Photechography Part 4: Putting money where my mouth is

So over the last few posts, I have been waxing on about the importance of all things tech and have really been focusing on storage. Perhaps you have been thinking “well la-dee-frickin’-da” while you have been plowing through my wordiness, chastising me for taking up valuable web space with such hot headed tripe. Well, if this is in fact what you’ve been thinking, I am honestly surprised that you’ve continued to read my blog.

Now as promised in yesterdays post, I will be going over what I currently use in my setup. Before doing so, I would like to strongly point out that this type of setup is functional utilizing Windows, OSX or Linux computers. In my case, my main machine is currently a Mac, but there are also Windows and Linux machines that connect to my network.

So without further adieu, here are the main components that I currently use on a daily basis:

• Netgear ReadyNAS NV+
  • I spent a lot of time researching NAS solutions and became interested and impressed by the ReadyNAS before Netgear bought out the original company (Infrant).
  • I bought it as the 1 terabyte model and it came with 4 Seagate 250 GB drives configured in the proprietary XRAID format. This does cause a bit of space overhead and currently the usable drive space is approximately 650 GB. The benefit of this is that the hard drives do not need to be matched and I can upgrade the space with larger drives at my discretion. It is easy to configure and secure and it is at the top of my list of recommended storage solutions.
  • Besides being a file server, it also acts a print and FTP server. This allows me to print from anywhere in my house. Having the ability to FTP into my file server when I am not local is very handy, and I will be talking about that more in an upcoming post.
• External Hard Drives: I have three external hard drives that I utilize regularly.
  • Hitachi 320 GB in a OWC Mercury On the Go Firewire Kit.  This is the original hard drive that came with my MacBook Pro. After receiving the MBP, I upgraded the hard drive to a 320GB 7200RPM hard drive from the original 5400RPM drive.  This drive is currently utilized as my Time Machine drive, and maintains a constant backup of the active local files on my MBP.
  • 160 GB and 250 GB Western Digital USB 2.0 drives.  These drives typically get used to transfer large amounts of data, or get used as an extra backup when on the road and away from my NAS. Having these drives reduces the paranoia of potentially losing a lot of new data accidentally.

So there you have it, those are the components that make up my current storage solution. Don’t get me wrong; there are still issues with this solution, and it is a work in progress. Were you able to spot the giant gapping hole? How about the fact that I didn’t list any off site storage!!! <gasp> What happens if I were to have a fire? <palm to face>

Like I said this is still a work in progress. What I will say is that a good idea such as burning essential data to archival quality DVDs and storing said DVDs in a safety deposit box will likely be my next step.

Now that I’ve listed some components I think that it would only be fair to describe how they all work together, and perhaps why. Please look for that in an upcoming post.

Thanks!

Photechography Part 3: Storage it’s not as boring as it sounds...

Whoo-Hoo! Let’s talk about storage! Stop rolling your eyes, I know that it is boring and you probably would prefer to be out shooting a landscape or a macro, but just hang tight for a couple minutes.

The way you store and back up your files can make or break your daily workflow. In talking to people about their solutions and reading multiple online and magazine articles on the subject; I would like to share a few thoughts with you as an IT professional and hobby photographer. To be quite honest, there is very little “bad advice” out there in the global thought cloud concerning this topic, which is always good.

The first thing that I would like to point out is that ALL storage solutions are capable of failing. This is a base truth that has haunted both analogue and digital realms since the beginning of time, and I can’t see this changing anytime in the near future. There are, however, a few things that you can do to minimize the chances of you ever losing data due to a sudden failure. Also, before I make my suggestions let me assure you that I do realize that there is a financial investment incurred when considering your options. Money well spent in my opinion, but you are free to disagree.

External Hard Drive: USB/Firewire

This is probably one of the easiest forms of adding storage onto your system. Simply connect the drive to a USB or Firewire port and voila! It really doesn’t get any easier. Some of these devices even come with backup software that you can install and set up an automatic routine. The issue here is that you are still reliant on a single drive and do not have any redundancy. What happens when the external hard drive dies? Hmmmmm….

At this point you still have options as many manufacturers make dual drive mirrored (RAID 1) setups. This means that the data is mirrored between the two hard drives. If one drive fails, the other one will still function, and after replacing the dead drive, the data will be mirrored back over to the new drive. I am not going to go too much into depth on the different variants of RAID, but I would encourage you to read up on it. The Wikipedia article explaining RAID is excellent. Some manufacturers supply some USB/Firewire products with RAID 5 arrays, which are quick and redundant and lead us into the next topic.

