but where is the sharpness? hmmm...

everything is perfectly composed except for the sides. i don't like the blurry left and the thing on the right.

I like the image, not sure about the framing tho (dunno whether this is photoshopped or what?). So maybe a little cropping?

One the HDD storage matter, I think that External HDD 's are a good option but you have to consider why you want to back up.
But be aware HDD's do fail, and this is the main reason why you need backups.
I do HDD backups with DVD at the moment, but I'm also open to new ideas!

Anyway, I'm loving this more experimental side to your photography!

First, on the shot, I'm not a fan. Sorry. There's no way of telling that it's a reflection until you read the text. It just looks like a normal shot that's a bit soft. Well, quite a lot soft if we're honest.

Second, on storage... I'm totally with you. I've got three drives too (all 200 GB units) but configured differently. I have two internal, in a RAID 1 array (a mirrored array for redundancy). I then have the remaining drive in an external case and I do backups with Norton Ghost every so often (ie not as often as I probably should do). I don't trust DVDs either. I think having a copy off-site, as it were, is a very good idea. Might have a think about that.

Hard drives are so cheap these days that you'd be mad not to take advantage of it. Whether buying lots of hard drives is very environmentally friendly or not... Well that's a different matter. I try to pass all my 'old' computer stuff onto others for free so at least I know it's still being used, rather than just binning it.

In theory a DVD could last for ever, where the life span of a modern HDD is supposed to be able to run continuously for about 7 years or so. Neither is really true. DVDs get scratched and external HDDs are quirky it seems. The best backup solution is a server that is taken care of by a team of computer geeks. That's quite expensive though, eh?

RAID 1 on your machine and a copy of everything on an external you can grab if the house starts to burn down.

I think this photo is not one of your best, the blurriness doesn't fly. Silhouettes work better when sharp.

Forgot this photo was a reflection when I was commenting, which must mean I agree with Jamey; no way to tell it is one without reading the comments.

I like this picture. It's very atmospheric and it reminds me somewhat of an old Polaroid, especially with the vignetting. The single red highlight works well with the gold.
Speaking of gold - I've been using Gold CD-R and DVD-R for archiving important files. They use a different dye to conventional disks and claim a very long life. They are a bit expensive, but I reckon that if I keep a copy on a hard drive, one on (regular) DVD and one on Gold then I'm about as covered as I can be right now. It's still cheaper than film and processing. I tend to use CDs more than DVDs because if one CD fails along with all other backups, I've lost fewer files than if a DVD fails.
Two sources I know of: Stanley Productions and Spa Photo.

I haven't commented in a loooong time, but I've been visiting almost every day. I really like this one. The skateboarder realy does stand out, mostly b/c of the color "shock" with respect to everything else. I like how everything is calm and melded together and still retains a clarity somehow, not like when I shoot what I refer to as "lower contrast scenes" and it just has no energy. I like the way the roof has a bold smoothness that stands out from the grainier sky. I know my description isn't the best, but I'm trying to commend the photo. Great job.

I didn't know it was a reflection until I read the description either, but in that case, I think you kind of need to keep the borders to express that.

Nice compositio Dave, but I'm not sure it works entirely, because as Jamey wrote, it's not obvious it's a reflection at first, so it just seems a little soft. Knowing it's a reflection changes it entirely, and makes it work much better, but should we have to read seomthing about the photo for it to work, or is that asking to much for what is essentially a visual medium. Anyway, I like it. Lovely colours and composition.

As for the backup conundrum, I believe in triple redundancy at least. Your working hdd, an external hdd, and at least one dvd backup. That solution would be very hard to fail all at once. There is a more archaic backup solution as well that I think has a lot of merit. They're called "prints". :) With archival paper and good ink, you can expect a 100 year life span, probably longer than is needed. I would suggest a combination of both approaches is a clever idea.

GHOP (and Jamey and co.): the "blurry left and the thing on the right" were the things that were supposed to show it was a reflection ;-)

JD: yep, I know HDD's fail, but I figure that if I have three copies I should be reasonably safe.

Jamey: yes, a RAID setup would be a good idea. As for the off-site thing: I guess, at the moment, that that's my biggest worry. Sure, houses don't get burgled or burn down all that often, but if either did happen I'd lose all my work.The price of an extra hard drive seemed easy to justify on that basis.

roy: thanks for the info on the CDs.

