Organize, Archive, and Back Up Your Photos | My Workflow + Tips
Let’s face it: digital asset management is far from the most interesting part of being a photographer. Who wants to spend a lot of time moving files around, creating folders, and copying archives? Yet organizing, archiving, and backing up digital photography is an essential, if disliked, task all photographers must deal with sooner or later.
I want to share my workflow for organizing and backing up my digital photographs to help you avoid the mistake I made when I lost a significant amount of unbacked-up work due to a hard drive failure. That experience taught me about the importance of having a solid digital asset management system.
Yet, I didn’t want to be overwhelmed or confused by whatever system I adopted. The process I settled on is a simple monthly routine that keeps me organized and minimizes the risk of losing files in the future.
Before I explain my system, here are a few caveats:
First, this system works well for me, but you may have different needs and preferences. Also, there is an initial investment involved. Hard drives, enclosures, and cloud backup services all come with costs.
That said, having a reliable system like mine will help you keep your digital photographs organized and secure. Establishing an organizing principle—whatever it may be—will benefit you in the long run. It might cost $500 to recover data from a failed hard drive, but I’d rather invest $500 in a secure backup system than spend it on data recovery that may or may not work.
If you prefer to watch me discuss my method instead of reading about, watch the video below. Otherwise, we’ll start with a high-level overview after the video.
High-level Overview
At the beginning of each month, I create a new folder for the previous month (e.g., 10-October) inside a folder of the current year (2024) in a dedicated hard drive I call “Master Catalog.” I connect my SD cards and storage media to my computer and copy all the photos from the previous month into the folder I just created. If I have film scans or videos, they go into a film photography section and a video section, both also organized by year and month. When copying is complete, I open Adobe Bridge and do a basic cull at this point, removing the images that are obviously bad. If I have a lot of time, or not a lot of photos, I might add keywords or ratings to the files while I’m in Adobe Bridge (note: this action creates for each raw photo a small .xmp file, which contains all the metadata and keyword information, in the folder where the raw photo is stored). After the cull and keywording is done, I use a program called FreeFileSync to look for changes in my Master Catalog and copy the new files to a local RAID configuration for backup. When that is done, I upload these new files to my cloud backup provider. That’s it! When done, I format my SD cards and begin a new month.
Hardware & Software
In order to begin, you’ll need some hardware and software.
To follow my specific system, you’ll need:
- A multi-bay drive enclosure (or a NAS system) - $200 and up
- At least three HHDs or SSDs, one for your Master Catalog and at least two for a RAID array - $250 and up
- Adobe Bridge - Free
- FreeFileSync - Free
- Cloud backup solution - $100 a year (get up to 90% off your first year)
As you can see, it can be quite the investment. But losing a drive of photos will be enough to justify the expense, most of which is non-recurring.
I couldn’t afford a NAS system, so I opted for a USB multi-bay drive enclosure made by Sabrent (check price). It connects to my computer using a USB 3.2 type-c cable and gives me up to 10Gbps transfer speed. Inside the enclosure I have three Seagate 4TB BarraCuda Hard Disk Drives (HHDs) - check price. They are not as fast as Solid State Drives (SSDs), but they are cheaper and are adequate for long term storage purposes especially when they’re used only once or twice a month.
One of the HHDs is my Master Catalog and the other two are in a RAID 1 (mirror) configuration using Disk Utility, which comes preinstalled on Apple computers (you can do the same in the Disk Management application on Windows). There are different types of RAID configurations you can use, but I’ve opted for a RAID 1 “mirror” configuration. This means an exact copy of the data exists on both RAID drives.
If you have more money, consider SSDs instead of HHDs. SSDs are faster and more durable. Also, consider looking into a NAS. NAS stands for “Network Attached Storage” and, as the name suggests, it connects storage drives to your computer via a network connection instead of a USB cable. There are some advantages to NAS systems, remote access being one of them. I hear that Synology is a reputable NAS brand.
To cull and organize my images, I use Adobe Bridge. It is a file browsing application. It is fast and, best of all, it is free. It is perhaps the best option for organizing digital media thanks to its powerful sorting, cataloging, and keywording tools.
I use a program called FreeFileSync to do bulk copying. It detects new files in my Master Catalog and copies them to my RAID drives.
To finish things out, you will need a cloud backup provider. There are many out there. Some well-known providers to consider are iDrive, Backblaze, and AWS. I use iDrive (sign up using my referral link and get up to 90% your first year).
Step 1: Organization
Using your calendar app, set a recurring reminder at the beginning of each month to remind you to organize and back up your files.
By now you should have your drives set up and the software installed.
In your Master Catalog drive, make a folder called Digital Photography. Inside that folder, create a folder named after the current year. Inside the folder of the year, make a new folder and call it the month number and month name following this format: 01-January, 02-February, 03-March, etc.
My file structure on my Master Catalog hard drive looks something like this:
.
└── Master Catalog
├── Digital Photography
│ ├── 2022
│ ├── 2023
│ └── 2024
│ ├── 01-January
│ ├── 02-February
│ ├── 03-March
│ └── 04-April
│ ├── NAME0001.dng
│ ├── NAME0002.dng
│ └── ...
├── Film Photography
│ ├── 2022
│ ├── 2023
│ └── 2024
│ └── 01-January
│ ├── NAME0001.jpg
│ ├── NAME0002.jpg
│ └── ...
└── Video
├── 2022
├── 2023
└── 2024
└── 01-January
└── NAME0001.mov
└── NAME0002.mov
└── ...
Open your SD card and copy all photos taken last month into its corresponding folder in your Master Catalog.
Using Adobe Bridge, do a quick cull and delete the photos that are obviously bad. If you have more time, consider doing some basic keywording.
Step 2: Back Up
When you’ve finished copying photos to your Master Catalog, it is time to back everything up.
I abide by the 3-2-1 backup rule. You should too.
The 3-2-1 rule is a widely recommended data protection strategy that involves maintaining three copies of your data, stored on two different types of media, with one copy kept off-site. This approach ensures redundancy in case of unexpected failures. Diversifying storage methods and locations mitigates the risks of single points of failure and data corruption.
In my system, I have three local copies of my photos. My Master Catalog HHD is copy 1. My RAID 1 configuration, which comprises of two mirrored hard drives, is copy 2 (and 3). I also have a copy of my Master Catalog in the cloud, which is copy 3 (or 4, depending on how you count). This is likely overkill, but I value my photography and don’t want to risk losing my work again.
Using FreeFileSync, mirror the data from your Master Catalog to your RAID configuration. See FreeFile `Sync’s tutorials on how to do this. This creates a local backup (x2).
When this is finished, back up your Master Catalog to your cloud backup provider. This may take some time depending on the size of your catalog and your internet speed. This creates a remote, off-site backup of your data.
When done, eject your disks, power down, and unplug your hard drive enclosure.
I live in Central Florida, the lightning capital of the United States. I always unplug my electronics when I’m not using them because I don’t want them to get fried. I only connect my drives when I’m actively organizing, using, or backing up my files. This low-impact practice ensures minimal wear-and-tear on the drives, and it will help prevent power surges from damaging them.
Congratulations! You’re protected by the 3-2-1 rule because you’re now maintaining three copies of your data, on several different types of media, with one kept off-site.
If your house burns down, you’re safe. If one hard disk fails, your safe. If two fail, you’re safe. If three fail, you’re safe. If your cloud provider loses data, you’re safe. You’re about as protected as you can be.
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