How To Backup Photos And Videos

How To Backup Photos And Videos for Wildlife Photographers as explained by Pangolin Photo Host, Janine. In this video, she explains her process and strategy to avoid losing images through natural disasters, criminal acts and even simple file corruption.
Welcome to our channel which is dedicated to the wonderful world of wildlife photography. We endeavour to load one new video every week featuring beginner to advanced photo skills, editing tutorials, hacks and gear reviews. We are based in Northern Botswana in The Chobe National Park and we invite you to travel here, either virtually or physically, and we will do our very best to make you a better wildlife and nature photographer. Enjoy the channel.
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[@PangolinWildlife]

What would you add as a strategy for foolproof backups?

[@BudBetz]

I would encourage anyone to map out a step-by-step process on paper before starting a backup regime. I think it would give them clarity of what they want to achieve.

[@BudBetz]

Janine, great video addressing an often confusing and time consuming process especially for the new or hobby photographer. You've addressed every aspect of storage that I can think of plus a few others. I use a very similar method you describe. Another method that also works is to add a second copy to a backup during the import process. They won't have any processing but will be another copy available as a backup. First, I set LR to backup the Catalog every time I exit Lightroom. It ask, and I answer. I use an app named Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) to automate backing up my photos weekly to a pair of 5TB drives. Essentially I have three copies of my photos: working drive plus two backups. I also have a 4TB NAS drive on my home network I put my most prized photos on periodically. We have been traveling across America the last two years in a small RV, and this method has worked very well and only requires minimal set up and tear down time before we move to a new location. Thank you for presenting this process in a logical and easy format to follow. I think many will be able to start their backup process after watching your video. Some may need a couple of views. Great work!

[@bobdriscoll3310]

All great suggestions, thanks Janine. A NAS box at home is also a good option to add in too (Network Attached Storage). It's a collection of hard drives (for example, mine has 4 x 4TB drives - not quite enough anymore!), and it spreads the data across all 4 drives, so that if any one of the drives dies, you don't lose any of the data. You can then replace that one drive, and it will rebuild across the new 4th drive, and you've got redundancy again. Not much help if you're house burns down, but coupled with Cloud backup, you're pretty well covered. These boxes aren't super expensive to build, and definitely worth it.

[@PangolinWildlife]

Thank you for the advice Bob. Much appreciated.

[@willypaul70]

Wow, great video Janine. I’ve watched several videos on Lightroom organization and backing up catalogs and folders, but yours is by far the best and most comprehensive without getting into trivial information. Thank you so much!

[@PangolinWildlife]

You are so welcome! Have you done the full course? www.academy.pangolinphoto.com/

[@richardruda267]

This is an excellent and clear explanation Janine. Nicely done. As a IT person I cannot fault it at all. There are two types of photographers. Those who have already lost their images (and now have learnt and implemented what you suggest) and those who have yet to or are about to lose their images 😒. The only thing I can reiterate, as you mentioned, is never keep all your backups in the same physical location (fire and theft, to name just two, will take everything ). Always think worst case scenario. In addition occasionally test the integrity of your backups to make sure those external drives are functioning as expected and that you can actually retrieve images, successfully married with the Lightroom edit data. Occasionally I see customers try and retrieve data from disparate drives/sources and nothing works.

[@janine-pangolinphotohost9722]

Hi Richard, thanks so much for watching. Yes... unfortunately I am one of those who lost images before... it is heart breaking

[@allanmetcalf9242]

Hi Janine. In the past, I used my MBP and external drives as you explain while travelling. However, I have now moved to an iPad Pro, with USB-C hub including a SD card reader. Now I backup onto the iPad Pro internal storage and to 2 USB-C solid state external hard drives. This is all much lighter than the MBP while actual travelling. Now I leave my MBP at home, so less to carry in my hand luggage and the iPad is excellent for entertainment on long flights. I still use my iMAC back home for LR and PS editing and follow a similar backup workflow to your recommendations. It is also posible to run LR on the iPad Pro, but most of the time, I keep my editing for after the trip.