Geoff: yep, the print solution is a good one too, but I have 709 entrles on chromasia, most of which haven't been printed – it would take me ages :-/

Yeah totally. Keeping the backup in a different place is a good idea. I might start following your lead, not that my work's as important as yours (in that I don't get paid for photographing stuff, much as I'd love to). But still... Off-site = quite right.

There is something about this shot that seems incomplete. Reading the other comments, I thought it may have been the framing, but I'm not sure that's what I dislike. I wish I had more contructive criticism concerning what I feel is lacking.

This is my first comment, and though it's not the best, I would like to make one thing clear. I've been visiting the site daily since I stumbled upon it in August. What I've come to love about Chromasia is that, whether or not I like the shot, I'm left with a strong feeling/idea/emotion/impression. And that is what keeps me coming back every day.

I know I don't make my presence known through comments, but I assure you I am devoted visitor.

Kudos! :-)

i love it. this is a beautiful silhouette style shot.

i personally find dvd's a better, cheaper, more effective method of storing.

Hey Mr Chromasia, you do know that you are a finalist in the weblog awards, don't you? I'm voting as often as I can for this fab photo blog but you're getting your ass whipped by a couple of lightweights, mainly because their nominations are being promoted like crazy. You should have a link up somewhere to draw your visitors' attentions to your nomination. In the meantime, everybody who wants to vote can go to http://weblogawards.org/2005/12/best_photo_blog.php
Good luck

I still use floppy disks, they work fine for me & my jpegs in my office out the front of the house...

Put the kettle on Sylv love...

I was just wondering: How often do you take of happy smiling children playing in the light green grass? All of your photos are great and deep, but shouldn't you take some pictures of happiness and lightness of life as well? This is just a suggestion, but I wish you could post some photos of children... especially your children...

By the way, nice work on this!

i'm guessing the floppy disks comment is an absolute joke...

my problem with dvds is lets say you have 300gigs to backup...you take the time to burn all the dvd's...everything goes great....you have them stored several years later...something happens....ok, bring out the dvds....and somehow your favorite picture you will/have take in your lifetime is corrupted...somehow the file was corrupted in the write process......there is no way but to go through all the dvds and test each image...

you have to have your pictures in two locations....no way around that....

microsoft has a new powertoy out called 'SyncToy'...it's free and easy to understand.....just bring your external from the office every once and a while and hit the sync button.....it's no different from the sync software of a palm pilot......then just take it back to work.....

for everyday use just put the pics on your computer's harddrive(not external)....when you have them ready for archiving just move that folder to the external......they'll be copied on the next sync...

back to the dvdr or cdr...you can also burn a dvd or two when your moving the folder to the external drive....that gives you 3 locations and is fool proof.....this is exactly how i do it....the sync software has made life easier....

but i'm guessing Dave uses the Mac...so maybe this will be useful for someone else.....

just a note....synctoy is great to sync files between your home desktop and laptop....it's helped me to work off my laptop away from home...once i arrive i do the sync and i can immediately pick up on my desktop(which is faster)where i left off.....getting the file permissions correct may be a little tricky for some....

sorry for the long post....just ask if you need some help....

You've probably figured this out by now, but you're best off backing up to multiple media. Remember that the HDD is whirring around at 7200 RPM, with the read/write head about 10 nm from the platter.

Writable DVDs have limited lifespan, but it's probably longer than the hard drive.

The solution for the paranoid? Burn DVDs. Two copies. Leave one copy offsite. RAID your hard drives (RAID 1, not 0) so it's error correcting. Test each set of DVDs periodically (select a sample disk from each burning session say, every couple of months) and---if you're sufficiently paranoid---reburn them every couple of years, looking out for newer media with a longer lifespan (or higher capacity, etc.)

Note that I follow none of my own advice on this matter, primarily for financial reasons (but I graduate in May).

Boy, I like this shot. It's not soft, it has a funny double edge to it, like a rear curtain sync shot or something. Doesn't look like a photoshop effect, it looks like some kind of optical illusion to me. My eyes keep trying to bring it into focus, which does not happen with something that's merely soft. I have a hard time taking my eyes off the gazebo, but my eyes bounce over to the skateboarder, but don't go out of the image, they go back to the gazebo. I suspect the reflective surface was vibrating and left a few sharp images stacked up on the sensor. I actually came to the comments just to see how the effect was done. I was suspecting some kind of pinhole camera or cheap lens, with the vignetting on the sides.

I recognize that I'm in the minority on this one, though.

