My SIMPLE (But Slightly Overkill) Storage Workflow For Content Creation

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In this video, I talk about my storage workflow for content creation from capture to backup and I outline the decisions as to why I do each stage in the way I do. However every storage solution is different for every person, so I also offer some alternatives for different levels of budgets.

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[darkpheonix]

Portability aside, aying a NAS is slow is a bit of a weird blanket statement, it really depends on the harware, implementation and what you populate them with. The brand name ones are pretty expensive, it's better to built a small form factor NAS yourself, and you could even include 10Gb/s NICs and an NVMe carrier card for 2 or way more SSDs and add a few high capacity hard drives for archiving.

[HeyQuinton]

Anyone who is interested - the Sabrent models listed here are ~1, 200 USD each + Enclosure - making this setup ~5K USD (not including cloud)

[RustyBrownPhotography]

For me, it's SanDisk Extreme Pro V30 64GB cards (two 12-slot Pelicans) at a total of 24 cards. Only 64GB for each. Super cheap; very reliable. On my Sony A99-II my raw images are 42 Megapixels each. That's 1, 455 raw images per card. I don't consider this a level of storage really but I suppose one could.

From the memory cards I dump all my images/content to a series of PC and Mac connected external drives. I have 2 PCs; one that a built, and the big boy -- the cheese grater Mac Pro. I don't "store" any of my images on either machine. I use both to process my work (photos or 4K videos) but not to permanently store my work.

From the PC/Mac-connected external drives I do backups (monthly) to another set of externals -- those same Samsung/WD 4TB's featured in your video. I store these offsite.

Also from the PC/Mac-connected external drives I do backups (monthly) to my Synology NAS. Yes, it's probably slow but the simple 4 bay NAS with RAID works perfectly for me. The internal drives come in a variety of sizes. Key thing here for me -- I don't edit or do work from the NAS; I use it as a simple NAS and that's all. I believe the NAS system to be extremely reliable, cost-efficient and safe. I do not do cloud storage.

I can also backup my NAS to my son's larger NAS -- and he's in another state altogether. So - not counting the memory cards, I have a copy on the PC/Mac-connected external drives. I have a another copy on non-connected external drives; stored offsite; and a third copy on my local NAS.

I use to travel with those Sandisk SSD portable's. They're quite lightweight but they are prone to fail. Samsung makes a better model -- called the Portable SSD T7 Shield. Much tougher/stronger and more reliable. When I'm on the road I back up each day's shoot to one of these. So even while shooting on the road I have what's on the days memory cards; a copy of the days work on the laptop (Dell XPS-13 9310), and a backup on the T7 4TB.

Great video man. I think the takeaway here is as you indicated -- customize whatever the workflow is to what the indivudual needs -- for peace of mind; redundancy; cost efficiency, etc. I don't think any singular workflow or storage method is for everyone but it's too easy to craft one thats unique and suitable to any indivudual. Cheers.

[mertkaracayil]

love your SSD setup and overall workflow.

[oraenor]

I’m still using the plastic sandisk ssd for storage, these NVMe are looking likely to be my next upgrade

[CHLBUTTERWORTH]

I can backup to my NAS from anywhere. Yes its not fast or editable from when on the go. But being able to save my data to a hard drive located at home is so handy for data intergrity.

[jujushoots]

YES YES YEES, I've been wanting a storage workflow video from you for the longest! thank youuuu

[thejaideeparora]

I use Microsoft OneDrive for cold storage. Costs me like 2 bucks per month for 1 TB storage and gives good download and upload speed. Good for portability. Although I've been thinking to move it all into a hard disk but then probability of data loss increases that way.

[ElShaddai-bzfy]

what settings to use when saving work directly to hot storage? I have presets for social media and prints but not sure what I should save at just for storage!

[Eloberus]

I always copy my photos to an external ssd and have a background job that sync them unidirectionally to my NAS. I’m just a hobbiest. As a professional I would add another automated step syncing those photos to backblaze or another cloud storage solution.

[Momaln]

I was robbed last week and lost lots of data from stolen hard drives. This video will help me create a better workflow now. However, I do not really understand how you backup your project drives? How would you be able to store your cold storage backup in a different location, if you need to backup daily / weekly after a client shoot? This video was super helpful, but if anyone here in the comments has some ideas (especially tools to backup a working drive for photo and editing projects, that constantly gets updated daily (not a pure footage drive), that would be super welcome. Lets all save our data haha.

[AaronStrumpel]

This is so helpful. Do you run any Time Machine style systems or does cloud backup take care of that for you?

[lazypaulreact]

Good info to think about it. Thank you. As a newer content creator, I'm currently working with external SSDs for workflow (hot) and external HDDs for backup. And the back up thing are soooo or at least was in the beginning bc are time consuming, nowadays I think it as an opportunity to rest and recharge..

[KevinThomasRubysz]

Video suggestion: how you sort your Data on all these storages :)

[TrueGamingVault]

i would recommend WD hard-drive 5TB and yeah keep it with parents or family.... trust me as a normal amature photographer you won't have that much things to back up probably 2/3 TB per year


I hav like 3 of them now in the last 6 years.. cheap and does the job well.

[max_larum]

I got two devices I use for editing, an desktop PC at home, and a iPad pro on the road. I got creative cloud and 1TB of data. So I can import my photos to my desktop in lightroom classic or in lightroom on my ipad. And it sync all ways, even to lightroom on my phone.

[SamFigueroa]

Thank you for making this. I jump between computers as well and this is a great inspiration. I was previously handling HDD from WD but they aways needed a powersupply and were just too bulky to work well for the task. That UGreen suggestion with the NVme drive was a great tip it is actually cheaper than something like a Samsung T7, and like you said probably more repairable if the error is on the enclosure/adapter side.

[uhlala.belleza]

At $25 per 256Gb SD Card, I full it, keep it save and never reused, just buy the next one till full again, label it by date, for cloud storage I use google photos in low res mode ($10 x 2tb) as an ultra quick catalogue, geo searching, and Ai searching, etc and the last opción is Flickr Pro, for hi res full copy at $5 month (2yr plan) 1Gb video size limit it’s the only limit. (GT)

[justbobbyt]

Great video! Is your 32 TB SSD reduency when you're on the move?

[streetjapan]

Thank you for sharing your approach! I too need to be able to access files on the fly whether at home, at work, or at a client’s site. Will have to take a clear look at your use of the customizable drives.