I'm going to share the basic setup I use here at the Snite Museum (university art museum). If you want more detailed info on how to set everything up just contact me directly. Or I can make a document to share with everyone. Below is a setup for a simple one-person operation.
*First*. Don't keep anything on the main computer. Purchase an External *RAID* like this, Drobe 5D ( http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/876457-REG/Drobo_DRDR5A21_Drobo_5D.html). There are other brands and storage types (cost varies). I would stay away from networked storage unless you are already using it or plan to have more people involved with providing digital files. Get something that has a high transfer rate. I've had to replace one drive in the last year on this device. *Second.* Clean up the files as best you can or at a level you feel comfortable with. (This took me about three months and I and the other staff are more than comfortable with it.) Create a naming convention that makes sense and is as simple as possible. Create a folder structure that allows you to target files without keeping thousands in one folder. Try to remove any duplicate files you have. (I still have a folder of files I'm researching on what they are.) Make sure the file format is sustainable (tif, dng, pdf, etc). *Third.* Once you have cleaned everything up and have it looking manageable on the External RAID. Purchase Arq Backup, https://www.arqbackup.com/. (There are other applications that do the same thing. I find this easiest to use and its Mac compatible.) Back everything up to a cloud service. You can backup to several different services. We use Amazon Glacier. Its a cloud based service used for *LONG TERM* storage. So the files will not be accessible on demand. Which decreases the cost substantially. This software backs up everything on your RAID to the cloud on a schedule (mine is set to backup overnight) so you don't have to do this manually. *Fourth. *Get another portable external hard drive and copy everything on the RAID to it. Every so often (I do this every six months) copy everything (writing over what was on it previously) from the RAID onto the portable hard drive and take it offsite (home, safe deposit box, another building, etc.). This allows you to replace the files on your onsite RAID if it completely breaks down. It also keeps you from having to take weeks to months of downloading from the cloud service. The cloud service is there as a complete *disaster backup.* If you want to have a quick record of what you have stored on your RAID (for yourself and colleagues) and backed up you can create very small derivative files mirroring the RAID files. I share everything with a Box account the university provides. I can go into more detail on how I have this setup as well if interested. We also use a collection management system to share and record files. If you want more details or help setting this up let me know. I travel a bit for other projects. If I'm in the area I can stop by to help out as well. On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 3:40 PM, Jennifer Schmitt <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello - > > Does anyone out in the MCN community have a digital file archiving policy > and/or strategy they can share? We have a ridiculous amount of data, > plenty from many years ago that does not need to be available on a daily > basis but should be kept for historical purposes. How have other > small/medium-sized museums handled this issue? I would appreciate any > thoughts or guidance on how best to manage years worth of exhibition > materials and photos. > > Thanks! > > Jenn Schmitt > > -- > *Jennifer Schmitt* | Head of Information Technology and Electronic > Communications | *deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum* | 51 Sandy Pond > Road, Lincoln, MA 01773 | *T* 781.259.3626 > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: [email protected] > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > The MCN-L archives can be found at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > >
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