photos
gives you complete control over where your photos are
stored. Your devices talk with each other over your local
network to keep everything in sync.

Mylio also has the option to create a local hotspot between

your devices when you’re on the go. When you’re traveling
without reliable internet, you can sync the devices you have
with you.

Adding Mylio Photos to your

existing workflow

If you’ve been photographing for a while, you probably have

an established routine with editing software that you’ve grown
to know and enjoy. Mylio Photos has some basic editing tools
but also works well with most photo editing applications.
Prefer to edit in Photoshop, LuminarAI or something else? No
problem.

44

A cost effective solution
If you have a substantial library of photos and videos, cloud
storage that syncs across your devices can get expensive,
quickly. You may also run into issues when working across
different operating systems or with third-party editing software.
Mylio solves all of these issues.
Mylio Photos is NOT a cloud service. Instead of uploading
everything to the cloud, Mylio uses your local network to sync
images between your devices. You choose where your
images are stored. You want to use a cloud service? Great!
But you don’t have to.
Mylio on iPhone
A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
ANGELA ANDRIEUX
At this time, a premium Mylio Photos membership is just $9.99
per month or $99 per year. Compare that to Apple iCloud’s 2
TB storage plan at $9.99/month (but you have to use Apple
devices) or Adobe’s Photography Plan with 2TB of storage at
$29.99/month. If you need more than 2 TB of storage, watch
out!
Bottom line: Mylio is an incredible value.
Ready to try Mylio Photos?
If you’ve been searching for a solution that puts your entire
image library on all of your devices, works with your current
editing tools, and won’t break the bank, then check out Mylio
Photos. It can solve problems for any photographer, whether
you’re capturing moments of your family or are a seasoned
pro. Mylio is the solution I’d been waiting for and might be a
great fit for you, too.
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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 4 ANGELA ANDRIEUX

PUT YOUR ENTIRE PHOTO LIBRARY ON A PHONE

Until recently, most of us with large photo libraries could only

dream about having access to our entire image collection on
our phones. While there are endless ways to share photos
across devices, keeping photos organized, managing disk
space on mobile devices, and the cost of cloud storage made
it challenging. Then I found Mylio Photos.

Mylio makes it possible to sync your entire library to browse

on your phone and other devices. No internet or cloud is
required.

What is Mylio Photos?

Mylio Photos is a unique and innovative image management
application. It allows me to view my photos from all of my
devices (computer, external drives, phone, etc.) in one place.
And it syncs my library across all of my devices. Currently, I
have over 94,000 photos in my library on my computer
and I can browse them all from my phone!
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
ANGELA ANDRIEUX

You are 100% in control of your

photos
One of the things I like most about Mylio Photos is that I
control where my originals are stored. They aren’t in a closed
ecosystem (like Photos for Mac) or out in the Cloud. My
originals live on my computer and external drives in my home.

Syncing with Mylio Photos is made possible using a system of

Thumbnails, Previews, and Originals. Originals are stored on
your devices (usually a computer or external drives).
Thumbnails (small versions of your photos that take up very
little space) are synced to every device in your account,
including your phone.
Mylio Photos also generates Smart Preview files that are like
small raw files. These offer most of the advantages of
Originals but take up much less storage space. Previews are
great for editing on tablets and laptops when traveling.
The bottom line is that you choose where your photos live.
You also choose what quality (Thumbnails, Smart Previews,
Originals) lives on each device.
Organizing your image library
on-the-go
In addition to syncing my photo library, Mylio Photos has
numerous organizational tools. These tools allow me to add
and edit metadata, categorize, keyword, and more. Any
changes I make on one device are synced to every other
device in my Mylio account. This lets me cull, rate, and
organize on the go. When I get back to my computer,
everything syncs and I’m ready to dive into other areas of my
workflow.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
ANGELA ANDRIEUX

Ready to try Mylio?

Mylio Photos makes it easy to sync your entire library so you
can browse on your phone or tablet when you’re on the go.
Whether you’re culling and organizing your latest photoshoot,
or browsing personal memories, Mylio Photosa makes it easy
to find what you’re looking for. 

See your life in photos — no

matter where you are
Mylio Photos also offers several ways to browse your photos.
The Calendar View automatically shows your photos on a
calendar based on metadata. The Map View shows a map
with thumbnails of your photos using embedded GPS data.
People View features sophisticated facial recognition to help
you create collections of all your favorite people.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 5

CLOUD BACKUP
B Y B R Y A N E S L E R , B O B C O A T E S A N D K E N L E E
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 5 BRYAN ESLER

AMAZON PHOTOS BACKUP

Online storage can really add up when you’re dealing with

lots of photos from over the years. Sure, there are online
backup solutions out there, but some have strings attached,
forcing you to plug in old, external drives every 30 days or
that simply don’t work reliably.

