Just a reminder for all of you. There are some really nasty people out there that use malware to hold you hostage if you ever want to see your photos again. Backup all of your important pics on another computer or on some media not connected to your main computer. I was infected by some malware called cryptowall and there is nothing you can do to get your pics back other than paying the malware creators a ransom. Since I did not have everything backed up I lost forever some very important (to me) photos. Even commercial entities are susceptible to this malware. Btw, I have one of the best and most highly rated antivirus programs active on my computer and it did nothing to stop the infection. My hope is that evil folks like this are caught and put to death.
Backup your photos!
- Thread starter azisbest
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Thats awfull :-( "luckily" for me i use Google Drive as a backup and one other cloudbackup in addition to my nas.
Hopefully thats enough
Hopefully thats enough
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After using computers for over 25 years now, I'm still amazed at how many people don't have an adequate file backup strategy in place. I guess it takes an adverse event like your "ransomware" infection to make you see the light. BTW, paying the "ransomware" will NOT get you back your files --- just another infection that demands more money. And around and around you go.
I currently have all my files backed up nightly to a USB drive attached to my router. This drive is untouchable to all known viruses because it's not seen by Windows. Yes, you can be jealous because I havent lost any files since 1995.
I currently have all my files backed up nightly to a USB drive attached to my router. This drive is untouchable to all known viruses because it's not seen by Windows. Yes, you can be jealous because I havent lost any files since 1995.
msinger
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I've fixed malware like that before. In my case, it did not affect the files after it was removed. Most people are not computer savvy enough to fix it though. And, it cannot be remedied by a virus scanner.
I am a professional Photographer, Backing up is my #1 priority. After I shoot a job Weather with my Phantom or my professional cameras, I always dump the card off to my computer & burn a archive disk. Once I finish burning the disk, I then work on all my images, color correct, crop, text, & anything else before I place the order. Once that is done, I burn another disk with my finished projects. If it is a major job I will burn two disks or even put it on a 8gig thumb drive & archive it. People have said that disks do not last forever. It is probably true but I have not came across one yet that has not worked. I use CD markers as regular sharpies will bleed through the disk over the years & make the disks un readable. I might be a little OCD (ok a lot) doing this but when I have a client that comes back 5 or so years later, I can normally get them what they want. Most people won't go to that extreme but I have dedicated 2 rooms with filing cabinets that have files in them including negatives dating back to 1977 when my father opened the studio. I just had a former client come in & have 3 16x20's from 1989. It took a hour or so to find it but she was happy.
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Not sure why anyone is still backing up files to CD-R when you can buy 4 TB hard drives for under $150 on Amazon. Doesn't a 4 TB hard drive hold the equivalent of 5,000 CD-Rs?
Yeah, it is amazing. I have to chuckle when I get Dirk's blank stare when I ask people if they have a backup. Backup? What's that?
This sounds like a great solution for the most part, but you might want to also invest in storage outside of your house. A fire could wipe everything out. So a fire proof safe is an added bonus too, but sounds like you won't get one big enough for all the analog stuff you also have.
Most of my stuff is digital so it's a bit easier, but I back up to a raid 1 NAS (so 2 local networked copies in case a drive fails completely) which in turn backs up to Amazon S3 which is on European servers.
This type of storage is dirt cheap these days, some offer unlimited storage for less than a couple of beers a month so it's well worth it.
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I used to work for an IT company in the 90's and I was shocked at how many of our customers thought data backup was a waste of time and money. They honestly thought fires, tornadoes, and theft would never happen to them. I secretly smiled when those things did happen to them, and they came to us with a huge bag of cash begging us to get their precious data back for them.
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I use the TZ1 storage system that picks up my downloads automatically and sends a copy to my fire proof safe at home and a copy to the same at work.
Because these are remote units they cannot be accessed by any outside baddie.
Because these are remote units they cannot be accessed by any outside baddie.
You also might want to get that analog stuff digitised as well, would make searching archives easier and faster as well as the whole safe from fires if you offsite backup too.
dirkclod
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If you have decrypted files encrypted by cryptowall malware you need to get in touch with some of the antivirus providers and other large corporations because they have not been able to unlock the files once infected. You should be able to earn some big money.
Would that I had your prescience.After using computers for over 25 years now, I'm still amazed at how many people don't have an adequate file backup strategy in place. I guess it takes an adverse event like your "ransomware" infection to make you see the light. BTW, paying the "ransomware" will NOT get you back your files --- just another infection that demands more money. And around and around you go.
I currently have all my files backed up nightly to a USB drive attached to my router. This drive is untouchable to all known viruses because it's not seen by Windows. Yes, you can be jealous because I havent lost any files since 1995.
Mine go from my laptop to my desktop to an external Hard Drive, so that's three copies inside the house, then the whole lot gets synced regularly over to a portable harddrive that is kept in my vehicle. If the house burns down and all 3 computers are lost in there, then the backup in the car should have all but the most recent shots on it.
Kind of a sad necessity these days to be overly thorough.
Kind of a sad necessity these days to be overly thorough.
Good idea until the drive fails. Ask me how I know. I have a Iomega server & have lost drives to it. Archiving to cd/dvd,s & thum drives is the best solution I have found except off site storage.
Simon, as far as fire, sure it could happen but the man that built my studio has ran all electrical in metal conduit. So if I have a short, it will throw a breaker instead of setting a fire. When the inspector came to do the inspection, he asked who was the builder. When we said his name. He just said " I know it was done right".
As far as digitizing my negatives, it would cost too much to do. We started in 1974 until I went full digital in the mid to late 90's. A considerable estimate would be over 500,000 images spanning two rooms.
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