Although duplicates and archives cover most situations the typical user will encounter, some people have special backup needs that don't quite fit the mold. I'm thinking, for example, of users with large numbers of digital photos and those who work extensively with the huge files required for digital video or pro audio applications. Other special needs may include using version-control software to save copies of your files more frequently than archives would permit, backing up your data (especially photos) while traveling, and backing up any Windows volumes on Intel-based Macs. All these situations may require additional steps beyond conventional duplicates and archives.
Many people, when asked what one item they would try to save if their house were burning down, would answer "my photo album"—because furniture can be replaced, but memories cannot. The same thing is true of the memories stored on your hard disk in the form of pictures you've taken with your digital camera.
Most of us have at least a few digital photos on our computers. But some people take pictures constantly, and feel justifiably concerned about entrusting this irreplaceable data to their computers. Also, digital camera resolution is constantly on the rise—meaning the next new camera you buy is going to require more space for the same number of images as your previous one. Your new mobile phone probably has a camera too. As the number and size of your images increases, you may find that duplicates and archives alone don't entirely meet your backup needs.
For one thing, it can be extraordinarily difficult to find just the right photo from among thousands of similarly named files when it comes time to restore your data from a backup. Although Spotlight can use keywords and other metadata to help you find photos when they're on your hard disk, it won't help you when they're on a stack of DVDs. (For solutions to this problem, see Cataloging Software, next page.)
Photos are also among the files you're most likely to share with other people. If you've ever created an online photo album using iPhoto, iWeb, or an online photo sharing service, you know how easy (and addictive) photo sharing can be. Although the files you've shared on the Web do, in a sense, constitute a backup of the ones on your computer, you probably haven't shared all your files online—and you most likely uploaded low-resolution copies of the images anyway. Wouldn't it be great if you could back up your photos online, and still have the ability to share just the ones you want? (You can! I explain how in Photo Sharing Services.)
Don't forget that photos are especially valuable. Although you wouldn't enjoy spending months rewriting The Great American Novel, it's at least possible. Recreating photos of a new baby or an important life event, on the other hand, simply can't be done.
Luckily, numerous tools, services, and strategies exist for the express purpose of making photo backups as painless and secure as possible.
If you've determined that your digital photos require special backup attention, consider these options in addition to (or, if you prefer, instead of) duplicates and archives.
I have nothing at all against iPhoto—in fact, I quite like it. It even has the built-in capability of backing up your photos to optical discs (although it's a manual process). But iPhoto is a consumer-level application that wasn't designed for professionals—or for amateurs who have tons of photos and take their images seriously. When your photo management needs outgrow iPhoto, you can move up to serious image-cataloging software.
For Mac OS X, you have four main choices:
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom ($299)
Apple Aperture: http://www.apple.com/aperture ($199)
Extensis Portfolio: http://www.extensis.com ($200)
Microsoft Expression Media: http://www.microsoft.com/Expression/products/overview.aspx?key=media ($299)
Each of these options offer flexible searching, contact sheet creation, and much more. Crucially for our purposes, they maintain thumbnail catalogs of all your images even if you move the original files to a different volume (and even if that volume happens to be sitting at the bottom of a pile of junk in your closet).
By using one of these applications to back up your photos (whether or not you delete the originals), you gain the ability to search a visual index for your images. When you find the one you want, the software will tell you which DVD, CD, or hard drive it's stored on.
On the downside, these third-party tools are more expensive than iPhoto, and not quite as easy to use; except Aperture, they also lack iPhoto's integration with applications such as Mail and iDVD. But these are minor complaints.
If you choose one of these tools, you could potentially exclude photos from your regular archives and use the cataloging software's built-in backup tools for your photos instead—though extra backups, especially of your photos, can never hurt. If you use cataloging software to back up your photos (instead of, or in addition to, other software), it will dramatically increase the ease with which you can find and restore them. You can also, optionally, delete older photos from your hard disk after you've backed them up—you'll save room on your startup volume while still maintaining a handy catalog of thumbnails.
If you're a MobileMe (formerly .Mac) member, you probably know that you can create Web pages to share your photos online. Of course, you pay for that privilege, and even with 20 GB of storage space (or as much as 60 GB, which you can get for an additional fee), you may not have room for all your photos. Internet backup services (see Internet Backup Services, later) will gladly sell you more space on a server, but such services won't enable you to share your photos on the Web.
Never fear, though: several companies provide unlimited storage for your digital photos, along with complete control over which ones are shared and with whom, sometimes for as little as zero dollars! Photo sharing sites spring up all the time. Here are some of the more popular ones I knew of at the time I wrote this:
Flickr: Basic accounts, which limit monthly uploads to 100 MB of bandwidth usage and store only scaled-down images, are free. Flickr Pro Accounts cost $24.95 per year and offer unlimited storage of full-resolution images with no monthly upload limit. http://www.flickr.com
Fotki: Free accounts give you 50 MB of space. Premium accounts ($30 per year) provide unlimited storage and advanced features. http://www.fotki.com
Kodak Gallery: Membership is free and includes unlimited storage, but with a catch: you must make a purchase of some kind (such as prints from your photos or other merchandise) at least once per year. Purchases need not be large, however, so if you're likely to purchase some prints anyway, it's effectively free. http://www.kodakgallery.com
Phanfare: Members can store up to 1 GB of photos for free; paid members (at $54.95 per year) can store an unlimited number of photos and videos, though individual photos are limited to 20 MB in size and individual videos are limited to 2 GB (or 10 minutes). http://www.phanfare.com
Shutterfly: Membership is free; storage is unlimited. Pro-Gallery service (starting at $99 per year) lets you sell your photos online. http://www.shutterfly.com
SmugMug: Membership levels are Standard ($39.95 per year), Power User ($59.95 per year), and Pro ($149.95 per year). All levels include unlimited storage; higher levels provide more customization options and higher monthly traffic quotas. http://www.smugmug.com
Snapfish: Like Kodak Gallery, this service provides free, unlimited storage as long as you make at least one purchase annually. http://www.snapfish.com
Adobe Photoshop Express: This free service, currently in beta, offers 2 GB of storage. Currently, it's geared more toward being able to edit photos online (the whole service is a Flash application), and uploads are limited to JPEG images no larger than 10 MB. Future iterations are likely to add more storage and support for other formats (such as raw images). http://www.photoshop.com/express
Except for Fotki and Photoshop Express, all these services offer Mac-compatible photo upload software; Fotki offers uploading via email, and Fotki Premium members can upload photos via FTP.
Beyond the basics of photo storage and sharing, these sites differ in the range of features they offer. Most offer prints of your digital photos for a fee; some will send you CDs or DVDs with backups of your photos, too. And the range of additional services is varied and extensive; visit the sites and try their free trial memberships to get a feel for what they can do. (My favorite is SmugMug. The service is reasonably priced for unlimited storage, has the features I need, and offers upload software that integrates easily with iPhoto.)
Considering that you can back up all your photos at little or no cost using one of these services, it's almost a no-brainer. In fact, even if you ignore all the other advice in this book, please take the easy step of backing up your photos with one of these services. Although you may already include your photos in your duplicates and archives, another off-site backup never hurts—and you'll get easy photo sharing as a bonus. The only people who might want to be circumspect about these services are those without broadband Internet connections: uploading photos over a slow connection can take a long, long time.
Finally, remember that you may wish to back up your photos while still on vacation. For my recommendations about how to do that, read Backing Up While Traveling.
Tip
For more info on backing up your digital photos, see my article "Make your images last" in the August 2005 issue of Macworld at http://www.macworld.com/2005/07/features/photosmanage.