[@Usernamenotknown]

Brilliant Janine. Thank you 😊

[@PaulRyder]

Thanks for the great videos! I can't understand why LR doesn't complete this basic function from a series of prompts? LR already knows where the host files are, and the resulting catalog, so why not offer to run weekly/ monthly backups to a drive or cloud location of choice? Seems like a missed opportunity for Adobe.

[@dougbell7903]

Thanks for another great video. For me the challenge is when in the bush for an extended period one needs to do automatic backups when copying files to LR and then make another to a hard drive (or two). Energy is of course a challenge too. A future topic you may consider is how to manage a separate catalogue when travelling and then combining it with your one at home once you get there. This way you only have to manage the images taken on your trip.

[@janine-pangolinphotohost9722]

Hi Doug, thanks for the inspiration. I will definitely look into that!

[@Colt3854]

Great advice from a beautiful smart lady.

[@berryvanNieuwenhuijsen-og2zj]

ik heb deze lens gekocht en gebruik hem op mijn R7 het werk geweldig ook met de ef rf adapter

[@jameshoward9700]

Huh, so a draw full of old SD cards doesn't count?! Excellent video that has inspired me to take this more seriously..!

[@derrickdu]

Hi Jennie, one thing I recommend that I don’t think you mentioned is storing the physical hard drives at different locations; Office/home, etc. Also, one should consider a NAS storage server. It used to be expensive and hard to setup but nowadays, the price have drop and the setup is much easier. I don’t like cloud subscription services because I don’t trust the companies in addition to the things you had mentioned. Thanks

[@janine-pangolinphotohost9722]

Hi Derrick, you are absolutely right. I think I mentioned it in a side sentence but it is super important... thanks for your input

[@melissahall7009]

Thank you!!!

[@ghislainedenul4693]

Thanks Janine, very interesting tutorial. I use Backblaze and have a copy of my SSD on another external drive, stored in my safe. So I believe I'm fairly safe, as I don't want to loose any images. Where can I find your LR Course for beginners? I'm spending a lot of time watching your tutorials but would rather be in the bush. Very best wishes

[@juanjosepicon3631]

Hi Janine, great video as usual. I would like to make you a question. Using a Canon R6, what do you suggest? Is better to use the second card as a backup of the first one or extend the capacity?. I always back up in two different external SSD all the pictures every day during a safari trip. And I only format the cards if it is needed. Thank you

[@colinjennings7701]

Look forward to your "Beginners Course on Lightroom", I battle just to take my Picture files, downloaded on my laptop, across to Lightroom Classic, without, losing them in between! Thanks to you and your colleagues at Pangolin, for all the helpful tutorials you present.

[@PangolinWildlife]

Pleasure colin. WE are working on a Photo Hub for the website which will be a repository for all the tips and videos we are doing as well as the Lightroom course that is nearly finished. Thank you for your support.

[@colinjennings7701]

@@PangolinWildlife You guys do such a great job in bringing amateur and professional, photographers together, thank you. The "Hub", will be a super extension to the service you offer and makes an old, "fun photographer", less intimidated to come on one of your safaris, if my pension ever improves!

[@filx5466]

Lovely video

[@LuckyDutch2011]

Excellent video. I have lost my share of photos (and a lot of even more important work-related files) over the years. I was relying on the "old style" external hard-drives for too long and they have died one by one. Now I back up my iMac and Macbooks with time machine and save files on separate harddisks manually. Perhaps a word of caution (and you did briefly mention it), using a cloud "storage" system that uses "sync" is very risky as accidentally deleting files from "one end" can also delete them at the "other end". Again, excellent informative video. I recently saw the velcro trick in another wildlife photographer's video as well. Very cool!!

[@PangolinWildlife]

Glad you liked it. Thank you for commenting.

[@iscoguy]

Great topic, well done. My system uses several of your recommendations. Primary difference, I do not use the cloud. Rather, I have an automatic back up, as recommended (external hard drive using WD's software). So, I always have two copies of my images. Then I create external hard drives that are stored offsite (family, friends, safety deposit box, etc). I have multiple of these and I add in a new drive usually once per year.

