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Storage workflow for photography

I’ve talked about storage workflow for photography many times before with pro’s and amateurs alike who’ve bought a ToughTech Duo from me. But I don’t believe I’ve ever posted anything on my blog about my recommended storage strategy for independent, professional (or amateur) photographers who want a reliable method for storing their images. In truth everyone needs a reliable storage policy, but too many people opt for whatever is quickest and easiest, and until they get bitten by a defective drive, a theft or some other disaster, they don’t contemplate the consequences of doing so.
Background
This post is aimed at photographers using Adobe Lightroom as their image catalogue of choice. You can tailor the advice I’m going to give for other software (the process is almost identical for CaptureOne), or I’m more than happy to give individual advice should you need it (all the usual methods apply, social media links top left or via the contact us page is fine).
Overview
Many photographers are using laptops for portability. While this gives them an advantage when it comes to working away from an office, it does create certain limitations when it comes to storage (laptop hard drives are getting bigger, but are still restrictive for someone shooting lots of photographs). For those people with the luxury of being mainly office or studio based on a desktop machine, my preferred strategy is still essentially the same but we have the choice of using a larger storage system to take advantage of larger drive sizes.

So my ‘perfect’ configuration for both mobile and desktop users is this:

This strategy allows you to ensure your most important assets are backed up and duplicated in a logical way, providing a relatively easy way to get […]

By |July 15th, 2015|Help and Advice|0 Comments
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Music Streaming: Thought for today

With Apple Music recently launching and Spotify also widely used around the world, I’m going to say something about Music Streaming today that will seem to many like obvious advice. But I’m not sure everyone, at least not everyone in the UK, has thought about this…..

For many people the idea of millions of tracks being available in the cloud to stream instantly for free (Spotify with adverts) or for a small, monthly fee (Spotify Premium, Apple Music and several other services such as Tidal) is a no-brainer. For the cost of buying one album per month, you’ve potentially got unlimited amounts of music for your listening pleasure.

But please don’t forget, every time you stream a song you’re using some of your monthly data allowance if you’re not at home/work (or somewhere else with a WiFi connection). Looking around at the ‘typical’ UK data allowances available today, many people will have around 1Gb of data usage (some of you may even had a quarter of that). A 1Gb allowance will get you, roughly, 250-300 streamed songs before you go over your allowance. Depending on the network you’re on, this will result in either a slowdown of your traffic, a block on traffic for the rest of the month or additional charges.

If you are commuting regularly without WiFi access you’ll possibly go over your allowance pretty quickly. But there is a way to avoid this. With Apple Music and Spotofy Premium you are allowed to download music for offline access. This means that the music you pick will be strored locally on your device avoiding the need for you to use mobile data allowances when travelling. On Apple Music, all you need to do is select […]

By |July 6th, 2015|Apple Software News|0 Comments
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Making the most of your laptop battery

For anyone using a laptop, one of the most frustrating things is when the battery starts to give you problems. On a machine that’s 3 or 4 years it’s quite normal for some people to not be able work without plugging the laptop into power. But there are ways to begin making the most of your laptop battery. Read on for our advice.

Most modern laptops use Lithium-ion batteries, a particular type of battery that has its own characteristics. Previously, manufacturers used different types of batteries, and it was often recommended that you charged to 100% and then let it drain to (as close to as possible) empty, or you may suffer from charge memory which would reduce the battery’s life. That method though is a bad thing for Lithium-ion.
Keep the electrons flowing
Unlike previous generations of battery, Lithium-ion doesn’t have a ‘charge memory’, so full discharges are not necessary. In fact, its much better to keep topping up the battery at regular intervals. That way, when you need battery power for a longer period the battery condition should be good enough to give you the time you need.

To keep the electrons flowing means continuous small discharging and recharging of the battery. Think of your battery as a bottle of water; take a swig, fill it up at a tap whenever you can. If you only fill up when the bottle is empty, you might well be without water when you need it.
Software help
There are applications available which will help you et the best of your battery. The best of these is in my opinion is Fruitjuice which is available from the app store at £7.99. I appreciate this seems like a lot of money for something […]

By |July 2nd, 2015|Help and Advice|0 Comments
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Apple Watch Early Review

After waiting several weeks for it to arrive, I finally have an Apple Watch in my hands. As I wrote in my post before the Watch was announced I went for the 42mm Sport version in Space Grey. Without further ado, here’s my Apple Watch early review.Ordering & ShippingOf course the model I went for happened to be the most popular in the entire range, so shipping took some time (after the ordering window opened, it took me too long to get into the Apple site so there were obviously a lot of orders ahead of me).My initial delivery date was June, but around the middle of May this changed to the end of June, followed a couple of days later by mid-June. Then on the 25th of May it moved to ‘Preparing for Shipment’, finally arriving last Friday (29th May).UnboxingAs always with an Apple product, the packaging is part of the appeal. Once you get inside the brown shipping box, the Watch packaging feels and looks like a premium product (which it is at the prices we pay I suppose). Inside the outer cardboard box, there’s a plastic watch box which is reminiscent of the old style white MacBook, and underneath that the usual array of accessories for the Watch (charger, instruction leaflet and small wristband). Speaking of the charger – the new design is amazing!

Brief ReviewI’ve only been wearing the watch a couple of days, and I intend to do a fuller review in a week or two when I feel I’ll have a better feel for the product, so I wanted to share my initial thoughts and experiences with you in case you were considering a purchase now.In terms of the […]

By |June 2nd, 2015|Reviews|0 Comments
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World Backup Day 2015

March 31st is World Backup Day, a day to remind us all of the need to back up all our personal and business data. Anything we have that is digital, and that we value, or would miss if it was lost forever, needs to be stored safely offsite.

For any of us that have lost data in the past, you’ll know the cost in terms of money, time and heartache that a failed hard drive or stolen computer can create. But being proactive, this can all be mostly avoided by implementing a safe and secure backup regime.

Fortunately, there are plenty of facilities these days for simple and inexpensive backup systems. You no longer need a noisy and slow tape drive with expensive magnetic tapes to backup your home PC. Whatever computer you use, I’d strongly recommend you look at some of the online cloud backup services (Crashplan and Carbonite are the ones I’d recommend), but this might not always be the best option for you……
Choosing the right solution
Depending on the amount of data you have, your Internet connection speed and the level of security the confidentiality of your data demands, online backup might not be right for you. You may need to resort to backups to external hard drives. For Mac users this is really easy with Time Machine built-in. But you can also achieve the same on PC and Mac using Crashplan to your own drives.

Remember that the first online backup could take several weeks to complete, so be aware of that today. It may be a good idea to take a complete backup of your systems locally before starting an online backup to ensure you have some protection right away.

Lastly, if your backup is sitting […]

By |March 31st, 2015|Help and Advice|0 Comments
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