Not sure this pic really works for me. It's not obvious that its a reflection but knowing it is does help to understand it. Without knowing that it just looks badly focused and blurrey.

As for storage, I'm just getting a bit more serious about taking photos and have been having the same worries about losing stuff. I''v just acquired a bunch of 500Gb external hard drives so I'm going to try to set a few up as a RAID, have one networked for access from any PC (for general storage and MP3s etc), and use the other couple for backing up and keeping off site. It's probably way over the top but I have the kit to hand to do it so why not ?

a dreamy feel about this i like.
i would suggest backing up on external hd for quick reference. then back up on 2 dvds using seperate dvd writers. also designate one day a week as back up day. or you'll never get it done!
ps. i recently read that iomega has a dvd carousel. worth checking out.

I like the painting-like expression. But I don’t like the dark sides because they make it very tight and give me a uncomfortable feeling.
Concerning the backups: My son recently came home with a set of very strong magnets and put it to the cabinet of my computer. It nearly gave me a heart attack. You have children too…
I once lost the biggest part of my electronic equipment by a lightning hitting a house in the neighbourhood. So don’t forget to disconnect completely your backup drive and store it on a save place. DVD is not the worst option so.
Thanks for many inspiring photographs…

I really like this shot, but like previous posts, I wouldn't have known it was a reflection until you told me. I just thought you got out of focus for once in your life! :) I really like how the processing came out otherwise. It reminds me of an old postcard that's seen it's better days - and I mean that in the "ooh it's so old and pretty" way!

I would stick with HD bacause of the speed of storing and ability to see what's inside fast.

There's a new book out 'The DAM Book' which looks like it might be an interesting read for all photographers swamped by their archives.
DAM = Digital Asset Management

I like this photo, sure you cant really tell its a reflection unless you read the shot, but i would have liked it anyway, the sky the sillouettes and the person in red all go together to make quite a nice image i think.

As for backups, HDD's are probably your best bet, the dye in DVD's degrades over time and one little accident and its scratched and gone forever, tapes are expensive for the capacity that you want, and can also snap, as happened in work last week. We use 250Gb maxtor one touch drives now, 3 of them actually for exactly the reason you are. The lifespan of a HDD used solely for backup purposes is also many times higher than one used continuously in your PC.

I like this image, and I'm not sure what difference it makes whether one knows it is a reflection or not. Finding out the reason the image is soft is not really relevant, imo, it comes down to whether one likes the image or not. I like the colors and the composition, and I think the sidebars add an element of mystery.

I couldnt see this photo from where i was sitting.....

With regards to storage I know DVD'ds over time can suffer from ROTT like laserdisc before it but this is quite rare . I agree that putting all your eggs in one basket is a bad idea but I have my images on 2 drives and also burn them onto DVD at regular intervals, IMHO this is more than enough.

I know you say you don't trust dvd's etc but once you back them up they go on the shelf so how can the get damaged? You can get 100 dvd's for under £20 so for me something to consider.

WIth regards to the image shindlers list springs to mind with the sepia type tones and the girl in a red jacket.

On another note you are a storage whore :) Man...... too many hard drives and I bet that still isn't enough :)

Too much information in only one picture. Dont like it very much.. sorry.

I like the goldish feel with that skater in red shirt.

hi, i have been lookin at ur photos for quite some time.. most of them are really stunning but this shot doesn't work for me eh.. i love the colors and the mood created but the blur in this case was more of a distraction for me..

then the position and posture of the people doesn't really invoke any emotion in me.. u made the skater the focus point but i dun feel any connection between him and the overall setting.. ha, juz my 2 cents eh..

might be worth looking into AIT data cartidges (Tapes) for your backups
I use advance intelligent tapes at work for disaster recovery.

But theres not a whole bunch of point spending too much cash as BLUE-RAY discs & HD DVD disks are due to be released in spring 06, giving you 50/60GB storage per disk. I've also read about holographic disks being in the pipeline, maxwell are currently developing these. with a capacity of 300GB per disk up to 1.6TB... now obviously i dont see the terabyte disks being released for some time. however the lower end holographic disks should make their way to the market late 06.

I dont like relying on single hard drives to hold my data, unless of course a nice raid system is in place.

hold out for the blue-ray disks would be your best bet

The atmosphere and tone of this picture is great.

This is one of your stunners Dave. It strikes me as a 19th Century ink drawing. The mood conveyed is poignant and penetrating. My first thought in seeing this shot was, 'Damm, why don't i ever see these moments'. Its a moment that photography was created for. This is a gem; make a print for sure. And thanks for the daily inspiration.

