Storage Hardware Overview

The right tool

As you consider setting up data storage for a photo collection, one important consideration is the separation between primary storage and backup storage. Keep this distinction in mind as you evaluate what the right tool is for each job. The primary data is the main version of your image files, and the backup versions are those only meant to be used in the event something happens to the primary.

Primary storage

Your primary storage device(s) should be fast to read and write, since they are, by definition, the primary place to store the images. You may also want fault-tolerance, such as the protection provided by drive-spanning devices like RAID. There can also be a distinction between the primary storage for working files, as opposed to the storage for archive files. Here are some quick recommendations:

• For laptops, a 7200 RPM internal drive can speed up everything you do if you are upgrading from a 5400 RPM drive.
• For laptops, you might also consider a Solid State Drive (SSD), however, these are currently lower capacity, expensive, and don't always provide more speed.
• For desktops, big internal storage drives help with speed and capacity.
• For those who work with large images, certain types of RAID can speed up the reading and writing of files.
• RAID can also help protect work by offering fault-tolerant storage. Be warned that not all RAID is created equal. You can get yourself in a lot of trouble if it's not installed and administered correctly.
• Primary storage for archive files doesn’t have to be as fast as the storage for working files since it's likely you won't need to get to them in a hurry.

Figure 1 A 3-2-1 backup plan the recommended configuration for backup of archived images.

Backup storage

You must have dedicated storage for backups of your files. Ideally, you should have a total of three copies of any files you want to keep (a primary and two backups). Here are some quick recommendations for backup storage.

• There should be three total copies of your image files
• The files should be stored on two different media types, such as hard drive and optical disk.
• Ideally 1 copy of your backup lives off-site.
• Removable drive enclosures can let you add more backup storage at a reduced cost.

Read more in the backup section

Hard drive volumes

Hard drives can be formatted as a single volume since multiple volumes, or several drives can be spanned to act like a single volume. Mac drives should be formatted as GUID for Intel Mac, Apple Partition Map for G5 or earlier Mac, or potentially as FAT32 if they must be shared with Windows users. PC drives should be formatted as NTFS drives, or FAT32 if they must be shared with Macs. (You can also buy the utility Mac Drive and work with AFS or GUID drives on Windows). Digital camera media cards are formatted to FAT32 because it is almost universally supported.
Read more about drive formatting in this section

Drive spanning

Multiple drives can be formatted to act like a single drive, most often by using some form of RAID (Redundant Array or Independent Disks). This is done to add speed, reliability, or both. A new kind of RAID is available in proprietary form from a company called Data Robotics. The Drobo brings drive spanning to the market with the ease of an appliance.
Read More about drive spanning in this section

Figure 2 Multiple drives can appear to the computer as a single drive through some form of drive spanning. Multiple drives may also appear as individual drives.

Internal and external drives

Drives can live inside the computer case (internal drives) or they can live in some kind of external enclosure. Internal drives on recent computers will generally connect by Serial ATA (SATA) protocol. This is a fast and modern connection. External drives will generally connect by eSATA, Firewire (ieee1393) or USB.

Internal drives will generally hold the operating system, applications and working files. Internal drives are generally the fastest storage available to the computer. eSATA external drives are generally as fast as internal drives. Some external RAID drives may be even faster, if they are connected with a fast connection like eSATA.

For many photographers, an image collection will exceed the capacity of a single drive and may be stored on a multiple drive external configuration.

External drives will often be the best choice for backup storage, since they can be moved away from the primary storage, and even taken off-site.
Read more about hard drive enclosures in this section

Caring For Drives

Hard drives are delicate electronic mechanisms, and they should be protected from electrical and physical shock.
Read more about hard drive storage and handling in this section

Hard drives should also be periodically inspected with drive utilities that can validate and repair any glitches to the volume or directory structure. The operating system can take care of this to some extent, but additional utilities, such as Disk Warrior on Mac, or System Mechanic on PC can help spot and repair problems before they become too serious.
Read more about hard drive maintenance in the Data Validation section

Backup storage media

Some media types are particularly well suited for use in backing up files rather than for primary storage. Optical disc, such as CD, DVD and Blu-ray offer inexpensive, reasonably reliable and forward-compatible storage capability as part of a comprehensive backup strategy for image files
Read more about optical media in this section
Read more about validating optical media in the Data Validation section

Digital tape is another medium that is well suited only to backup storage. It's mostly used as a backup medium for large institutions, but some high-volume photographers use it as well. It's expensive to implement, but once installed, it does not cost much to add more capacity.
Read more in digital tape