I was wondering what everyone else uses to back up their photos and scrapbooking files? I use my image program, DIS 2006, but have used Roxio in the past - not happy with it, BTW. My poor abandoned ACDSee has a function that I used once, but it seemed too complicated. Let me know what you use and why?

Thanks!
Melanie

__________________

DH got me a DVD burner for Christmas, the one with light scribe. I have been burning DVD's like crazy and I am almost done organizing all my stuff. It's amazing what a difference it makes, I can fit 5-6 CD's on one DVD! Going through all my files again also gave me the opportunity to toss things that are really only dead weight. I have so much stuff from "the early days" that I am not using anymore.
In addition to having everything backed up to DVD, I have all files readily accessible on my external hard drive. My external hard drive is the one thing I am going to grap should I have to evacuate the house suddenly (well, of course I will take the kids and the bunny, too. LOL)

__________________
Jana
Please visit my gallery.

I asked one of our technicians here at work what would be the best form of backup and he suggested the external hard drive. You can get them now that connect to your usb port and don't have to have external power. He also suggested two external drives, and alternate backups.

Christy

__________________
RocksGirl

My Gallery CC always welcome.

My vote would go for an external hard drive with a "one button backup" feature. They come with software that will let you define what folders on your system's internal hard drive(s) you want backed up. Then all you have to do is push a button on the external hard drive and all defined folders and their contents are copied to the external hard drive.

--Sam

One thing to consider- store your backups somewhere away from your house.....a lesson learned from Katrina. Many businesses lost all backups because they were stored elsewhere in New Orleans. I heard about this programmer from NO who had backups at work, his house, and safe deposit box at bank. Unfortuanately all of them flooded and he lost everything.....so think about where you put your backups. Me? Home, safe deposit box, my sister's house. I back up on CD and USB memory sticks

__________________
The only immortality available to man is the fame born of excellence.
~ C. Potak


my blog

I'll second that idea. Send copies of your stuff on CDs to friends or family who live AWAY from you. I have done this with my family tree files for years.
I've lived through a flood & lost everything once in my life & that was more than enough. Somethings simply can not be replaced. Better safe than sorry.
The only photos I have of my family that were taken prior to 1972 I had to beg off of relatives who were not affected by the flood. My dad died a year later so this doubled the whammy! Not many pictures were taken during that year. Somehow pictures don't seem important when you have no home or clothing but boy we wished we had thought of them after he was gone.
My family tree files cover 400 years of ancestors & 40 years of reseach. I copy everything to my brother-in-law. I am new to scrapbooking and I plan to do the same thing with my digital images - send copies to my best friend in MD. She couldn't care less about scrapbooking but she knows how I fear losing things to disaster. She'll keep them safe.
Ruthy

You know what I want? I want a program that backs up like it is supposed to - it detects only what has changed since your last back up and it just adds those files. I guess I better do some research. I do backup on a regular bi-weekly basis, I guess. Sometimes more often, and sometimes less. Depends on what I have been doing. I use Roxio, and burn to DVDs. No problems yet, knock on wood!

__________________
Trese
I'm Finally Bloggin!
Check out my gallery

That's exactly the question I was asking, too, Trese! I want to know what program works the best for backing up the stuff I edit and add to on a regular basis, such as photos (edited and added to), layouts, iTunes files, graphics files I've created, personal documents, etc. Roxio ALWAYS grumbles and fusses when I try to use it, so I just don't feel safe trusting it. It is, however, the only program I have that will allow me to utilize my DL burner. I just wish it weren't so unreliable for me. Glad you have good luck with it! It's a pretty amazing package in most of its numerous other areas!

Melanie

__________________