This is OT, but after realizing that your default skin for viewing is black, I switched it to that also, which has made a huge difference on how I perceive your photos! I'm glad I made the switch, although occasionally I swap around to see the effects of border colors.

I was just wondering though, if there were some way to set a separate default for the comments. It's very difficult to read white text on black. It's probably less trouble for me to deal with it than for you to write the code though!

Back on topic... I really like this one. It has a sort of painted feeling to it. I think what really makes the photo is the highlighted red coat in the foreground.

i don't like. boring and fuzzy.

Excellent - I love the way the skateboarder stands out so much.

As for backups, I use a 160GB Maxtor OneTouch and it's fab - it even has a blue LED! I should probably get another one though - I like your idea of rotating the external drives and keeping one at work.

I quite like the slight blurring effect, I think it works here. I often get it accidentally when trying to use a slow shutter speed, as I rarely carry a tripod with me and I don't have the steadiest hands in the world :-) But the effect can sometimes add something to an image. Quite what I'm not sure; mystique maybe?

Love it, love it, love it! One of the best in a while in my opion, got a really good feel to it :)

I love this picture-it's so soft & calming. It totally looks like it could be an old poloroid photo-expecially w/ the vignetting on the sides-adds such character! Very peaceful!
Wendy

I have an external 400GB drive and also backup to CDs and DVDs. One thing I've found very useful is a small program called Second Copy, which is constantly backing up all my data to the external 400GB drive. You can set up it to do background backups as frequently as you like (every 30 mins in my case), for different sets of data, in all sorts of configurations. Very easy to configure, and it's great peace of mind knowing that if I accidentally delete something or screw it up, that there's always a very recent backup at hand.

Cocky Little Runt

Duplicate HDDs are the way to go. There's a benefit that no one has mentioned - it's easy to move your data forward to new media from HDDs. Consider if you had things backed up across 100 DVD instead of a 500GB HDD. The data is more secure on HDD because two years from now it will be a lot easier to replicate your data to a 1TB drive than it will to manually copy 100 DVDS. The way to think about it is you never really write the data to an archive medium - it's always living - you only move it to larger and larger datastores. Also if a HDD did crash, there are expert services that are expensive, but can recover the data, even if you accidentally deleted it.

Whilst chatting with some guys at work about the backup issue, we came up with the following plan.

Buy a couple of external disks (as you have) and give one to a reliable friend (and offer to host one of theirs). Since you're both on DSL, setup a VPN or other trusted link (if your IP changes reguarly, look into DynDNS or something like that), and use a fantastic UNIX tool called rsync to sync your local disk with your external one.

It's a fairly technical solution, but well worth the effort. If you using a mac, then rsync and ssh (a secure protocol to run rsync over) are available already since you're really running BSD (a UNIX) with a pretty UI. If you're using Windows, look into Cygwin which allows you to run rsync, ssh (and many other UNIX tools) under windows. I run my server on Linux with a bunch of raided disks (and external drive attached) so all these tools are native to the OS.

Tim: thanks for that, it may well be the ideal solution.

This is just a really unfortunate photo - it's not good
But that's alright. My only problem with this shot really is that some people like it... I suspect they only like it because of who the photographer is.

Nice collection here though.

I think out of all these comments only one person mentioned the biggest downside to DVD backups. They are a *PAIN* to administer. You have to sit at your computer each and every time you want to backup and switch discs several dozen times, depending how much data you have. Then if one disc fails in the middle of it, you're stuck starting over.

I think having 2 external drives with one stored off-site is a very simple and viable solution. In fact, I'm in the process of implementing it myself. The liklihood of all 3 drives failing at the same time is almost nil. When one does fail, it's easy to replace and replicate the data again.

andy: yep, it's unlikely they'll all fail at once. This way, the worst that will happen is that I'll lose a week's work. I can live with that.

Dave, I wasnt so sure about this shot at first. I like the colour of the sky, and the sharpness of the roof, but the rest of the is too soft on focus. Then I read that its a reflection - that changes things a little. The only thing I can say is that I wish there was more to show thats it is a reflection.

I also gotta thank you for bringing up all these back-up solutions. i have a 120gb HDD and 40gb. I just checked the prices, and they are amazingly low! I think i may just buy myself a 200gb drive now! May stop using my 60gb ipod and many cds (dont really trust so much data on dvds either) for backing up too.