Protecting your photo and video files isn't just good practice—it's essential. Losing your work due to avoidable mistakes can be costly and frustrating.
Coming to you from Forest Chaput de Saintonge, this straightforward video covers common pitfalls to avoid for ensuring your data stays safe. Saintonge points out a mistake you might overlook: keeping your external hard drive cord connected while carrying it in your camera bag. This seemingly minor oversight often leads to damaged ports, resulting in expensive repairs. Saintonge advises simply disconnecting the cord, winding it separately, and placing both items individually into your bag. Another practical tip he shares involves avoiding editing your photos from unstable surfaces like couches or beds. Doing so significantly increases the chance of accidental hard drive disconnections, potentially corrupting your Lightroom catalogs. If you insist on editing from these surfaces, Saintonge suggests investing in a soft pocket designed specifically to secure your hard drive to your laptop.
The video further emphasizes memory card management. Saintonge strongly recommends formatting your cards each time they're inserted into a different camera, preventing issues down the line. He demonstrates how maintaining a dedicated wallet for memory cards marked as safe to format creates clarity and consistency. Regular formatting, according to Saintonge, not only safeguards against corruption but also extends card life. Additionally, he highlights a critical point many overlook: never carrying your only two copies of images in the same bag while traveling. If your bag is lost, stolen, or damaged, you could lose everything. The solution he offers is straightforward—always have a third, off-site backup, or at the very least, keep one backup safely at home.
Saintonge also cautions against relying excessively on dongles. These adapters, though convenient, introduce points of failure. He strongly advocates using dedicated cords for a direct connection between your external drives and computers whenever possible. If you're running out of ports, Saintonge urges against using unpowered USB hubs because they often cause random disconnections due to insufficient power. Instead, investing in a powered USB hub ensures stable and continuous power supply to multiple drives simultaneously, essential during intensive backup sessions.
Finally, Saintonge stresses the importance of cloud backups, recommending affordable services like Backblaze. With cloud storage becoming increasingly accessible and economical, there’s no reason to skip this safety measure. Saintonge uses Backblaze himself, emphasizing how straightforward and reliable cloud backups have become. If your camera supports dual memory cards, he also recommends activating backup mode, ensuring images are recorded to both cards simultaneously, significantly minimizing risk. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Saintonge.
