Ten Steps to Avoid a Digital Disaster
By Kathleen Hawkins
My husband and I operate a wedding and portrait photography studio in central
Florida. After years of digital capture and thousands of dollars spent
implementing procedures to make our backup system safe, redundant and secure,
we were forced to realize that there is no room for complacency or comfort
with your system! It only takes one little mistake or hardware error to lose a
lot of valuable data. Trust us: If you get comfortable with your system, the
inevitable will happen.
Unfortunately, any mistake that causes you to lose data can be costly. In our
travels, we have found more and more photographers making the digital plunge.
If you are making that transition or already have, consider implementing these
10 steps to protecting your images; they may help you avoid a disaster in your
studio.
- Every session or event should be stored in a minimum of two places
immediately after capture. The minute you start procrastinating or relying
on your server, DVD or hard drive is the minute something will go wrong.
- Never erase your micro drives or storage cards (such as CompactFlash or
Secure Digital) until you are certain you have the data saved and stored
safely in two separate locations. Keep an inventory of enough micro
drives/storage cards to allow adequate time to complete the backup procedures.
- Download the files to one drive, and burn a master DVD. Take one of
those two storage units to a separate location outside of your studio.
- Verify that each DVD is saved accurately by opening up the thumbnails
and making sure there was not a recording flaw and no image numbers were
skipped. This takes time, but be patient, and do not take costly shortcuts.
- Do not wait until the end of the day to back up your data; back it up at
the time of download. Consistent backups throughout the day will protect
your work.
- Create a tracking schedule for each session with the date and employee
completing the backup session. This will create accountability among your
team and provide a more accurate tracking system.
- Perform a valid backup before making any hardware or software changes to
your system.
- If your computer or drive is making unusual noises, turn it off
immediately and call a recovery company for assistance.
- Create, implement, and document a solid backup system, and check it
frequently to make sure it is being followed. Never make an exception to the
policy. The minute you get back from a session late and decide to wait until
the morning is the moment the unthinkable will occur.
- Purchase liability insurance just in case all else fails.
The conclusion is that even if your data can be recovered, the loss of data
and the downtime to your systems can leave your business paralyzed. This
downtime will cost you money, even if you are able to recover your images. Not
to mention, the recovery of your data can cost thousands of dollars. Whether
the failure is hardware-related, software-related, human error, or natural
disaster, the number of data loss events will increase as businesses rely more
on technology to store their data. Be sure to implement a secure, dependable
backup system now, before it is too late!
Kathleen Hawkins and her husband, Jeff, operate
Jeff Hawkins
Photography, a thriving business in central Florida. Kathleen is the
operations director for the business. Jeff shoots all of his upscale weddings
digitally. Together they have authored eight books including Professional
Marketing & Selling Techniques for Wedding Photographers, published by
Amherst Media.
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