Back It Up !!!!!

I spend January each year organizing my studio which consists of boxing up paperwork and tax records and updating my website, social media outlets and other online portfolios. The only thing worse than a stale web presence is losing an important file(s) that could enhance the new site.
I found this out the hard way when an external hard drive  crashed last year and after several futile attempts to revive it my only choices were to send it off to a data retrieval company at an exorbitant cost or toss it. I chose to hang on to it and find another option.
I have heard countless times to "back up my files and all computer work" and more often than not I do that.
My main computer is linked to Carbonite which is an inexpensive way to have certain files on your main hard drive continuously backed up to an off premise server from which you can retrieve the files from any computer. This service costs me @ $57.00 a year per computer. They have recently offered premium services which will also back up an external drive or do a mirror back up of your entire hard drive to an external drive you provide them. ( I have no financial interest in this company)
I also have 2-3 external drives to which I back up a copy of all images I load into my computer after a shoot and any editing I do to them. I then burn a CD of the images I select from the shoot as the most usable and then any finished images from that shoot.
I have 2 Western Digital My Books and 1 Passport which travels with me. My Western Digital WD 25001032 stopped working last January 2011 when I was performing a cleanup of all my hard drives for the new year. It would power up but would not boot up and instead made a whirring start up sound then a clicking sound then a whirring shut down sound. My main computer would not recognize it via the desktop shortcut or in the hardware tab in the (C) drive properties menu.

While updating my services and images for 2012 I realized a folder of some exquisite document restoration I had done in 2009 was missing. I had no back up CD of them nor did they exist anywhere on my main (c)drive or backup drives. To lose these forever would be tragic and my last resort was that the folder may exist on the dead hard drive. Once again,  this costs anywhere from $350-$1000+ depending on who you talk to. Several Google searches revealed many problems associated with this particular drive and based on these I formulated a plan to get back this data.
First, I had to get to the hard drive ensconced in the plastic housing. I unplugged it, of course,  and located the tabs in the vents that can be depressed to allow the clam shell to separate. There is a screw painted over in black in one of the several round depressions located on the outside of the case.
Once opened several more screws and brackets and a few boards had to come off and I had in my hands an internal hard drive WD 2500JB. (WD Caviar SE)

Some Google searches suggested removing the hard drive from my main tower and replacing it with the faulty drive. There are many reason not to do this and I suggest you just don't attempt this.

I suggest going to TigerDirect which is a wonderful site full of computer parts, components and cables at very reasonable prices and the shipping is quick.(I have no financial interest in this company)

I found at this link Item # C184-30504 (Cables To Go-USB 2.0 to IDE or Serial ATA Drive Adapter Black)

This kit costs $ 24.99 + $2.29 s/h for a total of $27.28. I chose the Econo (4-9 days) rate and received it 2 days later.

I was sent an email with the shipping date so 24 hours prior to receiving the kit I placed the hard drive in a seal able freezer bag and then in the freezer. The platters and arm in the drive were not aligning properly and freezing the drive may compress them enough to be viable for a very short time measured in minutes so once you pull it out of the freezer work quickly!

I opened the kit and plugged in the power supply. I removed the drive from the freezer and the bag and connected the 4 pin power plug to the drive. Then I connected the IDE multi pin plug to the drive and then the USB connector on the opposite end into my tower. I switched on the power switch located on the power supply and the drive came to life. However, after a few attempts at booting up it went back to the clicking sound previously noted. Patiently,  I powered off the power switch and powered it back on and the drive booted up and the computer recognized it and claimed it was ready to go. I opened the drive and there was the folder I had lost and I quickly moved it off the drive onto my desktop where Carbonite began to back it up. I saved several other folders and then powered off the drive. I placed it in a bag and put it away just in case. I also burned a CD of the folder as an added precaution.

