Yes, this does look like something from outer space. But this is probably past due!

I’ve finally maxed out my 1TB portable external hard drive. *sigh* I knew the day would come where I needed to get a reliable, expandable, external hard drive. This is the Lacie 2Big Thunderbolt, 6TB, hard drive. Yikes!

As a professional photographer, I like to hold onto the files for my clients for an extended period of time after their photo session or wedding. I do this just in case they ever loose their copies or want to order more from their session in the future. But more than that, it is just good practice for professional photographers to back up their work! And it is also nice to be able to free up space on my computer’s hard drive.

Last year I took a digital photography class and my instructor taught us the “3-2-1” rule for backing up images. That is 3 copies, 2 separate locations, 1 location must be offsite! I’m almost there! My Lacie drive will be configured in the “raid 1” format, which means that when I save an image, it will be saved twice. One copy of the image will be saved to the first hard drive on the Lacie, and the second copy of the image will be mirrored to the other hard drive on the Lacie. This redundant set up is for security. If one of the hard drives were to ever break or go bad, I would have the other hard drive as a back-up!

So my next move to complete the “3-2-1” rule is to search for a reliable off-side storage solution. I will likely go with a company such as Carbonite or Crash Plan. If any of my photographer peeps out there use off-site storage, I’d love to hear about your experience or recommendations! :) I’d also love to hear about your storage solutions!!!