Flash memory for backup

[Pandamonium]

I got back from my honeymoon about a week ago, and just received my wedding photo CDs. I'm looking at about 5GB of pictures from the wedding/honeymoon and probably <5 GB of pictures from the last few years. I want a bulletproof archival of these pictures, and between CD/DVD rot and HD failures, I'm thinking about SD cards or thumb drives. I can't figure out what kind of lifespan today's flash drives have for write-once data. I'm seeing "advertised" claims that fit my needs, but does anyone have real-world experience with this?

 

[RebateMonger]

Whatever you decide, I'd recommend at least two copies on two different types of media.

Have you considered online backups? You can get "unlimited" storage at Moxy or Carbonite for about $60 a year, and can store other important stuff there, too. Since you'll only need to upload the photos one time, bandwidth shouldn't be a big issue.

 

[Pandamonium]

I've looked into Mozy, Carbonite, and Amazon S3. The lifetime costs with these services is why I'm looking to flash memory.

I'll have about 5 copies of the photos on at least 5 physical drives at my apartment. There will also be two sets of CDRs in two remote locations. I know CDRs are supposed to last for an upwards of 100yrs under ideal conditions, but I've been burned by optical media in the past, so I want another layer of backup.

I'm really hoping that flash drives and CDRs in two remote locations would be sufficient, but I don't know much about flash drive longevity.

 

[Jeff7181]

I agree that online storage is the best option. Those services have levels of redundancy you couldn't possibly match for less money... think about it. That is their primary function... archiving data. They're professionals. Your photos can't be replaced... in a sense, they're priceless, and $60/yr is too much money? I'd ask the wife about that...

 

[elconejito]

Any media has it's failure point. As long as you have multiple copies you should be fine. I would trust flash media waaaaaay less than I'd trust a hard drive. Matter of fact, I'd trust 2 hard drives in two locations far more than I'd trust 2 sets of CDs & thumb drives in 2 locations.

At the end of the day, what is your data worth to you? $50-60/year is literally one night out for dinner for the two of you. That means, every year dont go out *once* and you've paid for the wedding photos and anything else you have at an online backup. If it is only worth the cost of a thumb drive (or thats literally all you can afford) then thats what will have to do.

 

[RebateMonger]

There are also the free online storage services. Microsoft's Skydrive will hold 25 GB and is totally free. Threre's one big disadvantage: You currently can't have directories. Everything is in a single folder. But I'd think that'd be OK for a backup that, hopefully, will never be used.

Obviously, Skydrive may not be around forever. Presumably they'll give notice if/when the serivce is discontinued. And, as mentioned before, I wouldn't make this my ONLY copy of valuable fiiles.

 

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: elconejito
Any media has it's failure point. As long as you have multiple copies you should be fine. I would trust flash media waaaaaay less than I'd trust a hard drive. Matter of fact, I'd trust 2 hard drives in two locations far more than I'd trust 2 sets of CDs & thumb drives in 2 locations.

I don't know how you can trust HDs more than flash drives. It has been my experience that HDs tend to fail faster & more often than flash drives, assuming you don't go out and get the el-cheapo flash drives.

Heck, for not much money, you can get a few USB sticks, copy all the pictures on to a device, then have the CD/DVD as a fallback, and actually make hard copies of the shots you most want. Then Every year, you just buy another flash drive, copy the pictures again...make a new CD/DVD (or whatever format is around in 10 years) and you will have another copy every year. Then the wife can complain about the 30+ usb flash drive you have on your 30th wedding anniversary.

At the end of the day, what is your data worth to you? $50-60/year is literally one night out for dinner for the two of you. That means, every year dont go out *once* and you've paid for the wedding photos and anything else you have at an online backup. If it is only worth the cost of a thumb drive (or thats literally all you can afford) then thats what will have to do.

The only problem I have with online places is, if they will remain in business or not.
That, and how good they archive their own stuff, and their security, since you don't really want people snooping around your stuff.

 

[alyarb]

password protected .rars are no big deal. check out microsoft's free service.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Elixer
The only problem I have with online places is, if they will remain in business or not.

Remember, you are going to want copies of your "critical" stuff in at least two different places. If, somehow, an online service disappears from the face of the Earth with no warning, you still have your originals, plus another copy.

And, as noted, file encryption is not a big deal these days.

 

[elconejito]

Maybe I'm a little old-school (I'm willing to accept that), but I just can't fathom putting important data on a flash drive. Maybe it's because I associate them with older removable media like floppy disks, zip disks, and CDs. All of which have burned me once or twice when you pick them up some time later looking for data. Plus since they are so small I don't think you can ignore the "lose-ability" of these things. I suppose you could mitigate that by having them in a "backup" drawer or cabinet. And the limited size of both flash drives and CD/DVD leads to having a bajillion disks lying around if you have a significantly sized set of data.

I somehow always forget about the free online storage like Skydrive. And there are other storage sites like Mozy too.

Those sites that don't directly support encryption you can always encrypt the data yourself before uploading (although that does add another layer to your process).

Like RebateMonger pointed out, you always need multiple copies. Just one copy is not a "copy". I've had friends take their photos from their primary hard drive and Move them to an external thinking it's backed up. It's not. In a best case scenario you have your original, a local copy, AND an off-site copy.

As far as will these companies go away, it's always impossible to say. I chose JungleDisk which uses Amazon's S3 service for actual storage, primarily because they used Amazon's service which is not likely to fail or go away anytime soon. But can anyone say that even Amazon will *never* go away? As big as they are, they might go bankrupt some day or decide it's not profitable and seel it off, or just plain stop offering the service. So the best thing to do is have multiple sets of your data.