Will this work for you? I cannot guarantee it but for $27.28 it was worth the chance. Even though the drive contained the folder I needed there were no assurances it was even on there and it was not worth several hundreds of dollars to find out.
Also, this USB cable kit can now be used to power up an internal drive which I can use as if it's an external drive. I can purchase more memory at a lesser cost than I would buying an external drive with less memory.

I can guarantee you can avoid the issues I had when you:

- Back up your files always and not just to an external drive or CD. These are great short term solutions but drives fail and CDs last for a limited amount of time. A service like Carbonite is worth the yearly expense.

-Have a routine for frequently clearing off files and folders from your external drives. This not only saves space but you will be more aware of what is on the drive and you can be proactive in saving files and folders you may have missed that are important before they are lost.

-Keep your CDs in a dry safe place preferably off premise like a fire proof safe or as I do in a Safety Deposit Box at my bank. This costs $60.00 a year and is worth it.

None of this works if you don't back up the data in the first place and the document pictured below is worth some vigilance.

I hope this post will be helpful to others and I welcome comments and questions. I will respond to you.

Simplifying My Photography Process

K.I.S.S. the acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid is a mantra I put to use in all aspects of my life especially photography.
 In 2011  I made a decision to limit my business spending and attempt to utilize what equipment I had on hand. This really forced me to take an honest look at my inventory and assess what I had on hand versus what I actually needed.
The pitfall of being a photographer, especially in the digital age,  is the problem of Acquisition Syndrome. One day I have what I think to be all I need to get the job done and then the newest lens or camera body offering is announced and I go off buying that forgetting it's not always the best equipment that takes the best image. The newest equipment may make my job easier in the end but in reality all it does is obsoletes the equipment I currently own which gets the job done just fine. The $2200 camera body I bought in 2008 rated for 200,000 shutter actuations has only 3800 currently on it and at 12MP is all I need right now. The newest Nikon D800 comes in at an awesome 36MP but do I really need that for the work I'm doing now? No. So that $3000 can go to other uses like overhead and marketing.
In laying out all my gear: camera bodies, lenses, lighting equipment etc I was amazed at the amount of stuff I had accumulated most of which I never use. Some of it I had forgotten I own. Alas, the majority of it has depreciated in value to the point where I might as well just keep it, find a use for it or donate it. This method of Keeping It Simple not only applies to the financial side of my business but to the creative side as well.
Whether in my studio or out on location I would always haul out lots of equipment and all that really did was confuse me and distract me from the main goal of capturing some decent images.

One photographer I really respect is Zack Arias out of Atlanta, GA. He has a workshop he teaches entitled One Light and as you can guess he uses one light source to capture some pretty amazing portraits and headshots. Most of the lighting gear I have is best suited for my studio so I took his advice and got 1 heavy duty light stand, 1 28" softbox which folds like an umbrella for easier travel and setup and rely on a single Nikon SB-600 SpeedLight with wireless triggers and I am good to go. I can use ambient light as a second light source and I can get great images all day long with limited equipment which most importantly is off-camera.

Another photographer I just recently became aware of is Peter Hurley, a NYC headshot photographer whose studio setup is very simple and allows him more time to actually work with the client. I have gotten so wrapped up in the equipment aspect that I forget the most important part of the shoot is standing in front of my camera.
While his setup would cost me a small fortune the basis of it is the lighting is always set up one way and easily transformed with the click of some switches to vary between male and female headshots. His camera is tethered to an Apple and while he is shooting he is showing the client high quality proofs and editing the session as he goes. The large image also acts as a learning tool for the client as they can see what is or isn't working and where they need to go in terms of expression to get the best image. That image on the back of the camera will always look small and sharp but is it really???
While watching a video about his setup I realized I have the capabilities to replicate this and spend more time coaching and directing my subjects rather than messing with my gear as they sit and get bored. No good images are going to come from that.

Empowered with these two simple yet effective setups for in- studio and location shooting and my trusted camera system and backupI can get down to the business of making great images because I am not weighed down with lots of stuff and distractions and I can simply spend time with the most important asset on the set. The Subject.