[@PangolinWildlife]

Great strategy. Well thought through.

[@iscoguy]

Just ran into a small issue with my system. I have filled my current external hard drive, so I bought a new WD "Elements" external hard drive. Turns out, the "Elements" will not work with WD software to do automatic backups. I need the "My Book" to do the automatic back up. So, slight product differentiation by WD, but to do the automatic backup, it is WD "My Books."

[@dirks4093]

Perfect production!

[@PangolinWildlife]

Thank you so much!

[@johnejaife6619]

Excellent

[@ahm271990]

Thanks Janine for all your reviews.

[@janine-pangolinphotohost9722]

Thanks so much for watching my video Ahmed

[@ahm271990]

@@janine-pangolinphotohost9722 you are most welcome 😊 You are a great wildlife photographer I always waiting anything in this channel for you. May God bless you Janine 😊

[@SATYAOBLETTE]

Thank you Janine 🙏🏽❤️

[@PangolinWildlife]

Pleasure Satya.

[@ajaysonarikar1713]

super info.... thanks Janine....

[@PangolinWildlife]

You're welcome 😊

[@francoismalherbe3832]

Janine. I watched your video. Please advise best imaging software specifically for Macbook Pro for copying back ups. I looked at both Acronis and Symantec and both seem to have a problem with Catalina OS. Please help. Regards Francois

[@peterclark8134]

Great tips thanks...Crashplan looks like a great full-proof option for the Cloud Storage...(They should have a commission-plan for you) 😊

[@PangolinWildlife]

But then it wouldn't be unbiased advise no would it??? Even if we are poorer for it!

[@skipsaunders5974]

Note that the .lrc files are actually "L" "R" "C" files.... not "I" "R" "C" or "ell, are,sea" instead of "eye, are, sea"... :-) ( just for future reference, you might note that file extensions are always lower case letters.) Excellent tutorial/video by the way..... do you have an equivalent video for non-Apple users? Thanks

[@janine-pangolinphotohost9722]

Hi Skip, thanks for the info 😂 that is a really useful tip!

[@EssexCountyPhoto]

Great tips, thank you! 👍🏻 PS: you MUST do audiobooks, yours is one of the most soothing voices on KZbin... (with the Snapchick lady!) 🙂

[@PangolinWildlife]

Wow, thank you!

[@oldflyfisher]

Hello, terrific ideas here. Suggest some alternative ideas for you. Backup specific software is available (time machine on Apple, for instance) and should automate your backups. Personally, I use a NAS (Network Attached Storage) system and can access my backups from anywhere on all my devices. Overseas I follow your rules. They are good. Always have an external hard drive.I seldom have the luxury of time on safari. But there are periods when I can offload photos. I never write over my SD cards but use them as backup as well. Cost of cards is a nit compared to the cost of the safari.

[@janine-pangolinphotohost9722]

Hi Oldflyfisher, thanks for watching my video. You have some great systems in place... However, it also depends on what card format your camera takes and how much you shoot... the newer cards can get very very pricy.... I had a client of mine that used the same technique as you and confessed that she had over 2000 SD cards at home 🤪 I have no idea how she kept track...

[@vanomaden]

brilliant ... again and very good timing. Problem I have is power. I live in a van and editing videos and pics takes so much electricity, it's insane. I would never have thought that this would be so energy intense. My 184 A/h battery goes from full to under 30% in days work. The 160 W solar panel helps a little, but still. Anyway, I am blabbering sitting by the Norwegian see close to my drone which decided to land on a remote cliff. I will see if I can climb there tomorrow morning, now it's too dark.

[@PangolinWildlife]

Thats a unique problem to have. Thank you for sharing!! Good luck with the climb.

[@vanomaden]

@@PangolinWildlife I got it back :-) It was nervewrecking. Me being very scared of heights didn't help it either. :-)

[@ynnot65]

Great video!

[@PangolinWildlife]

Thanks!

