In terms of keeping a RAID system going with minimal maintenance this might be worth a thought: http://www.drobo.com/ I've no direct experience, but it looks like it handles all the configuration and management automatically without you needing to spend ages setting it up.
Eric. On 22/04/07, Mark Cassino <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thanks Godfrey, and everyone else who contributed. > > It looks like the external drives are the way to go - I guess I'll just > proceed with this approach going forward and then start chipping away at > the older stuff sitting on CD's and DVD's. > > A quick tally shows I have 305 DVD's and 813 CD's storing image files > that I would want to move to the external drives. If I'm doing the math > right that would work out to about 1.8 TB of data (I figure that most of > the disk have some degree of slack space on them). > > I guess I'll start by getting a couple of 500 gig or larger external > drives and at go forward with those - then add in the old stuff as I > get the chance to work on it. At the prices you quote the 8 500 gig > drives I'd need for two copies of the data on these disks would only be > about $1,000, and as I work on these the prices will come down. Though, > looking around the Internet (even Frys site) I'm seeing prices more in > the $150 - 175 per 500 gig drive. > > Since March 30, the date to which I last cleaned and organized my PC, > I've shot about 40 gigs of new images. Things are just starting to pick > up but I'd guess that a 500 gig drive would hold 6 - 9 months of data, > so that would be about $500 a year for storage. I just have to remind > myself of how much I used to spend on film processing to justify the > expense.... > > The only concern I have is that it seems like this approach puts a lot > of eggs in one basket, so to speak. I've had a few few CD's go bad (no > DVD's - yet) but when they do the loss has been manageable since there > are so few files per unite of storage. But losing a 500 gb drive would > be a lot. But I guess that's why total redundancy is needed... > > Thanks again - > > MCC > > > Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: > > Do yourself a huge favor: > > > > - Buy a pair of Seagate 500Gbyte external drives. I was at Fry's just > > yesterday ... in USB 2.0 only enclosures, these drives would cost > > $119 apiece; USB2/FireWire 400 enclosures and the price goes up to > > $190 right now. > > > > - Move all the data from the CDs/DVDs to one of the drives. > > > > - Copy the entire drive to the other. > > > > - Backup new data, as you generate it, to both drives. > > > > - Dismount, disconnect, and unplug the drives when not in use for > > backup. > > > > When they become outdated by 1Terabyte drives at the same price, buy > > another pair and move the data to them. > > etc > > > > It's the most efficient, easily maintained, reliable backup/archive > > system available today. You can get some low-cost backup software > > that will make doing this job fast, easy, consistent and efficient. I > > do this myself, have been for five years now. It works flawlessly and > > is FAR easier to maintain than mountains of CDs and DVDs. And it's > > fast enough to actually be useful. > > > > Godfrey > > > > > > On Apr 21, 2007, at 7:03 PM, Mark Cassino wrote: > > > >> One of the things that was kicked around with the advent of digital > >> was > >> the need to move data from one storage medium to another as they > >> become obsolete. > >> > >> A couple of days ago ago I decided to move the data off 69 CD's, which > >> held the "best" of my *ist-D shots for the first few months I had it, > >> before getting a DVD burner. > >> > >> I have to say - it was more of a hassle than I expected. I have a > >> spare > >> computer here and just fed it the CD's as I was working on the main > >> PC. > >> The CD's were about 5 years old and none of them were bad - but some > >> read fairly slowly, sometimes taking up to 15 minutes to copy onto the > >> hard drive, vs 3 to 5 minutes for most. A couple failed with CRC > >> errors > >> on the first attempt, but then copied successfully after taking > >> them out > >> and wiping them with a lens cleaning cloth. > >> > >> Now I have 42 gigs of files to burn onto a few DVD's. > >> > >> My main motivation for doing this was to make it easier to find some > >> images - these CD's had the original PEF's plus 16 bit final TIFF's on > >> them, and the files came together in a way that left room for only > >> 5 or > >> 6 images per CD, with a fair amount of wasted space on each disk. > >> > >> Over all though, it took hours to copy these files. Since it was a > >> background task on a machine that I just use for scanning and > >> streaming > >> NPR, it wasn't a major problem. But I have roughly 700 more CD's that > >> someday will have to be moved - if not onto DVD's then onto some > >> future > >> media. > >> > >> The thought of that makes me shudder... > >> > >> - MCC > >> > >> -- > >> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > >> Mark Cassino Photography > >> Kalamazoo, Michigan > >> www.markcassino.com > >> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > >> > >> -- > >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > >> [email protected] > >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > > > > > > -- > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > Mark Cassino Photography > Kalamazoo, Michigan > www.markcassino.com > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