Little did I know that, as an Amazon Prime member, I have

free unlimited photo storage. Yep, that’s right — I can upload
RAWs, TIFFs and JPEGs at no extra charge to my Prime
membership.

How to get started

If you’re an Amazon Prime member in the US, you get

“unlimited, full-resolution photo storage and 5 GB for video
storage” at no additional charge. Outside of the US, your luck
my vary. But you can purchase Amazon Photos storage
starting at just $1.99/month.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
BRYAN ESLER

Just go to the Amazon Photos website and click Get Started

or Sign In.

Once logged in, you’ll be taken to a page that will eventually

hold all your photos, sorted by year, subject, format and more.
If you click on the Your Apps option in the sidebar, you can
download the Amazon Photos app for your computer.


Uploading your photos

Amazingly, when I last tried Amazon Photos was way back in
2015 — and all of those photos were still there. Once I
installed the Amazon Photos desktop app, I simply had to re-
link the appropriate folders, and it synced the photos pretty
quickly.

For photos that I didn’t currently have uploaded, I added the

It took about a week to check and upload five years’ worth of
root folders to the backup list. I organize my photos into year-
photos, but your results will be based on how fast your
based folders, so it was easy to add each folder, even if they
internet upload speed is. Most internet providers limit this
were on separate hard drives.
significantly more than download speed; for my 1 Gbps
download plan, I get a measly 40 Mbps upload (thanks,
Xfinity).

52
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
BRYAN ESLER

Things to keep in mind

While most RAW file formats are supported, there are a few
omissions in terms of formats that can’t be uploaded:

• Leica photos
• iOS Burst
• Google Motion
• Samsung Motion
• 3D photos
• Lenticular photos
• Equirectangular Panoramic photos

Like video files, Photoshop documents (PSD) count toward

your storage limit. So while they can be uploaded, if you have
a lot of PSD files laying around, you’ll likely have to upgrade
your storage plan. XMP files also aren’t included as a part of
the unlimited storage, but they too can be uploaded.

That said, Amazon Photos still supports most major RAW file
formats, including DNG files. So it’s a great way to have a
backup of your photos — without any change in quality.

Not an Amazon Prime member, but want to back up your

photos? Click here to start your 30-day trial and help
support Photofocus.

53
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
C H A P T E R 5 BOB COATES

WHY I BACKUP MY PHOTOS TO THE CLOUD

I tend to be a slow adopter of new technology. And, I fought

the possibility of having a cloud backup, especially to backup
photos from my computer for the longest time. I felt the
upload to the cloud would be too tedious and take too much
time for the amount of data that I have. Well I gotta tell you
things have changed.

Backblaze to the rescue

I was first introduced to Backblaze on Photofocus. But that is
not why I made the decision to subscribe to the service.
Backblaze has a free 15-day trial. By availing myself of the
trial I learned that technology has made the process almost
invisible. Once you are signed in the download begins … and
it is invisible to the user. The upload happens in the
background and there’s no need to change any of your work
habits. If you turn off your computer the upload picks up right
where it left off. It can’t be more simple than that. My computer and four hard drive enclosure is being backed up as you read this.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
BOB COATES

Need to use the backup?

Should you need to recover files due to a loss Backblaze
makes it easy to reacquire your files. If it is just a few files you
can download them. If it were a major loss your Internet
download speed would take a long, long time. In that case
Back Blaze will load your files onto a flash drive or a USB
drive and send it via FedEx. You get your money refunded
when you return the drive.

Is this the ultimate solution?

In an ideal world your backup strategy should be based on
3-2-1. Three copies of your data. Your original and at least two
other copies with one of those needing to be off-site.

Using Backblaze can be a perfect part of your strategy in

protecting your files. I keep my hard drive copies in a fireproof
safe which is very close to off-site. Adding the cloud storage
makes me feel even more secure.

