Storage suggestions

[Fainaent]

I've been trying to figure this out, but I'm such a newb when it comes to hardware... Let me explain my situation a little.

I'm getting into photography, and I've been trying to figure out how I can store and backup my photographs easily. I need to be able to quickly access/store tons of photos. I was thinking of having 1 set of drives ordered by date, simply for backup, and then I would have other drives arranged by location(IE, everytime I went to Yellowstone, I would back up each photo onto the main drive(by date), and then add them to a drive of Yellowstone photos.) I could easily be adding 500MB-2GB of photos at a time. What I was thinking about was something like this:

http://www.usb-ware.com/sata-2-drive-raid-kit-hot-swap-alum.htm

Where I could simply hot-swap the drives I wanted to use ATM. I'm wondering if this would be a practical/efficient/and expandable system for backup? For instance, what would I do when I had 20 different drives, and how could I access them all? Does it have to be plugged into my computer, or could I set up some sort of network access with it? Any suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated.

I started out just using CD's and DVD's, but I quickly noticed that this wouldn't be a very feasable option. Thanks

 

[cattbert]

It would help others to give you the best advice if you were to give a description of your current computer setup, i.e. are you working on a desktop or laptop? I am assuming desktop, because I am unfamiliar with any laptops with e-sata connectors you would need for the enclosure you linked to. If a desktop, do you already have an e-sata connector?

If a desktop, I would suggest detailing what type of computer (make and model if manufactured or case, motherboard, power supply if you built it) you have. While the external case might be a good solution, it might be worth looking to add one or two very large hard drives internally if your computer has the room and available connectors. Not only would it be much more economical, but you will get much faster transfer rates. You would also not have to worry about anything happening to the drives while handling or storing them.

The enclosure you linked to would need to be plugged into your computer. If you want storage you can have connected to your home network you will need to look for a NAS (network attached storage) device, which just has a different controller and an ethernet port. I have only read a few reviews here and there on those, so I cannot point you in the right direction, but you can get them with the hard drives included or as an enclosure to add your own drives to.

 

[Madwand]

Don't use physical hardware for organization when you can do logical organization with software. Plugging and unplugging, and moving many drives around regularly is itself likely to cause problems. Use folders, or some specialized photo organization software (search photo sites for recommendations on these.)

All files get dated automatically. Logical classification is up to you. Photo organization software that provides multiple indexes on the same set of images might be the most convenient.

Set up something with redundancy on the drive level -- e.g. RAID 1 or RAID 5 for 1st tier protection. Copy to external drives / servers for 'real" backup protection. Write stuff to DVD/tape/etc., and send them off-site for additional protection.