Space for All of Those Raw Files

I am quickly realizing that shooting in Camera Raw requires a lot of storage. Each file is about 16 megabytes. I quickly learned that it is not feasible to store an archive of all of my raw files on my 200 GB notebook hard drive.

Ideally, I would like to store all of this data on a remote off-site server, in case something happens, like the house burns down when we are not home. I looked into services such as Amazon's S3 data hosting, but the upload speed of my internet service provider is prohibitively slow. Smugmug now offers an on-line storage solution geared toward photographers called "SmugVault" that also uses the Amazon S3 network.

The next best thing would be to back-up and archive my data locally using several redundant hard drives, in case a drive fails. You can do this by setting up a RAID array of drives, or by popping two or more drives into a Drobo. I really like the idea of the Drobo, which automatically sets up redundant drives. If you run out of space, you can add an additional drive, or swap out your smallest drive with a larger one. This solution does not address the catosrophic failure problem, however. Also, the cost of the Drobo, including the drives, is the same as a middle-of-the-road laptop.

For now, I am relying on the cheapest solution I can muster. I have decided to keep all of my raw files on DVDs. Each DVD stores about 4 GB of data. Since my SD cards in my camera are 4 GB, I can fit the entire contents on one full SD card onto one DVD. I use Roxio Toast 9 Titanium for all of my DVD burning. It allows me to span several disks if I have a large project that I am working on. Of course, recordable media has a short shelf life, so this is not a permanent solution. Also, I have to deal with the archiving and cataloging of all of those disks. That is why I ideally would like to keep all of this stuff in a searchable drive as well.

Right now I am upgrading to a larger external hard drive for Time Machine and photo back-ups. I am purchasing a 750 GB hard drive I got on sale from NewEgg.com for $99.99. I am also purchasing a drive enclosure that lets me connect this drive (normally for use inside a computer) to an external power supply and to my computer via USB or Firewire. I decided to go with the Rosewill RX81-MP-SC-BLK because it allows me to connect via the Firewire 800 (IEEE 1394b) port on my MacBook Pro, which is theoretically twice as fast as the old Firewire 400 (IEEE 1394a) standard. Of course, it is only a matter of time before this drive fails, which is a distict posibilty with these high capacity drives. That is why I will continue to also back up to DVD.
Of course all of this will go away once the ISP's wake up and realize that people need upload bandwith, too. It is rediculous that my upload speed is 10 time slower than my download speed. I can't wait until Fios comes to town. Fiber to the door!