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A Plan for the Paranoid. And the Prepared.
November 3rd, 2007In my unending quest for redundancy and the safety of both my data and ability to work while on the field, I’ve learned a few things. Recent conversations on the Travel Photographers Network have had me thinking about these things again. I thought I’d share my own system for surviving disaster on the road. The key is redundancy. I carry:
1 spec’d-out MacBook, in a Booq Vyper sleeve
2 AC Cables in case one dies
1 surge protector
2 Lexar Firewire card readers, 2 FW400 cables
2 bus-powered, FW400/USB2.0 harddrives
1 bus-powered, FW400 hardrive with a bootable copy of my laptop in case the hardrive in the laptop dies.
1 Hyperdrive, in case the laptop dies entirely. I still need to download my cards, so this allows me to do so.
50GB of Lexar 4 and 8GB Compact Flash Cards.
I recently discovered SuperDuper! – a utility that creates a bootable copy of your computer. It’s free if you’re happy with the basic functionality. You need to have a FW drive, as USB drives don’t seem to be bootable. If/When your laptop dies, plug the bootable harddrive in, restart the Mac while holding down the OPTION key, and you’re up and running again.
Before you travel, do an update to make sure the bootable copy is up to date. It never hurts to launch disk utility to verify your harddrives before you travel.
When you’re on the road, keep your drives in separate places. Even better, lock one up. Pacsafe makes a great product called the TravelSafe100
It’s OK to be paranoid, folks. If it means the difference between losing my files and keeping them, or getting – or not getting – my work done, I’ll do whatever it takes.
You forgot the requisite tin hat and Beautiful Mind jokes…
I work similarly… although a bit more trim. I use the hyperdrive as backup #1, and a FW800 drive as option 2, skipping the 3rd drive. I bring a spare USB cable which does double duty – backup card reader in case my primary fails, and remote camera control for timelapses.
I generally don’t travel with a surge protector – most places either have one or can easily buy one, and travelling with one each for 110 and 220 with all the adapters gets a bit bulky.
I do like your idea of a spare charger and a backup boot drive for the laptop though… I may just do that on my next leg.
I also found out about SuperDuper! only after reading about advice on upgrading to Leopard. Now, that I have installed SuperDuper! I can’t imagine anymore, how I survived without using it.
I haven’t bought Leopard yet, though. It seems that it takes a bit longer in South Africa for Apple to deliver the Family Pack for Leopard…
And yes, FW is essential for bootable copies.
What bus-powered FW400 drives do you use?
Syd – I use MacAlly double interface (FW400, USB2.0) enclosures with Seagate drives. They haven’t let me down yet. If I were to do it over again I’d look at the LaCie Rugged drives – which seem a little beefier. I carry them in David Honl Gear Wraps, size small.
My bootable FW drive is a LaCie Porsche Design – it was the only one I could get at the time so I didn’t have the luxury of being picky. I’ve heard good things about them but they aren’t particularily robust. Again, given a choice I’d have gone for the LaCie Rugged drives.
SuperDuper! is a fabulous app and worth every penny that the full version costs (27.64 CAD).
The Smart Update feature will save you a lot time if you’re updating files on a regular basis.