5 Archiving Pitfalls to Avoid

For the January issue of Rangefinder, Michael Grecco of HowToArchive.com offered our readers advice on organizing your archive, from comparing hard drives and cloud storage, to tips on file naming. Here, Grecco offers his top five archiving pitfalls to avoid in order to keep your work safe and to stay organized.

Photo © Michael Grecco

1. Not keeping any backups.
It’s very likely you’ll need to access old data. Think about a financial reporting audit, when it would be extremely beneficial to just pull any information that’s needed quickly.

2. Not double-checking backups for data corruption.
Having bad backups is just as unfortunate as not having any backups at all. Bare hard drives connected to your computer with Serial eSata can be checked with the SMARTReporter app.

3. Only storing hard drives in one place.
This is a surefire way to lose everything if a natural disaster occurs. Choosing another secure, off-site location to store data is a very wise decision.

4. Tossing out-of-date hardware.
It may take up more space, but it’s smart to keep out-of-date hardware, at least for a few years.

5. Not informing your co-workers or employees of your intentions.
Make sure everyone understands you are keeping old or out-of-date hardware so it isn’t thrown out during a spring-cleaning binge. This also makes organized archiving a team effort.

Related links:
Don’t Skimp On Storage—Here’s the Highest Rated Hardware
8 Great Photo Storage Solutions