Network Attached Storage aka NAS

Network Attached Storage (referred to as NAS going forward) devices also come in many flavors and simply put is just storage that has been attached to your network. (You see what I did there right?) I find this exciting for a few reasons, but mainly because this type of solution has become more common, and when things become common, they typically become more economically feasible to invest in. I won’t get into the specific products, but whether you are using a Windows Home Server, Drobo, Buffalo Terrastation, Netgear ReadyNAS NV+, or a FreeNAS box, they all have some of the same features.

Some of these features are secure file sharing, printer sharing, FTP serving, backup synchronization and the biggest one of all, redundancy. Most devices are easy to configure and manage, quick, will allow for hot swapping of hard drives when a failure occurs and are REDUNDANT. Yes, there are a few two hard drive NAS offerings from various manufacturers, but typically when you price it out, the price point can come pretty close when considering a device that will accept four hard drives but only comes with two. Going with a device that accepts four drives but only comes with two, allows you to expand in the future and change from a RAID 1 mirror setup to a RAID 5 (or other) setup.

Conclusion

Now I know that I may have stayed rather ambiguous in this post, and may have used some terms that you haven’t seen before. Please feel free to post comments or contact me with any questions and I will respond with the best answer that I can provide. In tomorrow’s post, I will be exploring what I use for my storage solutions. Until then, thanks for reading.

Photechography Part 2: Why You Should be Concerned

Let me take you back five years to a situation that demonstrates why you should be concerned with the status of your file content. To preface this anecdote, at the time I was about two months into a contracted IT position at a medium sized company. My job was to assist the IT department in providing day to day support for their employees. A lot of thought had been put into the storage, and backup solutions. Things ran on a consistent and proper routine and life was good.

It was a warm summer afternoon when the call came. I was caught in mid daydream waiting to be able to leave for the day; just fifty-three more minutes. It had been a good day, all the issues that had been given me had been resolved; and I was beginning to have a case of “gloating superman syndrome” which, by the way, all IT professionals have from time to time. The incessant ringing of the phone, brought me rudely back to reality and I answered with the thoughtful, pensive tone that may give the caller the idea that I really was very busy and not that I had been considering that evening’s dinner options.

“Hello?” I said, “What can I do for you?” “My computer just died!” the caller exclaimed, “You have to come fix this RIGHT NOW!” “Ok, I’ll head right over. Have you tried turning back on again?” I queried. “Yes, yes, several times, but the screen stays black!” the caller whimpered.

Realizing that the caller sounded like she was about to have some sort of breakdown, I figured I had better get the lead out and get to the scene of the crime lest any of the evidence were to be disturbed. Upon arrival, I found a very worried lady, pacing back and forth in her office. I sat down at her computer and was able to ascertain very quickly that her computer had indeed completely kicked the bucket. I turned to her and gave her the good news first that with thirty-seven minutes left in the day, I could definitely swap in a replacement computer and get her set up. Then I gave her the bad news that yes, her computer was in fact dead and was probably not recoverable due to some of the grinding noises I had heard while testing.

It was at that moment that she turned several different colours, sank into a chair and began to wipe tears from her eyes. When I asked what the problem was, she exclaimed, “My Data!!!” I was quick to point out that since her home directory was located out on the network, none of those files would be lost, just like the work files that she used every day from the network share. I then asked, “You WERE saving your files to your home directory or the network share? Right??” In a very timid and caught voice she responded, “Yes, err, not all of them…” At this point she started crying again.

As it turned out, for the previous two years, she had been using work time to write a book. She hadn’t put in on her home directory because she knew she shouldn’t be doing that. Needless to say, she left the company shortly after the entire incident took place.

The point of the story is simply that while she shouldn’t have been writing a book while at work, there shouldn’t have been any reason why any data should have been lost. All the systems had been placed at her disposal to use, and were functioning perfectly in the background. She had just neglected to use them, and thus suffered the consequences.

So why should you be concerned about the tech that helps you with your photography? Properly planning the boring things like the file naming convention that you want to use, or implementing a redundant NAS solution, can save you days, weeks or years long after you delete the pictures from your CF or SD camera card. If things are planned out and implemented in a logical manner from the beginning, the chances of you losing something important later on will be minimal.

In tomorrow’s post I will be going into more detail about storage, backup, and what it can do for you. Thanks for reading!