55

The price
Some of the best news of all and another reason I signed up.
The price is $60 per year per computer for unlimited data.
Unlimited data. Did I mention unlimited data? At the time of
this writing, you can also pay $7 a month if that works better
for you, which still works out to only $70 a year. There is
business NAS upload service as well.
Be aware
Backblaze does not backup your operating system or your
application files. This means you cannot depend upon the
service to get you totally back up and running in case of a
complete failure. For that you need to make sure you also
save a clone of your hard drive.
A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
BOB COATES
A clone drive is different from a backup in that it is a bootable
hard drive. If you save a clone you don’t have to track down
and reload all of your system and application files. You don’t
have to rework or reload your preferences and software to
which you no longer have access. If your OS drive — a.k.a.
the ‘C’ drive on a PC — takes a dump you can replace that
drive on your computer. Then copy your clone drive back in to
the newly installed blank hard drive. You’ll be back to work in
a relatively short period of time.
56

C H A P T E R 5 KEN LEE
HOW TO SAVE YOUR DATA USING BACKBLAZE
Most of us know that it is important to back up our data so we
don’t risk losing our precious photos, videos and work. I
prefer to back up the data using a combination of external
hard drives and cloud-based backup (storage). For saving
data to the cloud, I’ve been using Backblaze for several
years.
I am backing up approximately 10 TB of data using Backblaze, most of it
photos and videos. Many of these are night photos, such as of this photo of
Death Valley in California. These are very special and precious to me, so
backing up is crucial.
A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
Simple to choose, simple to use
One of the things I love about Backblaze is that it’s simple
from the very beginning. The deals are simple. At the time of
this writing, it’s $7/month, $70/year or $130/two years, all
including a 15-day free trial. Any plan you choose has
unlimited data backup. And it doesn’t matter what kind of file
type or size.
Simple.
Like every other online backup service, Backblaze allows you
to back everything up automatically when it’s changed or
when you add new data. And yes, Backblaze allows you to
back up from external drives from a single computer. How
many? As many as you wish.
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
KEN LEE

How do you use Backblaze? Settings

I will describe how to use Personal Backup, the choice you
would most likely use.

The system requirements are MacOS 10.9/Windows 7 or

higher, broadband connection and 5 GB of free space.

The installation for Mac or Windows is very basic, just like any
other software installation.

Choosing your settings in

Backblaze
I will be using screenshots from my Mac. However, the options
for Windows are the same.

After installing Backblaze, you can set and forget your

options. Backblaze will then run in the background unless you
want to do something different. Settings menu in Backblaze.

This allows you to choose the drives that you will back up. I’ve
also chosen to show the Backblaze icon in the menu bar,
which allows quick access.

58

Performance
Performance menu in Backblaze.
A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
KEN LEE
You may choose between Automatic Throttle and Manual
Throttle. Automatic Throttle automatically adjusts the speed of
backups. If you turn this off, you can set how much of your
internet bandwidth you wish to use for backups. Maxing it out
to the right uses more of your bandwidth and backs up faster.
I’ve used it maxed out for years, forgetting that I had set it that
way, and never had an issue even with multiple computers
working simultaneously. However, if you have limited
bandwidth, using Automatic Throttle might be a better choice.
Backblaze allows you to check your home bandwidth and also
describes throttle.
Backblaze allows you to choose the amount of threads that
you back up simultaneously. Multi-thread uploads give you the
ability to upload multiple files or multiple parts of one file
simultaneously. Backblaze’s current maximum is 100.
Currently, Backblaze recommends eight threads. That
seemed to work well for my needs. Adjust this for your
particular needs. Add more threads to see if the performance
changes. If you see improvements in the upload rate without
any performance issues on your computer, then try adding
some more to determine the optimal amount of threads.
59
 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
KEN LEE

Schedule

Exclusions menu in Backblaze. This is done automatically, and shows you

Choose between Continuously, Once a Day or Only when I some of the files that people typically don’t wish to back up if they are
click <Backup Now>. If you choose Continuously and have backing up files.
selected optimal performance settings as done above, your
data will be backed up as you use your computer normally.
Nothing else needs to be done.

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 A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
KEN LEE

Backblaze works in the

background
That’s it. Backblaze goes to work. You will not be aware that
anything is different, but your data is constantly being backed
up. For $130 for two years, this offers incredible piece of mind.

If you were to have a catastrophic failure in which your drives

and backup drives fail, you could back up your entire system
from Backblaze by either having them mail you a hard drive or
downloading the data.

I should add here that if you have them mail you an 8TB drive
for $189, you have the option of keeping the drive or returning
it for a full refund. Doing the latter makes this service free, a
rather fantastic deal. 

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 WRITTEN BY THE PHOTOFOCUS TEAM

A GUIDE TO SAFER BACKUPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

© 2022 ThinkTAP

All articles republished with permission.

To view more articles, please visit www.photofocus.com.
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