Re: OT: How do you store your precious moments for posterity?

[Ryan K. Brooks]

I store all my photos and scans on a dedicated RAID 5 setup.    In my 
case, I built one using a 3ware card, my old PC, a gig-e card and 
FreeBSD.  Today, I'd probably buy something like the ReadyNAS NV.  I 
make backups to firewire disks and store those off-site.

To me, this is the only way to make sure my files survive.  Writable 
optical media cannot be trusted; especially since batches seem to go bad 
all at once.   If one of my drives die, I just feed it another disk and 
the RAID rebuilds.    When the whole thing gets too small (I'm at 1.2 
TB), I'll just move it over to the next technology via the network as I 
did from my old 200GB setup.  Great way to recycle your old gear too!

This method keeps the bits "alive" and not on a non-accessible DVD 
somewhere with questionable status.   I can also work with the files 
directly in PS or C1 and not have to screw around with burning another 
disk.  I'm also then up for using the next-gen software; whether it be 
aperture or lightroom.


-Ryan