5 Big Reasons to Back-up Your Photos and Data

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A few years ago I learnt a lesson the hard way, I never backed up any of my files. The inevitable happened and the hard drive was dropped and my files were no longer accessible, save sending it away to a Data Recovery company. This involved paying a load of money for them to recover only some of the data as most had been lost. So thinking I learnt from this I set up a raid system for my hard drives as well as an external backup system. While my back up system seemed to work automatically and sync itself each day for over a year something changed in the settings and it stopped backing up my files, and because it had run so well for over a year I never bothered to check it. So of course to teach me a second lesson my hard drive started clicking which equals bad news and my data again was inaccessible. When I looked to restore data onto my replacement drive I found it hadn’t been working for over a month. So another expensive lesson and a couple of weeks without my pictures and other important data, I have now made a list about why it’s so important to make sure you have a capable backup system in place.

  1. It’s really expensive – to recover data sometime you might be lucky and get away with a couple hundred dollars but in general it ranges from 500- 3000+.
  2. Potentially permanently lost data and photos – there is always the chance that the data and pics may not be fully recoverable which means all those hours and all that money spent taking those awesome pictures and doing the post production is lost and you’re now mad.
  3. Lost Revenue – not just from how much it’s going to cost you to recover the data but also the potentially lost pictures or other data and if you were on a deadline to submit these to a client you could be really hooped.
  4. Easy to manage – now with cloud storage you don’t have to worry about having a raid setup or external hard drive that may work good as a backup not, but what if there was a fire or you get robbed. Offsite storage is becoming an excellent way to ensure your pictures and data are safe and not lost.
  5. It’s cheap – when you think of all the costs and hassle associated with losing your data, a monthly or annual fee for cloud storage is so much easier on the pocket-book and will leave you a little less stressed out if something goes wrong.

So I hopefully have learned my lesson though expensive and twice the fool I think I have it figured out. I will continue to use a raid system and an external backup, but also will have a third backup to a cloud service and now a fourth to another external drive which I can update once a week and hold at another site than my office.

December First Already

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I can’t believe it’s December 1st already, time just flies when you’re having fun I guess.Such a busy time of year going here and there visiting family and friends enjoying way to much amazing food and drink. It’s my favorite month i love the lights and decorations and music; it’s going to be a good month full of pictures, family &friends.

Bowen

Travel and the Personal Connections

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It feels like it was just the other day we walked through the amazing Keukenhof Flower Gardens in the Netherlands. Since we have been back, I have found myself repeatedly flashing back to moments and awesome experiences that we had while touring around Europe, one such experience was when we were in Florence.

We had been in Florence for a couple of days already and where just walking around taking it all in, it was cool and raining ( rain, the main theme of our trip) when we came across a  shop. This shop specialized in custom stationary, which Lindsay loves as she makes cards and other stationary items herself. We entered through the small door, the shop keeper was working on some cards at the counter and had only us in his shop, as we looked around at some of the amazing works they made there, we came across a table in the back of the shop which was filled with a clear thick liquid with paint brushes and paint spread and spattered around it. I asked what it was and a smile came to the man’s face as he made his way back to the table. He described what it was to us in the table and what it was used for; it was a type of glue in which one spatters different paint colors on top after which he then runs many different tools through each making an effect on the way the colored spots swirl and blend on the glue solution.

He then demonstrated this to us dipping his paint brush in different colors and spattering them over the glue, and then running his tools through the solution making different patterns and designs with the paint. After this he laid a sheet of special paper gently over top making sure that it just rested over the whole of the paint design. He looked up smiled and then lifted the paper up, scraped off the excess glue, and showed us his creation with a look of pride on his face. It was one of those moments while traveling that you feel a type of connection with that person and how glad they are to share what they do and what makes them happy with others.

Times and experiences such as this are the ones I find, which I remember more vividly than visiting an ancient church or a museum, it’s the personal connections I think that make travel so fun and the reason one can never do enough.

B & L

Endless Yard Work

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Since we came home from our trip now two weeks ago, we still haven’t fully caught up on all of our sleep. Some of this is from visiting with friends & family, some is from work, some is from going over our massive picture inventory from the trip, though the strong majority is because its gardening season and that means yard work.

Our first day back was fairly easy just mowing the grass. Though the work level quickly increased after that each night after work; spreading 12 cubic metres of compost over the backyard then leveling it in preparation for grass seed, planting a large garden, picking “some” rocks (we could probably sell our house and build a gravel pit on it there are some many rocks), setting up a four barrel manifold rain barrel system, picking weeds and spraying the rest, potting some flowers, spreading some mulch and drinking some beer.

While this is all to be expected with a new home where you don’t get anything except some sod in the front if your lucky, and it has kept us very busy the last couple weeks it will soon be coming to a end after we plant the grass and pack it this week. After which the rest can wait until next year when there will be a fence to build, paving stones for a patio to lay, a fire pit to build, and some more trees to plant, my poor back and bank account.

I will say the one nice thing that one gets with all the yard work is you shed a couple of pounds, the bad thing is one feel like their about 100 years old when you get up each morn.

