Will my photos be safe? How are they stored? What’s your backup process like?

The LAST thing that you want is for your photographer to call you late at night and tell you that they’ve lost your photos.

We’ve all heard the horror stories — a photographer’s SD card gets corrupted, their hard drive crashes, etc. As a photographer, my top priority is ensuring the safety and security of your images. So, how do I do it?

@jasongoldfarbphotography

Will my photos be safe? How are they stored? What’s your backup process like? The LAST thing that you want is for your photographer to call you late at night and tell you that they’ve lost your photos. We’ve all heard the horror stories — a photographer’s SD card gets corrupted, their hard drive crashes, etc. As a photographer, my top priority is ensuring the safety and security of your images. So, how do I do it? #seattleweddingphotographer #seattlewedding #seattlephotobooth #washingtonwedding #washingtonweddingphotographer #pnwweddingphotographer #pnwwedding

♬ original sound – Jason Goldfarb Photography

ALL OF MY PHOTOS ARE BACKED UP IN AT LEAST 5 PLACES.

01 — It all starts in camera.

I shoot with TWO Canon R6 Mirrorless Cameras. That means, off the bat, your photos are going to be in two separate cameras. Moreover, each of these cameras records to dual SD-card slots – creating an instant backup of every single file. By the time that I leave the venue, there’s already a backup of the file.

02 — The internal SSD

As soon as I get home, I plug both SD cards into my M1 Pro Macbook Pro 14” and immediately create another backup inside my computer.

03 — My RAID System

Underneath my desk, I have mounted two 8TB Western Digital Hard Drives, running in RAID1 — meaning, both of these hard drives MIRROR each other. So, if one of those drives fails, the other will have the exact backup. Pretty neat.

04 — Network Attached Storage (NAS) Server

I also have an 18TB NAS drive connected to my home server. Essentially, this is my own cloud storage device that I can access anywhere in the world. ALL photos, including the original RAW images are backed up to the NAS device for long-term storage. There are 4 hard drives running in the NAS server, so if any of the drives fail, the files can still be accessed. Pretty cool, right?

05 — Cloud Storage (Backblaze, Online Gallery, Amazon Photos)

Your photos are also backed up in the cloud. In 3 separate locations. My NAS drive automatically backs up to the cloud via Backblaze, so if my house LITERALLY BURNED DOWN, your photos are still safe.

Not enough redundancy for you? All final .jpg files are also contained in your online gallery, and are uploaded to an album in Amazon Photos.

YOUR PHOTOS ARE YOUR MEMORIES.

I know how much your photos mean. They contain beautiful, cherished memories that you’ll have for a lifetime. I NEVER want to put you in a situation where your photos are lost — so I do my best to keep them safe.