Sorry! We have been absent for a while…. We have been busy working on a few projects and neglected our blogging responsibilities!

But today is a benchmark day and wanted to share it with you. After many months, we have just completed a full cloud-based back-up of all of our systems.. Many, many terabytes if information are now securely stored in “the cloud” which gives us incredible piece of mind. I have always been a huge advocate for triple / quadruple back-ups of all of our digital data, both imagery and basic data.

Our back-up routine has long consisted of having our primary files that we work with on the local computers, then having a daily backup sitting right next to that. THEN having an off-site back-up that lived somewhere else in case tragedy struck here at the office. The problem with the off-site back up is that it was kind of pain in the neck to go pick it up, do the FULL SYSTEM back-up (which took 2 days) and then deliver it back to the off-site location. Consequently it did not get done as often as it should and sometimes spent a few extra days on-site that it shouldn’t have!

With both local internet speeds increasing as well as online backup services improving performance, we decided to take the leap. While things will only get better and faster, I am glad we did this now. It literally took months to complete, but now that we are 100% in the cloud for our “off-site” back-up, adding to and maintaining it is automated and effortless!

Did I mention piece of mind?

There are a few good services out there (and a few bad ones) and we have tried several. I am sure more will come on the market as time goes by. But our favorite players are CrashPlan and Backblaze. They both offer unlimited back-up space for your computer for a VERY LOW flat monthly rate!

We have multiple computers all safely (and securely) backed up and available from anywhere (including our mobile devices)!

Those who know me will tell you I harp about it all the time, “Make sure you are backed up!” I do it because I have had plenty of disk failures (simply the law of averages because we use so many drives!)

So here I go again! Make sure you are backed up!  2 or 3 times!!!! You never want to loose data, especially if it is valuable digital images that you can never get back! Cloud back-ups are the way to go (despite the time investment of having your computer run 24/7 for the first round) because IF the worst ever happened… at least your data will be safe!