Hey there! I’m Kimberly Reynolds, a professional photographer who’s passionate about capturing beautiful moments—whether it’s a graduating senior, a family portrait session, or a newborn shoot. As photographers, we pour our hearts into every shot, every edit, and every album we deliver to our clients. But as much as we focus on the art of photography, there’s one crucial aspect of the business we can’t afford to overlook: data backup.
Today, I want to share a personal experience that I’m hoping will serve as a wake-up call for all of you out there. A little while ago, I learned the hard way just how critical it is to back up your external hard drive—and not just back it up once, but to back up your backup. Let me tell you why this matters and how you can avoid making the same mistake I did.
The Story of Lost Data (And How It Could Have Been Avoided)
It was just another busy week of editing photos and organizing files on my external hard drive. For months, I’d been diligently working on everything from maternity to family shoots, and my external hard drive had become my go-to storage for all my raw images. But as the months went on, I started to take it for granted. I had backed up my images, right? I had a reliable system—what could possibly go wrong?
Unfortunately, data loss doesn’t care how busy you are or how reliable you think your setup is. One day, my external hard drive stopped working. Just like that. All 10 months worth of raw images—gone.
Luckily, I had already delivered the photos to my clients. So, there was no immediate impact on their experience. But here’s the kicker: I couldn’t go back, view, or re-edit those images for my own personal gain. They were trapped on that broken drive, and without them, I couldn’t make any adjustments, revisit old projects, or use the images for portfolio purposes. Even worse, if I wanted to attempt recovery, it would cost me a hefty fee (between $300-$700) to hire a third-party data recovery company.
I was devastated. And it was a painful reminder that no matter how much we trust our external hard drives, nothing is foolproof.
Why You Should Back Up Your Backup
This experience taught me an invaluable lesson: always back up your backup. You can’t rely on a single storage device to hold the key to your business’s most valuable asset—your images. Here's why backing up your external hard drive is absolutely essential:
1. Hard Drives Fail (It Happens)
External hard drives are incredibly convenient, but they are not invincible. The reality is, hard drives are mechanical devices that can fail for a variety of reasons, including physical damage, power surges, or even natural wear and tear. And once that happens, there’s no guarantee you can retrieve your files—especially if the drive was your only backup.
I’ve heard horror stories from fellow photographers who’ve experienced the same thing. They’ve lost years of work because they didn’t back up their backup. I’m talking about irreplaceable images from weddings, events, and portraits that can’t be recreated.
2. Multiple Backups = Peace of Mind
Backing up your external hard drive ensures that your files are safely stored in at least one other location. If you only have one backup, and it fails, you’re left with nothing. But with a secondary backup, even if one drive fails, you still have access to your images, giving you peace of mind.
After my experience, I now make sure I back up my external hard drive to multiple locations: an additional external hard drive and a cloud backup service. That way, I’m covered no matter what happens.
3. Faster Access to Archived Work
As a photographer, I often need to go back to older projects, re-edit photos, or pull images for portfolios and marketing. Without backups, I wouldn’t have that ability. The recovery process for a corrupted or damaged hard drive is not only expensive—it’s also time-consuming. Using cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Backblaze ensures I can easily access archived files in a matter of seconds.
4. Backup Services Are More Affordable Than Data Recovery
The cost of recovering data from a damaged drive can range anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to thousands, depending on the severity of the damage and the amount of data. This doesn’t include the emotional cost of losing months’ worth of work. On the other hand, setting up a proper backup system (cloud storage and another external drive) is relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of professional recovery.
I learned this lesson the hard way. Now, I don’t just back up my files to a single external hard drive—I have a secondary backup in place (another external hard drive) and a cloud backup to cover all my bases.
4 Ways to Back Up Your Backups (The Right Way)
So, now that I’ve learned my lesson, how do I ensure this doesn’t happen again? Here’s my foolproof approach to backing up my work:
1. Use Two External Hard Drives
I now have two external hard drives—one that I use for primary storage and one that I use as a backup. I set up an automatic schedule to back up my work to the second drive on a regular basis. This ensures I always have a backup on hand in case the first one fails.
2. Cloud Backup for Extra Security
While external hard drives are great for local storage, cloud storage provides an added layer of security. Services like Backblaze, Dropbox, or Google Drive offer automatic cloud backup solutions that run in the background, ensuring your files are uploaded and safely stored off-site. This means that even if your physical storage fails, your files are still accessible and protected.
3. Organize Your Backups
Just backing up isn’t enough. I make sure to keep my backups organized and updated regularly. I use folders with clear naming conventions for each project and maintain a systematic backup schedule. This makes it easier to locate specific images when I need to re-edit or pull them for a portfolio.
4. Test Your Backups
Every few months, I test my backups to make sure they’re working correctly. I open files from my backup drives and cloud storage to ensure everything is accessible and up to date. This simple step can save you a lot of headaches in the future.
Conclusion: Back Up Your Work, and Don’t Learn the Hard Way
As a photographer, your work is your livelihood. Losing months of raw images due to something as preventable as a hard drive failure is a mistake I don’t wish on anyone. Backing up your external hard drive, and then backing it up again, is non-negotiable. It’s the only way to ensure your images are safe, accessible, and secure.
Don’t wait until it’s too late. Take the time to set up a reliable backup system today, and you’ll never have to worry about losing your precious work again.
Happy shooting!
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