[@dumasmorales5565]

Great video Janine I enjoy all Pangolin videos; very informative When storing raw files on portable hard drives do I need to install the editing software on those drives? I'm using Canon DPP 4 Thanks

[@PangolinWildlife]

Hi Dumas, no you don't - cheers Janine

[@sway76k]

I also save SD cards once they are full. They are not that expensive and it does give you another backup location......

[@janine-pangolinphotohost9722]

Hi Joe, thanks for watching my video. It depends on what card format your camera takes and how much you shoot... the newer cards can get very very pricy.... I had a client of mine that used the same technique as you and confessed that she had over 2000 SD cards at home 🤪 I have no idea how she kept track...

[@davearchbell9921]

Very informative. I really need to do a better job of backing up as my method is rather hodgepodge.

[@PangolinWildlife]

You can do it!

[@gunasekarangopal9132]

Please tell a best DSLR for beginners on a budget. It will help for many people

[@janine-pangolinphotohost9722]

Hello, there is no simple answer for that which is why you will struggle on the internet. It depends what type of photography you want to do and what budget you have. Check out my gear review of the new 90D ... maybe it will give you a good starting point

[@NikCan66]

Another brilliant video from the oracle's

[@PangolinWildlife]

Cheers.

[@NikCan66]

@@PangolinWildlife no problem

[@fenrirsghost2051]

To save only changed files is called "incremental backup".

[@Digmen1]

Hi I'd suggest no 3 should be backup up to a third drive and then taking this to a friends house in case of fire or theft.

[@Digmen1]

Like others, I would be interesed in hearing about a good naming system for our files. Eg Family, Lanscapes, Cars etc.

[@grahamstapleton6000]

Hi Janine I just got a new Mac, which is proving to be a nightmare! After finding that it had no USB or Thunderbolt 2 connection and buying new external hard drives, exporting my Lightroom catalogue and copying all the data on the LaCie with the Thunderbolt 2 connection to the new LaCie EHD, which took 36 hours, Lightroom does not find the data, on the new drive. Photoshop just freezes. And I took out a trial on Crashplan just before I was ill and the month passed so they activated the subscription so I am now paying for it but don’t know how to set up the cloud back up. 🥴😩😤🥲🤬

[@PangolinWildlife]

Whuuuu, that sounds like a huge mess... so sorry to hear that. This is something that is not fixable from remote unfortunately. You will have to relink all your images in lightroom which is possible. I hope you get it figured out but it will take you a lot of time... cheers Janine

[@jakesdewet3567]

Hi Jenine what External SSD do you use?

[@PangolinWildlife]

I think its a Sandisk SSD 1Tb if Im not mistaken.

[@johnevans382]

Hi thanks for video what he would you recommend many thanks John

[@PangolinWildlife]

Sorry John...not sure I understand?

[@johnevans382]

Sorry predictive text what solid state hard drive would you recommend

[@benthomson8377]

Hey I have a Apple Mac air and I’m looking at downloading adobe Lightroom to edit my photos and I’m not sure where to download it please help.

[@PangolinWildlife]

Hi Ben. Try here. www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom.html?red=a#mini-plans-web-cta-photoshop-lightroom-card

[@benthomson8377]

Pangolin Wildlife Photography thanks so mush I really mean it for the past few days I’ve been looking for it.

[@benthomson8377]

And I’ve been struggling

[@lawrielittle9722]

Hello Janine how do you or name, identify your images, please? I was with Ann & Steve Toon in 2015 and was due to return in 2016. Best wishes Lawrie Little

[@pangolinphotohosts4118]

Hi Lawrie, thanks so much for writing me. Do you mean key-wording in Lightroom for instance? I do have a lightroom course coming out soon that addresses that problem as well. Otherwise I just keep my images as the camera names them and organize them chronologically

[@Digmen1]

I dont like the idea of storing my files in the cloud its just too complicated.

[@benwiles7433]

As soon as the images go onto the laptop, I copy them to 2 external hard drives.

[@PangolinWildlife]

Good plan!