Keiko, CD Burns David, Heather, and Jim are partitions on an 80 gig ATA drive located within my computers enclosure. +Kirsten, +Robin, Vicki, and Aiko are all external 5400 rpm FireWire drives. Aiko is my only external FireWire drive thats powered through the FireWire cable. This is especially nice when using my laptop--no extra power supplies.

What do I do with all these drives/partitions? When returning from a trip I do the following. First, I download all trip filesusually located in a single volume or folderto my computers desktop with a CF card readerfigure 2. Next I copy those to +Kirsten in a single folder labeled for the event--"Yosemite Jan 03" for example. Now I have two copies of each RAW file from the trip; one in +Kirsten, the other on my computers desktop. Next, I start filling the CD Burn partitions one at a time. When one of these are full, I burn a CD thats named by the date the CD burn occurredfigure 3. After the CD burn, those CDs are each copied to +Kirsten for archiving. Now I have four copies of my RAW files on three different volumes; my computers desktop, on +Kirsten--there's two--and finally the CD.

Eventually the computer desktop folder is transferred to Vicki for the last copy then the desktop folder is deleted. Now I have four copies of each RAW file on three different physical drives and a CD; Vicki, and +Kirsten. Finally, +Robin is mirrored to +Kirsten. These drives are now exactly the same. Note: +Robin is only used and turned on when running this mirror process. Remember, I depend on this drive to save me if something bad happens to +Kirsten.

I dont only load RAW files on my CDs. Any image I process is copied to the CD Burns for eventual burning on a CD. This way Im guaranteed each of my processed files are located on three locations on two different physical drives and the CD; +Kirsten, and +Robin.

While this all seems a little over the top considering how many copies I keep, I figure its better to be safe then sorry. My systems most important features are redundancy, accessibility, and utility. Im redundant against a specific drive or partition failing or corrupting a file by using several different physical drives and partitions. Even in my worse case scenario--a total loss due to a house fire--I can recover everything with the CDs. I cleverly locate my CDs offsite at a friend's h

ouse to defend against just such as catastrophe. Its assessable since all my files are immediately available through the massive 200gig files. Finally, its easy to use by simple dragging and dropping to copy files from one location to another. .

There is a drawback to this system. It does cost something. Its the hidden realistic cost associated with digital photography. Just when you thought going digital would rid yourself of expenses such as development, you now must realize youve just moved those costs to other needs. Here are my system costs:

200gig hard drive - $400 each or $2 bucks a gig. Multiply by two for two hard drives. Now its $4 bucks a gig.

60gig hard drive - $200 or $3 bucks a gig. BTW, this drive is a legacy piece of hardware and thats been regulated to its current rolebackup.

700mb CDs - $20 bucks for 50 CDs or $0.40 cents a CD.