You may think it’s funny that I chose to write my first article on backing up your photos/images along with some external hard drive reviews rather than writing about anything else related to photography or posting a couple of my sample pictures. But I believe that backing up your files is one of the most important things a photographer must routinely do. A lot of photographers just choose to leave their pictures within the hard drives without backups. This of course is very risky. One virus, one crash, one power surge could send all your hard work down the drain.
What type of external hard drive do I need?
Since you’re mostly on the go, I would suggest going with portable drives. These are a lot smaller albeit being more expensive is still a good investment. They usually can fit your laptop or camera bags easily so size isn’t a big factor.
Recommended Brands
LaCie Rugged All Terrain
This is the drive that I love the most. May set you back more in terms of cost but is worth every penny. The LaCie brand is a good brand choice within the hard drive market, they have various models to choose one but the LaCie Rugged is the model I prefer especially for field photographers.
They have built it like an off road vehicle capable of handling drops and bumps which is not at all uncommon when you’re out on the field shooting.
It’s one of the most versatile drives you’ll ever encounter which supports both firewire and USB 2.0
Seagate GoFlex
The next drive on the list is the Seagate GoFlex. This is a bit cheaper than LaCie and a bit smaller as well since these don’t have the bumpers that LaCie is equipped with. If you do go with this drive, be sure to buy a case for it to reduce scratches and as an add-on protection.
What I like most about this drive is the USB 3.0 support but what it lacks is firewire. But you can easily buy the GoFlex firewire cable which is actually a good remedy for the lack of firewire support.
Conclusion
I’m sure you’ll find that there are a lot more options out there and there are new models coming out often but the main idea of backing up your images after every shoot should remain a habit for every photographer. I can’t phantom how heartbreaking it would feel to lose all your images just because you failed to backup your drives. It’s better to spend a bit and take an hour of your time each day making sure that you have backed up your priceless images.
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