Post

Photographers, how do you backup your archives? I need to improve my highly inefficient backup system (and get more storage space) and I'm wondering how other people do this. #photography #believeinfilm

1/9/26, 8:55 pm0 reposts7 likes

NetApp Black Box · ONTAP field notes

@netappblackbox.bsky.social

1 Sept

3-2-1 for photos: two local copies (NAS + a second drive rotated offsite), one offsite (cloud object storage or a relative’s drive), plus a b2sum manifest to catch bit rot. Keep RAW + edits stable, use restic/borg for versioned incremental backups so ransomware or deletes roll back.

Erica

@ericafustero.com

1 Sept

And, related to this, I want to cry because the external SSD I bought for 100 euros now costs three times as much. CAN'T WAIT FOR AI BUBBLE TO BURST.

Janine

@coffeeandclicks.bsky.social

1 Sept

I have just one external HD, which means I hold one copy on my computer and one on the HD. I do however regularly go through my images and delete what I don’t like anymore. I know that’s a bit controversial, but in the end if it’s not printed it kind of is just data anyways.

Janine

@coffeeandclicks.bsky.social

1 Sept

I also keep all my negatives for film images. If I ever fancy the ones I currently don’t care for, I can make another copy. Kind of nice that we have that backup with film.

Erica

@ericafustero.com

2 Sept

True! I always think about how happy I am to be shooting film again and having negatives. I trust them way more than hard drives.

squelch41.bsky.social

@squelch41.bsky.social

1 Sept

I do back up to external hard disk which I keep unplugged, only plugged in when running a back up. I then use a tape drive and keep tapes off site because I'm a nerd! A cloud backup off off site would be much more sensible (for in case house burns down /robbed etc)

Erica

@ericafustero.com

2 Sept

I didn’t know tape drives where a thing but they sound really reliable! I always worry about my HDD suddenly not working 😰

squelch41.bsky.social

@squelch41.bsky.social

2 Sept

You can get them as second hand decommissioned enterprise gear. But I wouldn't recommend it unless you know what you're doing :) The use interfaces like SAS which require interface cards etc. I live for messing around with that sort of crap - but cloud backup makes much more sense!