Hardware for less than $500?

So, exactly what sort of "stuff" will you need to set up a digital asset management system? And how much is it going to cost?

1. Digitized photos
2. A computer
3. Cataloging software
4. A backup strategy

If you don't have the photos digitized then you'll have to either buy a scanner or have the images put on disk.

I'll assume you already have a computer. Ideally you would want a dedicated computer station for archiving photos -- particularly for very large collections. Moving hundreds or sometimes several thousand image files around at one time can tax an older machine; especially if it's bloated with games, lots of other software etc.

Aside from the computer the biggest cost is going to come from software and the backup system used to protect your image library. (Software will be discussed in our next episode.) In the ideal world a serious backup strategy centers 2+1:

a primary and a secondary external hard drive and a disk (CD or DVD)

However, backing up to CD is time-consuming and tedious and CD-Rs hold such a small amount of data. DVD-Rs are are a step upwards, but they, too, can easily be outpaced by the growth of your library. Blu-ray is the new disk standard -- each disk can hold up to ten times the amount of information on the average DVD-R and for the moment that makes for a sensible disk component in any backup system.

But for most amateurs and many professionals, a disk component is simply not a viable alternative. For cost reasons or time-management, most will rely on the external hard drive as the basis for a backup management program.


So, where does that leave us? In simple terms:

Scanner: $150
Hard drives, two 1-terabyte drives: $350

You can certainly spend less on a scanner but consider what you're scanning for. Also, if you have lots of slides and negatives that will also narrow your selection of available scanners -- and probably increase your cost as well. You'll want the best quality digital images so I'd rather err of spending a little too much than not enough.

The same is true of hard drives. Buy new, high-quality drives and get the largest size you can afford. Believe me you'll grow into them.

External hard drives are more reliable today than ever and their cost continues to fall. My suggestion is to get the largest pair of drives you can afford. And since many drives come with backup software as part of the purchase package, that's one less cost for you. Look for drives that have as many different types of connections as possible (3 or 4 is optimum but don't settle for just a single connection type.)

Also the drive costs noted above are for single drive systems, not for RAID or multiple drive configurations. (RAID stands for "redundant array of independent disks".) If you decide to boost your backup options through using a RAID mirrored then plan to increase your costs by half again as much.

For a larger image library and with a somewhat more generous budget, consider the following configuration:

scanner: $200
hard drives (on-site), 2+2-gigabyte RAID mirror: $800
blu-ray recorder: $300
blu-ray discs: $250 (cakebox of 50)
OR
hard drives (off-site, optional), 1-terabyte: $200

To find out more about RAID systems and whether it's right for you visit Wikipedia's in-depth discussion online.

Personally, I use both LaCie or OWC hard drives. No, they don't pay me to say that -- in fact they probably aren't even paying attention. Anyway, I've used LaCie for years and never had one fail yet -- and OWC is equally reliable. I like for their size and portability. Both come bundled with good backup software: LaCie bundles Genie and Intego backup; OWC bundles NovaStar for Windows and Prosoft's Data Backup for the Mac.

For example, right now I am using a pair of 500-gigabyte OWC "On-the-Go" drives for working and primary backup and then a 1-terabyte OWC desktop drive as a secondary backup drive for a client. Eventually we'll move their library to a 2-terabyte RAID-mirror system.

You can find LaCie online at: http://www.lacie.com/us/index.htm. And OWC can be found at: http://eshop.macsales.com/

Oh, and you can research and buy LaCie drives at OWC as well.

If you're the least paranoid -- and frankly you should be -- I'd recommend spending a bit more and using a desktop and portable off-site backup system. (Say in a safety deposit box or a basement.) We'll talk more of this later when we discuss "process" but you might consider using portable drives as a secondary backup.

OK, so that's the easy part.

Next week things get a bit harder as we dive into cataloging software. We'll also talk about using metadata and later we'll get to the really hard part: workflow and process.