The picture above shows how much work we have done and how much is still left, it will be nice when it’s done. As you can see above there are still some weeds and yes those rocks are my garden row marks why buy stakes when your supplied with massive rocks throughout your yard.

Cheers,

B + L

Recovering Back Home

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After going non stop for a month straight it was nice to come home and sleep in for once, and begin to reflect on the whirl wind tour that we just had. With so many places and sites seen in a month it was unbelievable, now that we have had a moment or two to catch up on our sleep and upack, it has been fun to go through some of the things we brought back and to start looking through some of the pictures that were taken.

I am very happy with how well my Canon 7D performed during the entire trip where it was always by my side. The pictures and video that were shot are excellent; crisp, clear, and full of color and room to adjust after shooting in RAW format. While Lindsay used my old 30D which still takes great pictures, and I must say Lindsay has a brilliant eye for great shots. I am very happy with the move and look forward to shooting even more with my new camera.

B & L

Flying Back Home

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This last month has flown by very quick, showing us crazy weather, excellent foods, hundreds of sites, amazing people and family, and leaving us with memories that will last forever. So many things we will miss in Europe, until next time like the great beer, amazing coffee, family, meeting new friends, brilliant fresh food, as well as the history and sites that are all over here. As always there are a couple of things we won’t miss from our travels like the lack of sleep, and security check points at airports, museums, and churches theres no easy way to put it other than they suck.

With each country we visited and each new person we met, our trip was enriched. It helped broaden our perspective and open a new point of view in which to look at things and cultures, which at times can be quite a contrast for us in Canada.

Waiting here in Frankfurt for our conecting flight to Calgary we are already discussing our next trip and look forward to having a more relaxed agenda. If you haven’t been to Europe we highly suggest taking a trip; the food, people, culture, scenery, history, is simpling amazing. Or if you have been to Europe, go again, there is literally years of travel, culture, history, to be experienced and seen.

B & L

Less than one week…..

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Travelling well over 10,000 kilometers, 7 countries (Canada, Germany, Italy, Ireland, France, Holland, Denmark) in 4 weeks can definitely wear on you. We have done just that and our first World Journey together is near the end. So many things we’ve seen – cultures, food, all the different ways you can flush a toilet, start the shower and washing machine and many many sights we will take home with us and remember forever. This definitely won’t be the first of the travelling Clausens and I’m sure we will think of our next trip within days of returning to Canada.

Now that we are with family in Denmark and have left the bustling city of Paris first to Holland and then onto Denmark, we definitely have found it very relaxing and just the most beautiful countryside we’ve ever seen. There are so many things to stop and see that when we are driving to one destination, we stop at least 10 times in an hour for a photo op (which you will see in the Gallery soon!)

In our remaining days we will visit with some more family, tour an awesome Viking museum in Roskilde, and have 2 days in Copenhagen (yay shopping!!!) before flying back to O’ Canada on Saturday.

Ciao, L&B

The underground world of Paris

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During our stay here in the belle ville de Paris we have fully experienced the metro and underground transit lines…. Complete with smells, crazy people, little dogs, shaking & speeding trains, connection tunnels and buskers. What a wonderful (and mental) system here and it makes me wonder why other cities (uh hello Calgary) hasn’t adopted this type of transit system. If you miss a train, there’s another in 2-4 minutes. There’s always a seat for you to rest your aching feet (and if not, just wait 2 minutes for the next unpacked train).

I have to say when taking these trains, do a little research, theres a wonderful iPhone app called Metro Paris and you can see all the lovely coloured lines that help you navigate from stop A to B to C…. can you say Chatelet, Rambuteau, Mairie des Lilas?? We recommend buying 10 tickets at a time, they are little so we kept our unused tickets in a special zipped pocket in our coats and took them out when needed, Be sure to keep your little ticket until you leave the station (even after transferring) – sometimes you need your ticket to exit (silly I know)

Questions? Feel free to ask us – we can help you navigate your way around le Metro.

Sore Feet in Paris

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Paris… ahh the city of lights… and pigeons… and people (crazy might we add). Since we arrived here last Thursday we have done an insane amount of walking whilest seeing some of the worlds most amazing sites. After arriving from Dublin on our flight, we purchased our train ticket to get into the city centre and voila! they striked! So Lindsay got to really test her french and get our train tickets refunded and get a bus into the city centre.

Next we got into our cute little apartment, which was on a quintessential french street complete with creperie right next door, fresh produce, bread, pastries, deli, and many many corner bars close by! By this time it was about 2:30 and we had been up since 4:00 so we just took a little walk around our neighborhood, bought some groceries, had a bite to eat and were off to sleep…. zzzz

Since arriving we have walked at least 10 kms a day around some amazing sites (Eiffel tower, Champs Elysses, Arc de Triumphe, Concorde, Notre Dame, Saint Chappelle, the Louvre, Napoleons Tomb, Montmartre (Moulin Rouge!), Paris Opera – just a few I can name). We are now resting up (literally have put our feet up to ease the burning and aching) and are ready to hit Versailles tomorrow.

Au Revoir, Bonne soir, Bonne nuit…

L&B