I take my backup system pretty seriously

After every photo shoot, I am vigilant about storing copies of all the session's photos in multiple locations, including cloud storage, to make sure my/your photos are safe and sound.

A lot of what I shoot; weddings, proposals, events etc, are things that only happen once and if I lose those photos then I'm really not doing my job properly. If I'm hired to take photos, then my clients probably expect that I will deliver those photos, and blaming a crashed hard drive is not going to make them happy. They will want my blood.

If you are a potential client, I want you to read this blog post and have peace of mind that your photos are in good hands. If you are another photographer, maybe you can get some ideas from this, and I would love to hear your input.

My current system isn't perfect by any means and there's always room for more efficiency. I'm wide open to feedback and tips from those more tech savvy. Please comment below if you have ideas, thoughts or comments.

And here’s a big disclaimer: I know there’s a lot of redundancy here, but better to be safe than sorry.

But exactly how many copies of my clients photos do I actually keep?

Instead of answering that question upfront; let’s go through the process and try to keep a count.

When I get home, or sometimes even on location depending on the job, I immediately open my laptop and navigate to Adobe Lightroom. Lightroom is always open on my computer and ready to go because I shoot a lot of pictures.

Upon import I do a few key things.

1) name my import folder by date and description

2) tag appropriately

3) THIS IS THE BIG ONE: check the box “Make a Second Copy To"

I have a 5 TB external hard drive that every single file gets copied to upon import (see #3 above) while those same files are being copied on my laptop. I only use this method for client or commissioned work, to save on space. It's a backup that just exists, untouched, organized by date and available when all else fails.

If you are keeping count, that's 3 instances of every photo from a given session after importing: the memory card itself, my laptop's internal drive, and the 5 TB external. (I still don't feel good about formatting that memory card even with all the backups)

Time Machine

I also have a Time Machine backup of this whole mess. This way if my system crashes, I will have minimal downtime, and can be up and running in minutes instead of hours or days. That brings us up to 4 copies now...

But Wait, There's More.

For $5 a month, which is darn cheap, I subscribe to Back Blaze online backups. Their cloud backup system is dead simple and I have it configured to only backup when my laptop is plugged into power. So that's copy number 5 of those same files.

One More Thing...

Once I edit the photos from a session, those organized and edited shots then get uploaded to my online gallery system using Zenfolio for print purchase, sharing, and viewing. So that's the 6th place these photos (potential your photos) will end up.

In conclusion, this all makes me feel pretty darn good about the safety of my client work, and gives me the peace of mind to sleep quite restfully. 

What's your backup system look like? Am I doing over-kill?