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For a non-profit, an effective photo and video library is essential. But all too often setting one up just never quite happens.
I understand why – it’s boring and there are always more urgent tasks. When I started as a photographer my negatives were in a heap in a cardboard box and my digital files strewn willy-nilly across my hard drive. The next shoot always seemed more important than sorting out the photos I’d already taken. As my collection grew and I found myself spending hours hunting down old pics, I realised I had a problem.
Setting up a decent library requires a bit of research (to establish the best storage system), some money to invest in it and some basic organisational skills. In terms of efficiency, the benefits will be enjoyed by you and your colleagues for years to come.
First, let’s look at why we need a media library:
- A place to store/archive old and future content.
- A means to quickly and easily access photos, video and other content you might need.
Storage systems – the essentials
Whatever the technology you choose to store your library, it needs to be:
- Secure (or as secure as possible) from tech-fails, burglary, fire and hacking.
- Expandable. As technology evolves file sizes just get bigger and bigger, and video – the most data-hungry of media – becomes more and more dominant. This means you need to plan for years ahead and almost limitless amounts of data.
- Easily accessible by a number of people.
- Easily backed-up.
This means you should NOT store your library:
- on a single computer or across a number of computers.
- on a single external hard drive or across a number of drives.
Neither method fits any of the criteria of secure, expandable, widely accessible or backed up. You could be one computer meltdown or hard-drive drop away from disaster.
Storage options
The fact is there is no perfect storage solution. Each comes with a downside, be it security, scalability, accessibility or price.
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RAID storage
RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. A RAID unit is made up of numerous hard drives but acts as one big drive. So, if the unit becomes full you can simply replace one of the smaller drives within it (3tb for example) and replace it with a bigger one (say 10tb). My data remains untouched. Likewise, if a drive fails, as they inevitably do, then you can simply remove and replace it, again with no change to the data on the system.
Personally, I use a RAID, a Drobo 5D to be specific, for my everyday work. It contains my complete library/archive and I can work directly off it, say if I’m photo or video editing.
It’s fast and reliable. But it can only be accessed by one computer at time.
If you need storage that can be accessed by multiple computers, then you may need…
NAS storage
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NAS storageNAS is similar to RAID in that it is a bunch of hard drives that act as one. The difference is that it can be accessed over a network, so it’s good for an office.
I have a Drobo 8 NAS as a back-up for my archive. I can keep it in a different room and access it through an ethernet network. It does its job but it’s very slow to transfer files to and fro – far too slow to actually work directly with (unlike the RAID drive described above).
For more on RAID (or DAS – direct-attached storage, which includes basic external hard drives) vs NAS, take a look at https://photographylife.com/storage-for-photography.
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Cloud storage
One day, I – like everyone else – will probably move to Cloud storage. At the moment the cost is a little high for a lot of storage, and upload and download speeds not great (thanks NBN!). There’s also the question of security and privacy. You need to trust that the company that you are handing your data to a) isn’t going to use it for nefarious means, and b) will keep it backed it up securely.
Check out this for more on the pros and cons of cloud storage:
For more on what tech is right for you, consult your IT folk.
Next, in the November newsletter, we’ll look at how to go about organising a photo/video library.
