Backups. A usually neglected (or avoided) task
which seems to have no value. That is, until
you are faced with data loss/corruption.

There are many backup methods, software and
scripts on the web. The scope of this article
will be MY backup method for digital photographs.

BACKGROUND:
I already had a backup system made from scratch
(A shell script I wrote). However, photography
files (Or image files) are much larger than the
usual text files I keep and therefore take a
long time for the system to complete.

Additionally, my photography files hardly change
while my text files change regularly. It makes
sense to backup more often those that change
frequently and backup less those that change less
frequently.

Space is an issue. I just have 2 medium-sized hard
drives.

I also store backups remotely for additional
backups.

MY SOLUTION:
Break the files into chunks. I separated out my
text files from my photography files. My text
files are then backed up hourly/daily.

My photography files are stored into
subdirectories sorted by date and event like
this: YYYYMMDDEventName

Examples:
20071225ChristmasParty
20060704Barbeque
20050101NewYearParty

ADDITIONALLY, each event subdirectory is stored
(by quarters e.g. 3 months) further INTO another
subdirectory like this: YYYY-1st-qtr,
YYYY-2nd qtr, YYYY-3rd-qtr etc.

Examples:
2001-1st-qtr (Events from January 1, 2001 to March 31, 2001)
2001-2nd-qtr (Events from April 1, 2001 to June 30, 2001)
2001-3rd-qtr (Events from July 1, 2001 to September 30, 2001)
2001-4th-qtr (I'll leave this up to you as an exercise)

After, sorting your image files in the right area,
it becomes an easy matter to write a script to
separately backup each quarter subdirectory.
Here's how I did mine (Modify to suit your needs):

----

#!/bin/bash
rar u -r -pPassWordHere 2006-4th-qtr.rar /BackupDirectory/2006-4th-qtr
rar u -r -pPassWordHere 2007-3rd-qtr.rar /BackupDirectory/2007-3rd-qtr
rar u -r -pPassWordHere 2007-4th-qtr.rar /BackupDirectory/2007-4th-qtr
rar u -r -pPassWordHere 2008-1st-qtr.rar /BackupDirectory/2008-1st-qtr

----

NOTES:
- I've used rar ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAR_(file_format) ).
Feel free to use whatever archiver you're
comfortable with. Winzip, tar, gzip etc.

- I used rar's update feature (the 'u' command).
Any newly added or modified photography file in the
subdirectory will be added to the archive. For
safety, I also password-protected the backup so
I can upload it anywhere (or store on portable
media e.g. CD/DVD, USB, Compact flash or SD
card).

- Adding another set of images is easy. Just add
them to the right quarter subdirectory (Make a
new one, if appropriate). Add a line to your
script then modify that line as needed.

- I use bash as my shell. You can use your own
shell with the appropriate modifications, of
course.

- I set my backup script to automatically run
weekly for photography files and hourly for
text files.

- Now that the backup files are smaller, it's
easier to upload/email.

- I considered doing a monthly subdirectory
instead of quarterly. However, I don't take
that many pictures in a quarter. (That may
change though! And if it does, I'll modify my
backup system into a monthly one.)

Comments welcome!