Two hours ago I didn't have a Disaster Recovery Plan. Two hours ago my external hard drive hadn't died either. If I've read one article about backing up your files and making sure you have duplicates and triplicates of everything you shoot I'm sure I've read four more just like it. Somehow amidst the crazy, hectic days of trying to get a very long list of things done, backing up perfectly good files seems to always end up at the bottom of the list. It's time consuming, can be quite expensive depending on how you do it and seems frivolous until you're faced with the very real possibility of losing everything you've ever done.
Have you ever heard people talk about what they'd save if they had to choose one thing to take with them from a burning building? That's kind of what I feel like at the moment. I'll spend the rest of the night and most likely early into the morning backing up the files I still have on my internal drive to some spare external devices while simultaneously burning it all to DVD. In the morning I'll get up and find a data recovery company to try and rescue the folders I hadn't had a chance (or hadn't made the time) to properly back up. This will cost me a considerable amount of money.
The advice of everyone who knows better or who has been through this sort of thing and never wants it to happen again is solid. Back files up to a minimum of three locations, preferably with one of those being off-site. It seemed like overkill until one of my two back-up devices failed. If I'd already implemented the third, perhaps I could have easily recovered from the loss. I couldn't justify the cost of implementing a full plan while still in the midst of start up. "You can't afford not to" seemed like a tired cliche. The phrase has it's merits. I can't afford the cost of attempting to recover my lost data either, and it may not even work.
In the grand scheme of things I didn't lose as much as I could have, but enough to cause me not only distress but add extra hours of work, increased stress and loss of momentum in the business. I have potentially lost my most recent shoots and therefore my most improved work, the trust of those who believed I would keep their memories safe until (and after) I had delivered their orders and a fair share of self-belief. Mistakes happen, yes. Accidents happen, true. Technology can fail, of course. A responsible, professional business owner who wants to be taken seriously understands this and plans accordingly. I'm stepping up to the plate; a little late but a whole lot wiser.
Have you ever heard people talk about what they'd save if they had to choose one thing to take with them from a burning building? That's kind of what I feel like at the moment. I'll spend the rest of the night and most likely early into the morning backing up the files I still have on my internal drive to some spare external devices while simultaneously burning it all to DVD. In the morning I'll get up and find a data recovery company to try and rescue the folders I hadn't had a chance (or hadn't made the time) to properly back up. This will cost me a considerable amount of money.
The advice of everyone who knows better or who has been through this sort of thing and never wants it to happen again is solid. Back files up to a minimum of three locations, preferably with one of those being off-site. It seemed like overkill until one of my two back-up devices failed. If I'd already implemented the third, perhaps I could have easily recovered from the loss. I couldn't justify the cost of implementing a full plan while still in the midst of start up. "You can't afford not to" seemed like a tired cliche. The phrase has it's merits. I can't afford the cost of attempting to recover my lost data either, and it may not even work.
In the grand scheme of things I didn't lose as much as I could have, but enough to cause me not only distress but add extra hours of work, increased stress and loss of momentum in the business. I have potentially lost my most recent shoots and therefore my most improved work, the trust of those who believed I would keep their memories safe until (and after) I had delivered their orders and a fair share of self-belief. Mistakes happen, yes. Accidents happen, true. Technology can fail, of course. A responsible, professional business owner who wants to be taken seriously understands this and plans accordingly. I'm stepping up to the plate; a little late but a whole lot wiser.
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